Related articles and links |  1 of 2

In July, the general assembly of the 2.7 million-member denomination, its highest governing body, approved by a 313-to-236 vote a report that calls homosexual practice a sin and begins amending the denomination's constitution to clarify its position that active homosexuals should not serve as ministers, elders, or deacons.

To become law, the amendment must be approved within a year by a majority of the country's 172 presbyteries. Since 1978, the denomination has officially prohibited the ordination of "self-affirming, practicing homosexuals," although that ban has not been included in the Book of Order, the church's constitution.

The general assembly vote at its annual eight-day meeting in Albuquerque culminated a three-year moratorium on legislative action so that the denomination could study issues involving homosexuality--an emotionally charged subject that has caused turmoil within the PCUSA and other mainline groups for two decades.

"In some way, we've got to settle this controversy once and for all," says Elizabeth Achtemeier, adjunct professor of Bible and homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond. "By sending this to the presbyteries to get it into the constitution of the Presbyterian church--if the presbyteries pass it, and I think they will--that will settle the issue. There will be no confusion."

CAREFULLY WORDED AMENDMENT: The proposed amendment does not specifically exclude homosexuals from the church's ordained offices, but it states that officers must practice either "fidelity within the covenant of marriage of a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness."

Craig Barnes, senior pastor of National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., praised the wording of the amendment. "It was the wisdom of Solomon that came up with the approach of addressing this in the larger context of sexuality rather than isolating homosexuality," he says. "I don't think the church is confused only about homosexuality. Look at all the questions we've had about clergy sexual abuse and sexual harassment in the church."

Harrisonburg, Virginia, pastor John F. Sloop first proposed a similar amendment three years ago. "This will be a major step in clarifying where the Presbyterian Church is, where our boundaries are," Sloop says. He says he hopes that people who disagree with the position will quietly leave the PCUSA and join denominations that ordain homosexuals.

Chris Glaser of Atlanta, a homosexual leader of the activist caucus Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns, says he believes that may happen if the amendment becomes church law. "There's no opportunity for us to serve unless we are celibate," he says. He described the vote as "spiritual abuse."

The report accompanying the amendment makes it clear that the church does not regard homosexual orientation alone as "a sin" or as "a barrier to ordination," but rather believes Scripture forbids homosexual practice.

"We would have loved to have dodged this issue," says Roberta Hestenes, president of Eastern College in Saint Davids, Pennsylvania, and chair of the legislative committee that brought the report. "But sometimes there is no room between answering a question yes and no. Biological identity is not behavioral destiny."

After the vote, several hundred homosexual Presbyterians and their supporters circled the hall, singing, carrying a wooden cross, and wearing clerical stoles representing homosexuals who have left the church or who are holding office within the church without acknowledging their sexual practice.

next page... |  1 of 2

share this page

August 12 1996, Vol. 40, No. 9