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CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDED: Despite its stance on homosexuality and church office, the assembly voted 281 to 244 to support civil rights for same-sex couples through legislation and friend-of-the-court briefs.

Barnes says he sees no conflict between the church's position on ordination and its defense of civil rights for practicing homosexuals.

"We certainly don't want them discriminated against, but the church has the right to say that some things are morally wrong," he says. "Leadership in the church is a privilege for those who come under the authority of the church's teachings. And the church has affirmed that God created men and women in his image, and that their sexual practice gives glory to God when it is done in the confines of marriage."

NO ABORTION VOTE: While observers and participants saw the decision on homosexuality as a move to the right for the PCUSA, conservatives in the church came away less pleased on the other hot-button issue of abortion.

The assembly refused to take a stand on partial-birth abortions (CT, Dec. 11, 1995, p. 69). Commissioners also rejected plans for a separate medical plan for churches that do not want to finance abortions.

Under the present system, the denomination offers a "relief of conscience" program with a separate account for such churches, but money is sometimes shifted to the Board of Pensions' general medical fund. The assembly asked the board to continue to work toward a satisfactory system.

In a speech to the church's antiabortion lay and clergy group, Presbyterians Pro-life, Prison Fellowship president Charles Colson urged abortion foes to keep the faith. "Let me remind you that, even in the darkest moments, it's just one little candle of light that makes all the difference," he said.

The assembly also unseated James D. Brown, executive director of the General Assembly Council. Brown lost his second bid for a four-year term to the denomination's top bureaucratic post by a 258-to-222 vote--even though he was unopposed. He had become a lightning rod for people who said the church's bureaucracy is out of touch with the people in the pulpits and pews. He had come under severe criticism for his handling of the controversial 1993 feminist Re-Imagining conference.

The PCUSA approved proceeding toward affiliation with the Consultation on Church Union, an effort among nine Protestant denominations to recognize each other's communions, baptisms, and ordinations while maintaining separate identities. The general assembly removed language referring to bishops and substituted commissioners to preserve Presbyterian polity that considers lay elders on the same level with clergy.

Copyright © 1996 Christianity Today, Inc./CHRISTIANITY TODAY Magazine

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August 12 1996, Vol. 40, No. 9