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Published On: Apr 07, 2009 10:27 AM
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Published On: Apr 07, 2009 10:27 AM
PCUSA GA II ...
Three important votes yesterday at the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
(USA).
1) By a vote of 43-15, a committee affirmed what we call an "authoritative interpretation" of a report issued two years ago. That report, the ironically named "Peace, Unity and Purity Report" (which has brought neither peace, unity, nor purity) allowed a historical practice known as "scrupling." What that meant was that if a candidate for ordination had a problem with a particular part of Presbyterian theology or practice, they could declare that disagreement when they're examined for ordination. The ordaining body could then decide if that scruple made them unfit for ordination. Now a church ruling (called "Bush v. Presbytery of Pittsburgh") said that one could scruple anything one wanted except the rule that bans LGBT ordination. (Apparently that section of our Constitution is holier than all the rest.) This new authoritative interpretation would allow people to declare a scruple regarding that rule. That doesn't mean that the ordaining body would have to ordain them, they could still refuse. So this is, at best, a lame compromise. Just a note, ordination is a bigger deal in the PCUSA because we ordain not only our ministers, but our lay leaders (elders & deacons) as well, so a ban on LGBT ordination affects many more people. This now has to go to the floor of the GA to be ratified.
2) By a vote of 41-11, the same committee voted to amend our constitution to eliminate the ban on LGBT ordination and remove previous authoritative interpretations that interpreted that ban. This recommendation has to pass on the floor of GA and because it would amend our church Constitution, it would also have to be passed by a majority of presbyteries (geographical governing bodies.)
3) By a surprisingly close vote of 38-20, a committee voted down an overture that would have changed our church constitution to allow same-sex marriage. This is, I believe, the first time such a proposal has come to GA and the fact that the vote was so close is quite surprising. Heck, we've been debating the ordination question for 30 years, so I don't think anyone expected this to pass ... yet. The committee approved an overture to study families of same-sex parents and affirm civil rights for those families by a vote of 46-10-1. More study. How Presbyterian.
For more background on the PCUSA and these issues, here are some other blog posts:
a) Regarding some definitions and meeting the players
b) Regarding a same-sex marriage case
c) Regarding my frustrations with "our side"
d) Regarding a dose of reality and the inevitable end of this argument
e) Regarding one of our own experiences in the PCUSA
f) Regarding some general updates on some of those previous posts
g) Regarding phony threats of schism from the right
h) Regarding why the far right is acting like Catholics instead of Presbyterians
i) Regarding recent decisions about same-sex marriage in the PCUSA
j) Regarding the wrong side in these debates
All this is somewhat confusing, but if it helps, think of our way of governing like the US Congress (an apt analogy since we Presbyterians strongly influenced the United States' form of Government.) There are committees that write laws (which we call overtures) and send them to the full House for consideration (which we call the General Assembly). Amendments to the Constitution (which we call the Book of Order) must be passed by the States (we have smaller geographical units called Presbyteries which are groups of local churches.
I'm happy to answer any questions about all this nonsense in the comments...
1) By a vote of 43-15, a committee affirmed what we call an "authoritative interpretation" of a report issued two years ago. That report, the ironically named "Peace, Unity and Purity Report" (which has brought neither peace, unity, nor purity) allowed a historical practice known as "scrupling." What that meant was that if a candidate for ordination had a problem with a particular part of Presbyterian theology or practice, they could declare that disagreement when they're examined for ordination. The ordaining body could then decide if that scruple made them unfit for ordination. Now a church ruling (called "Bush v. Presbytery of Pittsburgh") said that one could scruple anything one wanted except the rule that bans LGBT ordination. (Apparently that section of our Constitution is holier than all the rest.) This new authoritative interpretation would allow people to declare a scruple regarding that rule. That doesn't mean that the ordaining body would have to ordain them, they could still refuse. So this is, at best, a lame compromise. Just a note, ordination is a bigger deal in the PCUSA because we ordain not only our ministers, but our lay leaders (elders & deacons) as well, so a ban on LGBT ordination affects many more people. This now has to go to the floor of the GA to be ratified.
2) By a vote of 41-11, the same committee voted to amend our constitution to eliminate the ban on LGBT ordination and remove previous authoritative interpretations that interpreted that ban. This recommendation has to pass on the floor of GA and because it would amend our church Constitution, it would also have to be passed by a majority of presbyteries (geographical governing bodies.)
3) By a surprisingly close vote of 38-20, a committee voted down an overture that would have changed our church constitution to allow same-sex marriage. This is, I believe, the first time such a proposal has come to GA and the fact that the vote was so close is quite surprising. Heck, we've been debating the ordination question for 30 years, so I don't think anyone expected this to pass ... yet. The committee approved an overture to study families of same-sex parents and affirm civil rights for those families by a vote of 46-10-1. More study. How Presbyterian.
For more background on the PCUSA and these issues, here are some other blog posts:
a) Regarding some definitions and meeting the players
b) Regarding a same-sex marriage case
c) Regarding my frustrations with "our side"
d) Regarding a dose of reality and the inevitable end of this argument
e) Regarding one of our own experiences in the PCUSA
f) Regarding some general updates on some of those previous posts
g) Regarding phony threats of schism from the right
h) Regarding why the far right is acting like Catholics instead of Presbyterians
i) Regarding recent decisions about same-sex marriage in the PCUSA
j) Regarding the wrong side in these debates
All this is somewhat confusing, but if it helps, think of our way of governing like the US Congress (an apt analogy since we Presbyterians strongly influenced the United States' form of Government.) There are committees that write laws (which we call overtures) and send them to the full House for consideration (which we call the General Assembly). Amendments to the Constitution (which we call the Book of Order) must be passed by the States (we have smaller geographical units called Presbyteries which are groups of local churches.
I'm happy to answer any questions about all this nonsense in the comments...
Posted: Wed - June 25, 2008 at 08:40 AM