Presbyterian Church (USA) Rebuffs Homosexual Agenda

-By Al Dobras From the Concerned Women of America
June 5, 2003

No revote on 'fidelity and chastity' provision in Book of Order

The 2003 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) met in Denver May 24-31 and it wasn't a very good week for the denomination's "gay" activists who were thwarted in their attempts to push through several homosexual-friendly proposals.

The PC (USA) Committee on Church Orders and Ministry recommended to the Assembly that the denomination be once again asked to delete the Section G-6.0106b of the Book of Order, which requires that candidates for ordination to church office be "faithful in the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chaste in singleness."

The clause is anathema to "gay" advocates, who see it as the major stumbling block to ordination of homosexuals. The denomination has voted two other times in the last six years against deleting the provision, and the 2003 Assembly decided enough was enough when it decided to vote down the recommendation. By substitute motion, the Assembly voted to refer the matter to the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity, which will shelve any further action until the Task Force reports to the 2006 General Assembly.

The Assembly also voted down two "end run" motions intended to set aside the "fidelity and chastity" ordinance while further studies were conducted. A motion from National
Capital Presbytery asked that all previous Assembly actions relating to the ordination of homosexual Presbyterians be set aside while the task force studied the issue.

A second motion from the Presbytery of Donegal, calling for rulings on the definitions of such words as "chastity," "repent," and "self-acknowledged," was derailed by the Committee on the Constitution. The Committee ruled that "there is no need for further definitions of several terms in G-6.0106b, because the concepts are clearly defined in the constitution, other documents and church case law."

Homosexual unions provision set aside

A radical proposal from the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) was sent back to the originating agency for further work. Alan Wisdom, director of the reformist group Presbyterian Action, said of the proposal:
"'Families in Transition,' if it had been adopted as a PCUSA policy statement, would have affirmed 'all forms of family' as instruments that open us to service and participation in the larger community as servants of God. The 50-page document promised that the church would 'value, nurture, and support' a long list of the "many configurations of people who lovingly bond as family." It would have treated married couples, cohabiting couples, single-parent families, and homosexual unions as equally moral and equally beneficial. 'Church and social policies should not discriminate among these families,' the proposal insisted, 'but support all such families equally.'

Upon review of the ACSWP proposal, the National Issues Committee heard a second proposal that affirmed marriage as "a gift God has given to all humankind" and called for the church to be "a caring community of faith that honors Biblical ideals of singleness, marriage, and parenthood while extending its welcome and nurture to all persons and families."
The second proposal passed The National Issues Committee by a vote of 32-22, who sent the recommendation to the full Assembly, which then voted to refer both recommendations back to the ACSWP for further study. The Advisory Committee was tasked to bring a revised proposal back to the 2004 General Assembly.

Homosexuals exit Assembly with a "gentle slap"