Renewal group says PUP recommendation will, in effect, introduce ‘local option’
The Layman Online, September 16, 2005
Other responses to PUP report
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2 pro-gay ordination groups tread gently on PUP report
Pittsburgh seminary prof criticizes task force report
Gay activist group cites ‘abusive power’ in attacking report of PUP task force
Lay Committee CEO offers reflections on task force report
Gay activist calls task force recommendations ‘a call to continue prejudice and discrimination
More Light calls task force recommendation ‘deeply insulting,’ urges deletion of G-6.0106b
Archives A renewal group is saying that a recommendation in the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church “will, in effect, introduce ‘local option'” and that, if the recommendations are approved, “it will have the effect of amending the Constitution of the PCUSA without the consent of the presbyteries.”
The Presbyterian Forum, in a statement posted on its Web site, says the report states that “each governing body will be responsible to determine, which, if any, ‘scrupling’ done by a candidate for church office touches on the essentials of our faith. In keeping with a spirit of peace, unity, and purity, higher governing bodies are requested to trust the examinations of other governing bodies. In a sentence, it is a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’-type of policy, where close scrutiny by higher, i.e. more inclusive, governing bodies is discouraged. Without legitimately amending the constitution, this creates ‘local option.'”
One of the “glaring omissions” in the task force recommendation that ordination issues be left to local governing bodies to decide, the statement says, “is the simple fact that the church has spoken on the issue at least three times, and each time with ever increasing majorities; and that the ordination standards, which are presently in our Book of Order, are our nationally agreed upon standards.”
“No matter how one looks at this report,” the statement says, “it means ‘local option.’ If this report is approved, it will not fetch peace, unity and purity for the PCUSA, it will result in just the opposite. This is what makes it so ill-advised.”
In conclusion, the statement urges Presbyterians “to work for the election of General Assembly commissioners from your presbytery who will labor not ‘only’ to conserve our current national standards for ordination, and the church’s historic opposition to ‘local option,’ but who will do so specifically by rejecting the provisions of this imprudent report.”