More Light takes PUP to task for silence on disciplinary cases
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, August 8, 2005
More Light Presbyterians has posted on its Web site a criticism of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity’s failure to urge Presbyterians to cease filing disciplinary actions in the ordinations of practicing homosexuals and the marriage of same-sex couples.
At the same time, the organization posted a complimentary piece about two women – both of whom once were Presbyterian ministers – who recently were married in Canada. In effect, More Light wants Presbyterians to accept what they constitutionally oppose.
The articles were 1) a response to the task force’s draft reports by First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, Calif., and 2) a description of the marriage of lesbians Tammy Lee Lindahl and Martha Juillerat.
According to the Ministry Inquiry register of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Lindahl voluntarily relinquished her ordination and was removed from the roll of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area on March 13, 2004. Juillerat is not on the register.
The More Light account said the Rev. Karen G. “Bear” Ride was the co-officiant for the lesbian marriage. Ride is still listed on the PCUSA registry as an ordained minister and a member of the Presbytery of the Pacific.
Presbyterian ministers are prohibited from conducting marriage services for same-gender couples. The denomination officially recognizes only the marriage between a man and a woman.
The report from the Palo Alto church criticized the task force for being “silent on one of the prime sources of disturbance to the peace, unity, and purity of the Church: the ongoing slew of judicial attacks launched exclusively against the very LGBT and allied Presbyterians with whom the denomination says it wants to engage in study, prayer, and dialogue. These ongoing attacks have created a climate of fear, hostility and suspicion, stifled freedom of speech and therefore freedom to dialogue, and diverted thousands of human hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars away from pursuit of the great ends of the Church. To read the draft Task Force report, one would never know that these attacks were taking place. To remain silent on this key concern risks legitimizing this destructive misuse of Presbyterian polity and further hampering denominational attempts to achieve peace.”
Many of the cases have resulted from More Light’s publicly encouraging and promoting acts of defiance by ministers and other church officers. In at least one case, the minister who conducted a same-gender wedding, the Rev. Jim Rigby of Austin, Texas, welcomed a disciplinary complaint because it drew attention to his defiance.
The resolution of Rigby’s case is pending. The Mission Presbytery named an investigating committee to determine whether Rigby should face a disciplinary trial. The investigating committee said he should not. But that was appealed, and a second investigating committee is considering the case.