Team working on family policy shuns declaration on marriage
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, December 15, 2003
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A team of writers who are revising a proposed policy statement on families for the Presbyterian Church (USA) shunned giving their endorsement to a pro-marriage statement that has been approved by leaders of religious organizations comprised of more than half the Christians in the United States.
Major points in November 2000
‘Declaration on Christian Marriage’
- “… a holy union of one man and one woman in which they commit, with God’s help, to build a loving, life-giving faithful relationship that will last for a lifetime. God has established the marriage state, in order of creation and redemption, for spouses to grow in love of one another and for the procreation, nurture, formation and education of children.”
- ” … when a marriage is true to God’s loving design, it brings spiritual, physical , emotional, economic, and social benefits not only to a couple and family but also to the wider culture.”
- “Our nation is threatened by a high divorce rate, a rise in cohabitation, a rise in non-marital births, and a diminishing interest in and readiness for marrying, especially among young people.”
- “… churches are uniquely positioned not only to call America to a stronger commitment to this holy union, but to provide practical ministries and influence for reversing the course of culture.”
Recommendations included:
- Prayer and spiritual support for stronger marriages.
- Encouragement for people to marry.
- Education for young people about the meaning and responsibility of marriage.
- Preparation for those engaged to be married.
- Help for couples experiencing marital difficulty and disruption.
- Influence within society and the culture to uphold the institution of marriage.
The statement, titled “A Christian Declaration on Marriage,” had been previously signed by leaders of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals, which includes some of the fast-growing Pentecostal denominations.
For less than 24 hours, Robert Edgar, president of the National Council of Churches, also had his signature on the declaration.
Pleased that he had forged an agreement with Catholics and Christian traditionalists, Edgar called an afternoon press conference on Nov. 17, 2000, during the annual meeting of the NCC to announce his role in drafting and endorsing the declaration.
But homosexuals and their allies in mainline denominations took Edgar to the woodshed. The next morning, he announced, almost tearfully and as if he had committed a firing offense, that he was scratching his name from the endorsement.
Saying he could no longer sign a statement that describes marriage as between only a man and a woman, Edgar reneged because “I support a blessing of partnership, marriage of people who love each other.”
Alan Wisdom of Washington, D.C., a member of the team revising the proposed policy statement on families, asked his colleagues to call on the 216th General Assembly to endorse the declaration.
But a heated discussion followed and several members of the writing team said the declaration’s affirmation of marriage between “one man and one woman” would be considered by some homosexuals and lesbians as targeting their behavior.
“A Christian Declaration on Marriage” did not say anything dramatically different from what the PCUSA Constitution says about marriage. But Barbara Gaddis of Boone, Iowa, said she wasn’t comfortable with Presbyterian tradition on the family – especially the denomination’s unwillingness to sanction marriages of same-gender couples.
“This is an issue in our church that is going to rip us apart if we don’t watch out,” she said.
Gaddis noted that the writing team had been careful not to emphasize Presbyterian and Biblical doctrine that marriage is between a man and a woman only. Endorsing the statement would be a “red flag to most of the culture,” she said.
Gloria Albrecht of Detroit, a sociologist at Mercy University and the consultant to the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy that will present the final version of the proposed family policy to the 216th General Assembly in June, had a number of objections. She said it was endorsed by a very small group, and included groups that have a different theology of marriage.
“At least two of the groups [Southern Baptist and Catholic bishops] have very different ideas on marriage and the equality between men and women,” she said.
Albrecht strongly opposes notions of a male hierarchy in marriage – favoring what she describes as “mutual” marriages. She also expressed concern over the anti-divorce emphasis of the declaration.
Charles Wiley of the PCUSA’s Office of Theology and Worship, who prepared the bulk of the theology section of the family paper, said he was “not comfortable with making alliances” only with Christians on the liberal side of the spectrum. “There are patriarchal marriages that are more life-giving than mutual marriages,” Wiley said.
Nevertheless, Wiley said he didn’t believe the declaration had a “snowball’s chance” of gaining approval from the 216th General Assembly.
Responding to Wiley, Sue Dickson, vice moderator of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, said, “There’s no such thing as a healthy patriarchal marriage.”
William “Beau” Weston, a sociology professor at Centre College in Danville, Ky., challenged Albrecht’s statement that the signers of the Christian marriage statement represented a small number of Christians in the United States. Instead, he said, “that’s most of the Christians.”
In 2000, there were 62 million Roman Catholics in the United States and 20 million Baptists, and both were growing. The National Association of Evangelicals includes a number of the fast-growing Pentecostal denominations and independent churches. Combined, the three groups represent more than 100 million Christians out of a total of 191 million in 2000.
Eric Mount, a retired professor of religion and theology at Centre, said endorsing the Declaration on Marriage would become “a lightning rod for everything. This could become a diversion” that undermined the family policy.
Peter Sulyok, staff coordinator for the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, objected that the Presbyterian Church (USA) had played no role in drafting the Christian Declaration on Marriage.
But Wiley pointed out that the PCUSA often endorses statements made by the National Council of Churches and other groups without helping to draft them.
Eventually, Wisdom pulled the proposal off the table. “I sense a strong majority wanting to take it out. But I wanted to have this discussion.”