General Assembly study could bring
back proposal for same-gender marriages
The Layman, July 22, 2008
The 218th General Assembly swept aside overtures calling on the Presbyterian Church (USA) to redefine marriage as a union between “two people” instead of “a woman and a man.”
But the assembly may have given the advocates of male-male and female-female unions a jump start in their effort to persuade the denomination to sanction same-gender marriages. The commissioners voted 516-151 to commission a two-year study that will be reported to the 219th General Assembly in 2010.
On the surface, the study would focus on equal protection under the law for lesbian and gay persons rather than redefining marriage. In fact, in language added to the original overture by the Presbytery of Denver, the approved action clearly states that the overture “does not seek to redefine the nature of Christian marriage.”
That pledge, however, may be short-lived. “This study on marriage may well be the mechanism for bringing the Baltimore Overture in some form back to the GA,” says Don Stroud, an openly homosexual minister who was one of the instigators of that overture. The Baltimore Overture called for amending G-4.9001 in the Book of Order with this language:
- “Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage is a civil contract covenant between a woman and a man two people and according to the laws of the state also constitutes a civil contract. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman two people are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship. In a service of Christian marriage a lifelong commitment is made by a woman and a man to each other between two people, publicly witnessed and acknowledged by the community of faith.”
The PCUSA has had numerous studies on the legal rights of gays and lesbians and has responded posthaste whenever gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people say their rights have been infringed.
The new study includes the following broad areas that will raise the issue of same-gender marriages:
- The history of the laws governing marriage and civil union, including current policy debates.
- How the theology and practice of marriage have developed in the Reformed and broader Christian tradition.
- The relationship between civil union and Christian marriage.
- The effects of current laws on same-gender partners and their children.
- The place of covenanted same-gender partnerships in the Christian community.
Any study of those areas would be re-open consideration of same-gender marriages. Some of the requirements concerning the committee will also open that door.
Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow, who supports the ordination of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, will select the members of the committee. The commissioners specified that those selected represent “the broad diversity and theological balance” of the denomination.
“Broad diversity and theological balance” are terms that push the limits of faith and practice and leave little common ground between those who consider themselves orthodox in their beliefs and those who describe themselves as “progressive.”