Can G-6.0106b opponents
muster 25 more votes?
By John H. Adams, The Layman, March 31, 2009
The score is 81-62, and it’s coming down to crunch time.
A majority of the denomination’s 173 presbyteries is 87, the number required to win the ordination sweepstakes in this fourth referendum. If six more presbyteries vote against the 08-B amendment, the “fidelity/chastity” ordination requirement will remain in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Clearly, the advantage is with the 81 presbyteries that voted to affirm Biblical standards. The advocates of ordaining men and women who claim it is their right, and a gift from God, to be in same-gender sexual relationships face a daunting challenge. They must win 25 of the last 30 presbytery votes to jettison the “fidelity/chastity” clause.
It’s not impossible. In the 2001 referendum, 14 of those 25 presbyteries voted to repeal the ordination prohibition. No presbytery that voted that way in 2001 has changed its position in the 2008-09 referendum. So those 14 votes are all but certain.
That leaves 11 votes among presbyteries that opposed repealing the ordination requirement in 2001, but by close margins. Already 26 presbyteries in that category have switched from voting for the ban in 2001 to opposing it in the 2008-09 referendum. Some of those changes have been by much wider margins than the 11 listed in the first chart.
The second chart lists the 26 presbyteries that have already joined the opponents of G-6.0106b and their voting margins in 2001 and 2008-09. Some were surprising turnarounds – including three presbyteries in North Carolina, a region generally considered theologically conservative.
The North Carolina presbyteries – and many predict a fourth when Salem Presbytery votes – were part of a Southern breakthrough for the opponents of the “fidelity/chastity” requirement. Other Southern presbyteries voting against the current G-6.0106b for the first time were Eastern Tennessee, Sheppards and Lapsley in Alabama, Greater Atlanta and Transylvania in Kentucky.
Presbyteries voting no in 2001 and yes this time
Current vote on Amendment B
Voted ‘No’
on A in 2001-02
Yes
No
No
Western NC
144
108
100-187
Lake Huron
43
32
42-64
E. Tennessee
81
66
(voice)
Cimmaron
19
16
19-20
S. Illinois
68
56
69-77
Charlotte
133
124
124-167
Great Rivers
85
74
99-108
Maumee Valley
65
58
51-70
Scioto Valley
115
88
103-105
Los Trios
37
34
17-54
New Hope
177
139
153-159
Sheppards & Lapsley
77
75
59-109
Arkansas
116
64
92-96
Greater Atlanta
243
233
235-283
Ohio Valley
57
44
74-90
Yellowstone
25
22
29-37
Whitewater Valley
108
106
95-151
Eastminster
60
39
54-65
Transylvania
83
61
50 – 83
West Jersey
88
80
80-83
Mackinac
44
32
voice
West Virginia
93
56
92-114
Newark
42
8
34-40
Grace
203
182
109-154
Philadelphia
152
139
176-221
Western New York
66
48
No action (‘No’)