PCUSA ecumenical officer: Edgar should have never signed marriage statement
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, November 28, 2000
Eugene Turner, the ecumenical officer for the Presbyterian Church (USA), says Robert Edgar should have never signed a pro-marriage declaration from which Edgar, after making a public apology, later removed his signature.
But in an interview with The Layman Online on Nov. 28, Turner also said Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, may have compounded his problems by apologizing to the NCC’s General Assembly and taking his name off the document. He suggested that Edgar’s flip-flop may reduce his effectiveness as an ecumenical leader.
Edgar, who has made expanding the ecumenical table the centerpiece of his efforts to resuscitate the financially ailing NCC, put his signature on “A Christian Declaration on Marriage” that was also signed by representatives of the National Association of Evangelicals, the U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention.
But on the last day of the meeting of the NCC’s General Assembly, after having been pressured by some of the gay activists in the NCC, Edgar apologized for the marriage declaration and said he would remove his name from it.
Turner is the leader of the 18-member PCUSA delegation to the National Council of Churches. He was in the audience when Edgar made his retraction.
Turner said he was not personally offended by the marriage declaration – which made no reference to gays or homosexual unions – but that Edgar should have realized that not all NCC members would agree.
But which denominations might disagree with the declaration as it was written? Turner was asked. He could name none, other than to say some of the denominations may have viewed the declaration as anti-gay on the “cultural context.”
On paper, the joint declaration doesn’t contain a hint of anti-gay language. Any denomination that believes in the sanctity of Christian marriage – as do most of those who are members of the NCC, including the PCUSA – would find little to argue with. Turner admitted that the declaration echoed the same views of marriage expressed in the PCUSA’s constitution.
The National Council of Churches has twice decided against considering accepting into membership the one U.S. denomination that clearly favors gay unions on par with marriage between a man and a woman. That denomination is the Metropolitan Community Church.
But some delegates to the NCC General Assembly did not seem to represent their denominational views. About 30 of the 200 delegates attended a gay-caucus breakfast, which Edgar also attended.
One delegate, United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert, openly endorses gay unions even though the Methodists voted nearly 2-1 at their quadrennial conference this year to include in their Book of Discipline a strong prohibition against gay unions. Delegate John Thomas, president of the United Church of Christ, also endorses gay unions, which are permitted in the UCC.
Turner, who will retire from his PCUSA staff position in early January, said Edgar should not speak out on policy issues without the support of the NCC’s executive committee or the General Assembly. He also complained that Joan Brown Campbell, Edgar’s predecessor, often made public statements that were not authorized by the delegates or the executive board.
Turner acknowledged that some backlash might occur against the NCC. Several leaders of groups whose representatives signed the declaration said they were outraged by Edgar’s retraction. Their reaction could affect two of Edgar’s proposals that were approved by the NCC General Assembly.
One, he called for a 10-year “mobilization” against poverty with the ambitious goal of eradicating poverty in the United States by 2010. Two, he proposed that he be authorized to call a “summit” of leaders from the Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, and evangelical churches to consider expanding the ecumenical table. The anti-poverty program was to be the uniting theme.
“Yes, we want to talk to the other churches,” said Turner. “But we cannot do it at the expense of what our members believe. If this is going to kill it [the effort to enlarge the ecumenical table], it didn’t have anything to start with.”