Overtures to 217th GA nearly double last 5 years
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, April 4, 2006
With no additional days to handle the business, the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will consider what may be a record number of overtures when it meets in Birmingham on June 15-22.
The Office of the General Assembly reported Monday that it has received 120 overtures, with more expected. The final tally will probably be more than double the average number of overtures (62.6) considered per year during the five General Assemblies between 2000 and 2004. The deadline for submitting overtures to the Office of the General Assembly is May 1.
One of the reasons for the avalanche of overtures is the two-year lag between the 216th and 217th General Assemblies, the first time in the history of the Presbyterian Church (USA) that it skipped an annual meeting. But another reason is the strong reaction from Presbyterians to controversial issues.
Three issues stand out and account for more than half of the overtures:
1. There are 30 overtures related to G-6.0106b, the constitutional “fidelity/chastity” ordination requirement and/or the Authoritative Interpretation that undergirds that standard. Twenty-two ask the commissioners to call for a constitutional referendum to allow the presbyteries to repeal the standard. Most of those same overtures ask the General Assembly to repeal outright the 1993 Authoritative Interpretation that says practicing homosexuals must not be ordained. One would tweak the language of the 1993 Authoritative Interpretation to remove “offending langue” – in effect, rendering it meaningless. Six overtures call for maintaining the requirement. One seeks a constitutional referendum that would add this sentence to G-6.0106b: “This paragraph may not be amended prior to 2018.”
2. The committee reviewing the report and proposed Authoritative Interpretation of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity already has 16 overtures on its agenda. Most would either extract Recommendation 5 – which would allow ordaining bodies to decide on their own whether to waive the requirements of G-6.0106b – or call for further consideration of whether a requirement is actually a requirement. Only two overtures fully endorse the task force’s recommendations.
3. Twenty-four overtures have been submitted in response to the 216th General Assembly’s resolution calling for phased selective divestment of Presbyterian holdings in corporations that do business with Israel. Only two of the overtures state their support for moving ahead with the divestment process. Several overtures support divestment and reinvestment – in corporations that are noted for their peacemaking. Others call for modifying the 216th resolution so that it no longer can be criticized as pro-Palestine and anti-Israel.
Some of the other hot issues:
- Five overtures ask the General Assembly to restore the Presbyterian Historical Center of at Montreat, N.C. In a cost-cutting move, the archives have been dispersed to the Presbyterian Historical Society offices in Philadelphia and Columbia Theological Seminary. The overtures say maintaining the archives at Montreat is important to Southern Presbyterians.
- Three overtures call on the General Assembly to change its abortion policy, which includes sanctioning the abortion of viable babies (partial-birth abortion).