Soulforce begins recruiting protestors to break law at General Assembly
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, May 16, 2000
Soulforce, an activist group planning to conduct civil disobedience demonstrations at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), has issued a call for “volunteers needed for arrest and non-arrest tasks.”
A Soulforce news release said Soulforce will take “direct action” on Sunday, June 25, the second day of the General Assembly, at Long Beach.
In its release soliciting protestors, Soulforce said the PCUSA’s “current discriminatory polices exclude sexual and gender minorities from ordination, marriage and ministry.” The release did not explain what it meant by “gender” minority. Women serve in all offices of the PCUSA. In the past, Soulforce has said that bisexualism and transsexualism are acceptable lifestyles.
Mel White, a homosexual minister who is chairman of Soulforce, said the Sunday demonstration will overlap the General Assembly’s worship service. That service is expected to draw thousands of people.
White called the Presbyterian Church’s ordination requirements “tragic and misinformed policies [that] lead to discrimination, suffering and even death … Our disobedience, June 25, is planned to send a clear message to our Presbyterian sisters and brothers that we cannot wait patiently any longer.”
About 200 Soulforce outside demonstrators and 31 inside protestors were arrested on May 10 at the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, which met in Cleveland. Soulforce has recently begun incorporating civil disobedience into its protests.
“Even while they’ve called us ‘sick’ and ‘sinful’ we’ve played their organs, led their choirs, taught their Sunday School classes, and given our tithes and offerings faithfully,” White said in the news release. “Those days are over. By making outcasts of sexual and gender minorities, the Presbyterians have broken Christ’s heart. We come in His name and for His sake to help save the soul of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”