Recommendation pushes resolutions on Scouting back to the General Assembly Council
The Presbyterian Layman, June 13, 2001
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In a surprise move, the Assembly Committee on Christian Education and Publishing is recommending that the 213th General Assembly refer two commissioners’ resolutions with opposite views on the Boy Scouts’ stance on homosexuality back to the General Assembly Council division that is already in dialogue with the Boys Scouts of America.
The vote was 49-3.
The Congregational Ministries Division Committee of the General Assembly Council reaffirmed its covenant with the National Association of Presbyterian Scouters June 6, in a meeting where it criticized The Presbyterian Layman, a conservative periodical that frequently criticizes General Assembly actions and staff, for perpetrating what it called “misconceptions.”
An earlier article on The Layman’s Web site said the denomination was “dissociating” itself from the Boy Scouts after the denomination’s Youth Ministry Office declined to fund a grant for the National Association of Presbyterian Scouters, an independent organization.
The funding decision came after two church bodies raised questions about a possible conflict between the denomination’s goals for inclusive ministry and a U.S. Supreme Court case upholding the Boy Scouts’ right to prohibit gay men from leading troops because it is a private organization. The fundamental question is whether that policy can be extended to membership.
“We agree that the Supreme Court issue is an issue that impacts both organizations and it is worthy of discussion,” the Rev. Don Campbell, director of the Congregational Ministries Division, told the Presbyterian News Service just after the vote. “But it is the nature of a covenant to talk about these things.”
Commissioners’ Resolution 01-11 encourages churches and other judicatories to increase support for scouting worldwide. The other, 01-15, urges congregations to confer with Boy Scout troops that use church facilities to discover if the leadership expels gay people and urge them not to do so. It also urges congregations not to allow their facilities to be used by organizations that discriminate.
The Boy Scouts Web site says that “sexual intimacy is the sole province of a man and a woman” and that “homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the values we wish to instill.” David Richardson, an associate director for the Boy Scouts of America, said that ongoing dialogue is critical in any successful relationship and that is true for upcoming conversations between the National Association of Presbyterian Scouters, the Boy Scouts of America and the Congregational Ministries Division.
The content of those conversations, he said, is not yet clear.
In other business, the committee answered Overture 01-41 from the Presbytery of San Joaquin directing the General Assembly Council to offer transformational resources to those who “struggle with sexual purity” with a rationale the General Assembly Council developed earlier. The response says: “Let us say that God has the power to truly transform lives. Let us bring His word, and let us offer His healing.”
A minority report is expected. The vote was 34-18.