Only 10 ‘no’ votes needed to defeat Amendment 01-A
The Layman Online, February 12, 2002
As soon as 10 more presbyteries vote “no,” the latest wrangle over whether to ordain homosexuals in the Presbyterian Church (USA) will be settled – for the time being.
The latest tally in the national referendum is 78-35 against Amendment 01-A. That means that 69 percent of the voting presbyteries have affirmed the constitutional ordination standard that is known as the “fidelity/chastity” clause in the Book of Order.
That affirmation is the strongest yet. In 1996-97, 57.2 percent of the presbyteries voted in favor of the “fidelity/chastity” clause. In 1997-98, 66.7 percent of the presbyteries affirmed that standard. There were no votes in 1998-99 or 1990-00 because successive general assemblies decided to observe a two-year moratorium on the issue.
Defeat of Amendment 01-A is all but ensured. The amendment would have to be approved by 88 of the PCUSA’s 174 presbyteries before it would be included in the Book of Order as a substitute for the “fidelity/chastity” clause.
But the voting trend against changing the standard – and against invalidating the denomination’s official declaration that homosexual activity is sinful – has been uniform throughout this current referendum.
Even most of the presbyteries that continue to support the ordination of homosexuals are doing so by closer margins than in 1996-97 and 1997-98. Fourteen presbyteries that voted against the ordination standard in 1996-97 have affirmed that standard during the current referendum. Only one presbytery has switched in the other direction.