Strong vote against Amendment A counters ‘garden variety’ declaration
The Layman Online, December 17, 2001
After the commissioners to the 2001 General Assembly elected him moderator and followed his preference in calling for an end to the denomination’s “fidelity/chastity” ordination standards, Jack B. Rogers enthusiastically dubbed them “garden-variety Presbyterians.”
That crop of commissioners voted 317-208 to repeal the ordination standard in the Presbyterian Church (USA) Constitution and called on presbyteries to renounce two millennia of Christian theology – as well as Presbyterian decrees – that affirmed the Bible’s view that homosexual activity is sinful.
While Rogers considered the people who elected him and supported his causes “garden variety” – in contrast to what he described as previous “politicized” general assemblies – there now seems to be a larger garden and an altogether different view.
Through mid-December, about 3,900 Presbyterians had cast ballots in 43 presbyteries against the proposed changes in the ordination standards – more than ten times the number of General Assembly commissioners who voted for Amendment 01-A in June.
The aggregate written-ballot tally in 39 of those presbyteries was 3,743-1,935 against Amendment 01A. In addition, four presbyteries with an estimated 375 commissioners settled the issue by voice votes – all nearly unanimous in rejecting the General Assembly’s proposal.
Combining the written ballots and estimated voice votes, roughly 68 percent of the commissioners have voted to oppose changing the ordination standard. That percentage is almost identical to the level of support for the ordination standard, according to polls conducted by Presbyterian Research Services.
Currently, the vote by presbyteries is 36-7 (84 percent) against Amendment 01-A. The presbytery count is what matters. A constitutional amendment to the Book of Order must be approved by a majority (88) of the denomination’s 174 presbyteries.
But while individual votes do not determine the outcome, they do reflect grassroots sentiment on the issue. And the early voting on Amendment 01-A indicates that sentiment is becoming even more committed to maintaining the “fidelity/chastity” clause in the Book of Order.
With 25 percent of the PCUSA’s presbyteries having voted, the affirmation of the ordination standard is running about 11 percentage points higher – 68 percent v. 57 percent – than the tally in the same 43 presbyteries in 1996-97, when the constitutional amendment was approved.
The approval rating for the constitutional amendment has gained across the board. Some of the most dramatic swings have occurred in presbyteries that voted against the proposed constitutional standard – then known as Amendment B – during the 1996-97 referendum.
For instance, the Presbytery of Western Kentucky voted 29-20 against the constitutional standard in 1996, but affirmed it 52-16 recently. That was a shift of 37 percentage points.
Seventy-five percent of the presbyteries have not voted, so the final outcome is still up for grabs. Because of Christmas and the New Year’s, there will be a lag time in voting until early January.
Presbyteries have scheduled votes as late as April 2002, but the bulk of the voting will occur during January and February.