Committee recommends against overture affirming role of Scripture
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman Online, June 27, 2000
LONG BEACH, Calif. — After the presbytery’s overture advocate told the General Assembly’s Theological Issues Committee that he “voted against the overture during presbytery, but am here to speak to it,” committee members voted to deny Overture 00-21, which sought to affirm the role of Scripture in the life of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The vote was 2 in favor and 54 against.
One commissioner who voted against the overture said he did so because of the “genuine love I have for the first four chapters of the Book of Order.” He added that every year the Assembly “tinkers with the Book of Order, we add and subtract” but he was against changing that first section.
Another commissioner said that the intent of the overture was “because there are so many things within our denomination that we are divided on and the intent was to draw us together under the authority of Scripture.” She added that she was struggling with the overture, but that the committee needed to understand the intent.
The matter will be voted on by the full General Assembly later this week.