Opposition to Amendment 01-A nearly 70 percent of presbyteries
The Layman Online, February 15, 2002
Unless the trend changes dramatically, Amendment 01-A, the proposal to delete the “fidelity/chastity” clause from the Book of Order and invalidate all General Assembly declarations that homosexual practice is sinful, will go down in flames.
The vote as of Feb. 14 was 80-35 against 01-A – 69.6 percent opposing the ordination of practicing homosexuals. Of the 115 presbyteries that have voted, 102 – 88.7 percent – have registered a stronger vote in favor of the constitutional ordination standard than when the presbyteries first approved it in 1996-97.
Meanwhile, Doug Nave, the overture advocate who steered the proposal through the 2001 General Assembly, has suggested that the vote doesn’t really reflect the mind of Presbyterians. In a statement posted on the Witherspoon Society’s Web site, Nave said “a good part of the voting this year appears to be motivated by fear of schism and a desire to wait for the Theological Task Force report in 2005.”
Nave’s statement doesn’t explain how he reads the minds of commissioners, but there are scientific measurements.
The denomination’s Office of Research Services, the polling arm for the Presbyterian Church (USA), conducted a poll in which 67 percent of the respondents favored the current ordination standard. And polling from 1993-99 – which preceded the formation of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity – showed that 72 percent of the denomination’s elders and members believe homosexual activity is sinful.
In the Amendment 01-A referendum, 20 presbyteries that previously voted against the 1996-97 proposal, which became G-6.0106b in the Book of Order, now affirm that standard. Only one presbytery has changed its vote in the other direction.
Nave does not want to give up the fight. And he suggests that the “way forward is not so direct, but will require continued dialogue, helping everyone in our fellowship to discern more clearly the gifts for service that our gay and lesbian members bring to the church, and to appreciate more fully the unfathomable grace that lies at the heart of our faith.”