Moderator using her position to lobby for gay ordination
The Layman Online, July 30, 2003
General Assembly Moderator Susan R. Andrews is using her office to lobby for the ordination of homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered people in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
When the 215th General Assembly elected her moderator in May, Andrews resigned as a director of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, an organization that says its purpose is to get Presbyterians to repeal the constitutional “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard. She said she wanted to be moderator of the whole church.
But, leading a Bible study at Druid Hills Presbyterian Church on July 28, Andrews again called for “full inclusion” of “GLBT” (gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people) in the Presbyterian Church (USA), according to a report by Erin Swenson, a transgendered Presbyterian minister whose previous name was Eric.
Swenson’s report, which is posted on the Witherspoon Society Web site, noted that only about 35 people attended the moderator’s Bible study, including Vice-Moderator Charles Easley and Fahed Abu-Akel of Atlanta, moderator of the 214th General Assembly.
Andrews used Isaiah 56:1-8, the text for the official Bible study at the 215th General Assembly, to press for acceptance of GLBTs in church leadership. That Bible study, which was approved by Presbyterian leaders, was designed to refute arguments against ordaining practicing homosexuals.
“The Moderator used Grace Yeuell’s study guide (published for the 215th GA meeting), providing graceful and thought-provoking reflections on the passage,” Swenson.
Andrews’ efforts to reverse General Assembly decisions and the outcome of three referendums affirming the constitutional ordination standard are similar to those of another Covenant Network leader and former moderator. Jack B. Rogers, moderator of the 213th General Assembly, is still on the speakers’ circuit opposing the denomination’s Biblical standards. Further, he wants the denomination to permit the “marriage” of homosexual couples.