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Same-sex blessing ban opposed Presbyterian panel's vote sets stage for new debate Wednesday, September 05, 2001 By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The Committee on Ministry of Pittsburgh Presbytery last night voted to recommend against a ban on same-sex blessing ceremonies by its clergy or in its churches.
The vote was held in private among about 20 committee members after an open hearing attended by another 20 Presbyterians. The Rev. Don Ewing, chairman of the Committee on Ministry, declined to give a vote count, saying it would be released for the Sept. 13 meeting of Pittsburgh Presbytery, which will vote on the proposed ban.
The proposal, from Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church in Mt. Lebanon, seeks a "binding policy" of Pittsburgh Presbytery that "church property shall not be used for, and church officers shall not take part in conducting ceremonies of blessing of same-sex unions."
Last year, the highest court of the Presbyterian Church (USA) ruled that such ceremonies were acceptable as long as they could not be confused with marriage ceremonies. An attempt to add a ban on same-sex blessings to the denomination's constitution was not ratified by a majority of the nation's presbyteries.
Fewer than five of Pittsburgh Presbytery's 164 congregations are known to offer such ceremonies. The presbytery has consistently voted against both same-sex ceremonies and the ordination of sexually active gay people.
Last night, the presbytery's stated clerk, John Matta, explained that no presbytery policy can be binding unless it is clearly based on Scripture or the denomination's constitution. However, the church's high court has already said that neither Scripture nor the constitution forbid same-sex blessings. So, if adopted, the proposed ban can only be advisory and cannot be used to bring disciplinary action against any member of Pittsburgh Presbytery, Matta said.
The Rev. Doug Pratt, pastor of Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in McCandless, countered that the ordination vow to follow the rules of the church should make such a ban binding. Matta replied that Pratt's argument would have to be tested in the church courts.
The Rev. Richard Wolling, pastor of Beverly Heights, said his church proposed the ban because of a need for a "clear and consistent statement of policy on same-sex unions."
It was not intended to show a lack of love for gays and lesbians, he said.
"The most loving thing that can be done in the Christian church is to point a person away from a life of sin and toward the road of redemption," he said.
The Rev. Janet Edwards, a minister-at-large, opposed the ban.
She argued that the biblical commands for justice and mercy sometimes clash.
"I can accept that the right [wing of the church] stands for the truth of the law in Scripture. I would like for the right to acknowledge that I, on the left, stand for mercy. It is only God who brings these opposites together," she said.
The Rev. Louis Long, a retired pastor from White Oak, said he appreciated Edwards' words but said, "I have the same passion and feeling and fervor to uphold God's word when it says that homosexuality and bestiality and all of those kinds of things are vulgar and wrong and not the way God made us to be."
The Rev. David Antonson, pastor of Northmont Presbyterian Church, McCandless, said that he would not conduct a same-sex ceremony, but opposed the ban.
"I don't think this helps the church. I'm concerned about inflammatory language," he said.
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