Presbytery vote keeps harsh stance on gays
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Pittsburgh Presbytery has rejected an effort to remove negative language about homosexuality from a 28-year-old background paper that forms part of the rationale for the church's ban on the ordination of sexually active gay people.
The 135-84 vote during yesterday's meeting at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary was in line with the presbytery's history of support for traditional Christian sexual morality. However, the margin of 3-2 was closer than the 2-1 votes with which the presbytery has turned back efforts to approve the ordination of actively gay clergy in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The statements at issue are not part of church law, and removing them would not have removed the ban on ordination. One said, "Even where the homosexual orientation has not been consciously sought or chosen, it is neither a gift from God nor a state nor a condition like race; it is a result of our living in a fallen world."
An identical petition to this summer's General Assembly came from the Presbytery of Cincinnati. The lay governing boards of East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Sixth Presbyterian Church in Squirrel Hill and Community House Presbyterian Church, North Side, had asked Pittsburgh Presbytery to support that request to the highest governing body of the 2.4 million-member denomination. About 44,000 of those members live in Pittsburgh Presbytery.
Deacon Carol Untch of East Liberty Presbyterian Church, chairman of the presbytery's Task Force on Ministry with Sexual Minorities, said she was not addressing those who agreed with the statements, but those who were unaware of them and didn't know they were online at www.pcusa.org.
"Most of us know gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in our workplace, in our neighborhood, in our family and, yes, even in our church," she said. "We need to reflect on whether these are the statements that we want to represent our church."
Susan Rothenberg, a seminarian who attends Sixth Presbyterian Church, said her 14-year-old daughter can't understand why anyone would think negatively of a close friend of hers who is gay.
"To answer Rachel's questions, I only have to log onto the PCUSA Web site," she said. "These statements are incompatible with the Jesus she has come to know and love."
James Buczynski, an elder at Community House Presbyterian Church, said the statements drive people away from the church. "Are we expanding the circle of our shared faith in Christ ... or are we quite literally profilers, screeners and gatekeepers of who is called and who is not?" he asked.
Supporters of the 1978 statements said the church calls everyone to repent.
"There is a difference between condemning and convicting. This language is in no way condemning, but is quite convicting," said the Rev. John Welsh, pastor of Bidwell Presbyterian Church in Manchester.
First Published April 21, 2006 12:00 am
