Presbyterians Propose Easing Rule on Sexuality

This spring, it seemed to be settled. Regional groups in the Presbyterian Church voted in favor of a “fidelity and chastity” amendment to church rules that effectively barred gays and lesbians from the ranks of ordained leaders.

Indeed, the so-called Amendment B was automatically added to the constitution of the 2.7-million-member denomination at the end of the 209th General Assembly last week in Syracuse, N.Y. It applies to church elders and deacons as well as full-time clergy.

But that rule might be short-lived.

Reacting to what many Presbyterians called the amendment’s harsh language, delegates voted 328 to 217 last week to send a proposed substitute amendment back to the regional bodies, or presbyteries, for ratification. The revision softens--or, some say, weakens--the wording describing the sexual and moral behavior of candidates for ministerial positions.

The original amendment said church officers must demonstrate that they live “in fidelity within the covenant of marriage of a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.” The substitute amendment drops the word “chastity” and instead speaks of “fidelity and integrity in marriage or singleness.” Marriage in the substitute amendment was not defined as between a man and a woman, leading some Presbyterians to say that same-sex partnerships were given a new chance.

“Those who favored the original amendment say this was just a maneuver to keep the question open,” said the Rev. H. Stephen Jenks, interim executive of the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii. All eight presbyteries in the synod voted for Amendment B.

“Those who want the substitute amendment say this language is more consistent with words used in the vows of ordination,” Jenks said this week at the synod’s Los Angeles office.

In addition, he said, many church leaders note that the denomination already bars “self-affirming, practicing homosexuals” from ordination by virtue of a ruling by the Presbyterian Church’s own judicial system. Theologically conservative Presbyterians had sought to bolster that interpretation by amending the Presbyterian Book of Order.

Supporters of the revised amendment argued that the “fidelity and chastity” rule was creating turmoil in the denomination and causing it to lose members. A small but growing number of congregations had vowed to defy the rule’s ban on the ordination of non-celibate gays.

“Out of what we have heard came our conclusion that something needs to be done,” said the the Rev. Laird Stuart of the San Francisco Presbytery.

The original amendment will be tossed out only if a majority of presbyteries approve the revision.

Opponents of the new amendment, however, predicted that it too will fail to bring peace.