Prohibiting
Same-Sex Ceremonies
By
Daryl Fisher-Ogden
Las
Vegas, Nevada
November
2000
The 2000
General Assembly in Long Beach voted by a narrow margin to
send Overture 00-26, now Amendment O, to the 173 presbyteries
as an amendment to the Directory for Worship. This overture
had been drafted in response to a ruling of the General
Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission. The Presbytery of San
Joaquin endorsed the language and sent it as an overture to
the Assembly. The amendment takes a positive stance and is
very simple:
- W-4.9007 Scripture and our Confessions
teach that God’s intention for all people is to live
either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between
a man and a woman or in chastity in singleness. Church
property shall not be used for, and church officers shall
not take part in conducting, any ceremony or event that
pronounces blessing or gives approval of the church or
invokes the blessing of God upon any relationship that is
inconsistent with God’s intention as expressed in the
preceding sentence.
The language of Amendment O echoes an amendment ratified
by presbyteries in 1997, now G-6.0106b in the Book of
Order. Amendment O reaffirms what God’s intention for
sexual relations is and what church officers should abide by.
While it would prohibit same-sex ceremonies, it would also
prohibit blessing polygamy and other relationships that do not
meet our Scriptural and confessional standards.
The passage of this amendment was a joint effort by seven
commissioners and two Youth Advisory Delegates who served on
the Spiritual Well-Being Committee at Long Beach. The
commissioners refined their testimony and reviewed
parliamentary procedure, as well as discussing together what
God was leading them to do. The committee heard public
testimony for 1½ hours and later debated for three hours.
The vote in committee was 25 for and 22 against sending the
amendment to the plenary floor of the Assembly.
At the plenary on the last evening, the 500-plus commissioners
took up the debate on whether to send the amendment to the
presbyteries. Following nearly two hours of pro-con speeches,
the vote was 268 for and 251 against. The margin of 17 votes
was narrow but significant. The commissioners were tired and
stressed. Heavy lobbying had taken place to convince those “moderate”
commissioners to allow same-sex ceremonies at the discretion
of the pastor.
The arguments against the amendment included:
- God made me this way and I want to have sex in a
monogamous relationship.
- Please don’t exclude us from the church.
- We love each other and want the church’s blessing.
- We don’t need more rules and punitive sections in
the Book of Order.
- Allow pastors to exercise freedom of conscience and don’t
restrict their actions.
- PCUSA supported same-sex civil marriage so why not
these ceremonies.
- PCUSA should bless the obvious fruits of the Spirit
shown in these relationships.
- PCUSA should nurture love and life-giving relationships
with same-sex ceremonies.
- Endorsing gay and lesbian lifestyles is outside the
essential tenets of the Reformed faith.
The arguments for the amendment included:
- God made humanity good, but now we are all fallen
creatures. God accepts us as we are, but calls us to turn
away from our brokeness to his wholeness.
- PCUSA should bless only what Scripture and our
confessions teach.
- Feelings of love can change; science supports the
possibility of change for gay and lesbian people. To bless
these relationships is to take away a person’s hope
of change.
- Currently there is a conflict between the rule on
same-sex ceremonies as seen by the Advisory Committee on
the Constitution and by the Permanent Judicial Commission.
This doesn’t add any new rules, it simply clarifies
our historic stand.
- All church officers voluntarily bind their conscience
to our confessions in their ordination vows (G-6.0108b and
G-14.0504b). There are restrictions on baptism and the
Lord’s Supper; this simply clarifies confessional
restrictions already in place. Pastoral care should
continue to be extended in times of sickness, death and
daily struggles.
- In 1996 the Assembly authorized the stated clerk to
explore filing a brief supporting same-sex unions in
Hawaii. The clerk decided not to file the brief
and no further action was taken.
- Spiritual fruits need to be judged by Scripture and our
confessions. Discernment takes place under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit through Scripture and the faith witnessed
to in the confessions.
- Nurture in love by the PCUSA means encouraging each
person’s faith journey as they are conformed to Jesus
Christ and not to the standards and whims of the world.
- While the essential tenets have never been defined,
G-2.0500 sets out the central themes of our Reformed
faith. Same-sex ceremonies deny the theme of God’s
providence in redeeming humans from their brokeness. Our
joint covenant life is harmed by same-sex ceremonies
because they create disorder in the church by blessing
what God has called us to turn away from in Scripture and
the confessions.
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