Pro-gay ordination presbyteries have 54.4% higher membership loss than those voting for standard By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, September 22, 2004 New statistics published by the Presbyterian Church (USA) show that the denomination's membership decline is dramatically higher in presbyteries that voted in 2001 to repeal the denomination's prohibition against ordaining practicing homosexuals. In that vote, 127 presbyteries – 73.8 percent – affirmed the denomination's constitutional ordination standard and the Authoritative Interpretation that undergirds it. Only 46 presbyteries voted to repeal both measures. That margin corresponds closely to presbytery membership figures provided in the denomination's "2003 Comparative Statistics," which report membership as of Dec. 31, 2003. The pro-ordination standard presbyteries accounted for 73.4 percent of the denomination's 2.4 million members. But the 2003 statistics showed that in a 10-year-period – 1994 through 2003 – the attrition in the presbyteries voting against the ordination standard was 13.9 percent – or 54.4 percent higher than the 9-percent loss in the 127 presbyteries that voted to uphold current church law. Previous studies by The Layman Online have provided a similar picture in comparisons of presbytery votes in 1996, the year the denomination approved the constitutional ordination standard, and 1997, when presbyteries were asked to water down the prohibition so that homosexuals could be ordained. In fact, the margins of support for the constitutional standard have increased with each referendum. In 1996, 55.9 percent of the presbyteries voted to add the "fidelity/chastity" standard to the constitution. In 1997, 66.7 percent of the presbyteries voted against rewording the standard so that it would allow the ordination of homosexuals. In a previous study, The Layman Online compared the demographics of the Confessing Churches within the Presbyterian Church (USA) with those of the Covenant Network and More Light Presbyterians, the two special-interest organizations that are leading the attack on the denomination's ordination standards and prohibition against marrying homosexual couples. That study showed that the membership loss among More Light and Covenant Churches for a 10-year period was 15.5 percent – 250 percent higher than the 6.4 percent decline in the Confessing Churches. The study also showed that members of Confessing Churches were more faithful in their giving and worship attendance. The comparisons are important because they help frame the ongoing debate in the denomination over how to stanch the hemorrhage in membership that began in 1967 with the adoption of the Confession of '67. That document provided the basis for what has become a radical way from viewing Scripture as the highest authority for faith and practice - and the ensuing loss of 1.8 million members (from 4.2 million in 1967 to 2.4 million at the end of 2003). In the last two years, the attrition rate has escalated, with combined losses of more than 80,000 in 2002 and 2003. The denomination's budget figures are based on a projected loss of 40,000 more members in 2004. The 216th General Assembly took no vote on the constitutional ordination standard – G-6.0106b in the Book of Order. But the commissioners did come within four votes of not affirming the Authoritative Interpretation, which declares that homosexual behavior is not God's will. In both cases, the majority of the commissioners favored waiting for the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity's final report, which will go to the 2006 General Assembly. The task force will meet Oct. 13-15 in Chicago and is scheduled to begin framing its response to the ordination issue. Only one member of the task force, the Rev. Mike Loudon, has said publicly that he would not vote to change the church law.

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