 Covenant Network leader is candidate for moderator The Layman Volume 35, Number 1 Posted February 8, 2002
Commissioners in the Presbytery of San Francisco voted 230-121 to endorse Laird Stuart, pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. A candidate must be endorsed by his home presbytery before his name can be placed on the ballot. Stuart is the former co-moderator of the Covenant Network, whose leaders say it exists for the sole purpose of removing the denomination’s constitutional prohibition against the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals. If elected, Stuart would become one of a number of Covenant Network principals to serve as moderator, including current Moderator Jack B. Rogers, also of California. The others are Robert Bohl of Prairie Village, Kan., John Buchanan of Chicago, the founding co-moderators of the Covenant Network, and Freda Gardner, formerly a member of the network’s board of advisors. Stuart has sought to downplay theological differences between evangelicals and liberals. He was part of a network team that put together two joint Bible studies involving a team sponsored by the network and one sponsored by the evangelical Presbyterian Coalition. Those teams never reached a mutual understanding of how to interpret Scripture. In one of their discussions, Stuart acknowledged that evangelicals and what he called “liberal progressives” had dissimilar views of Scripture, and he admitted, “We [liberal progressives] are accused of playing loose with Scripture, and I cannot categorically deny that. A lot of our exegesis is very sloppy.” While dealing specifically with New Testament admonitions against homosexual activity, Stuart declared that the Apostle Paul “was wrong. Some passages are authoritative for life and belief and some are not.” As co-moderator of the Covenant Network, Stuart was one of the leaders in the campaign to allow ministers to bless same-gender couples. After a referendum in 2000 Stuart announced in San Francisco that he was open to conducting such services. |
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