U.S. Prbyterian Church at crossroads over gay marriage | Rters

Contents:

• US PRBYTERIAN CHURCH REGNIS GAY MARRIAGE
• PRBYTERIAN CHURCH FORMALLY APPROV GAY MARRIAGE CHURCH NSTUTN
• U.S. PRBYTERIAN CHURCH AT CROSSROADS OVER GAY MARRIAGE
• PRBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA) CHANG S NSTUTN TO CLU GAY MARRIAGE
• HERE’S WHY A VOTE ON GAY MARRIAGE OM PRBYTERIANS MATTERS
• 3 OTHER CHRISTIAN DENOMATNS THAT ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE

US PRBYTERIAN CHURCH REGNIS GAY MARRIAGE

” Meanwhile, on Twter, the Relign News Service announced that wh the PC(USA) change “male Prottants have solidified their support for gay marriage. “I remember Chris wrote , ” she says, sharg the story of how her son me out to her as gay. ” McCallum remembers visg her son’s apartment where he was leadg a Bible study for gay men.

PRBYTERIAN CHURCH FORMALLY APPROV GAY MARRIAGE CHURCH NSTUTN

She had never nmned homosexualy as agast God’s will, but tth be told, she had been uneasy wh . When an associate pastor said to me, ‘I have a gay brother, and he don’t have any more time for you to study the matter, ’ I ma a cisn.

I am glad that a pastor is not forced to officiate at any marriage, heterosexual or homosexual, if they don’t feel is wise. Jt as the church changed her stance on slavery and women’s role the church, some of have e to unrstand the biblil prohibns of homosexual behavr to refer stead to vlent sexual acts agast anyone, wh specific reference to sexual acts between men and children. Correctn append, March 18 The Prbyterian Church (USA) ma a historic cisn Tuday night to formally regnize gay marriage and allow same-sex upl to marry s ngregatns.

U.S. PRBYTERIAN CHURCH AT CROSSROADS OVER GAY MARRIAGE

“Fally, the church s nstutnal documents fully regniz that the love of gays and lbian upl is worth celebratg the fah muny, ” Rev. Ellison, executive director of the Covenant Network of Prbyterians, which advot for the cln of gay people the church, told the Tim. "But the nomatn has clud a provisn that no clergy would be pelled to pri over a gay marriage or host such a ceremony on church property.

) approved the ordatn of gay pastors, elrs and ans 2011, which led to many nservative ngregatns to leave the nomatn. ) approved refg marriage the church nstutn Tuday to clu a "mment between two people, " beg the largt Prottant group to formally regnize gay marriage as Christian and allow same-sex weddgs every new fn was endorsed last year by the church General Assembly, or top legislative body, but required approval om a majory of the nomatn's 171 regnal districts, or prbyteri. Rob Whe, a lear of More Light Prbyterians, which advot for gay acceptance wh the far, 41 prbyteri have rejected the refn, which clus a provisn that no clergy would be pelled to pri at a gay marriage or host such a ceremony on church property.

The vote one prbytery was tied, acrdg to a tally by the Covenant Network of Prbyterians, a pro-gay group that works to keep Prbyterians uned spe theologil year, the church had allowed misters to pri at gay weddgs if lol church lears approved stat where the unns were legally regnized. Between 2011, when the Prbyterian church thorized gay ordatn, and 2013, the latt year for which figur are available, 428 of the nomatn's church left for more nservative nomatns or dissolved, though some theologil nservativ have remaed as they ci how to move Fowler LaBerge, print of the nservative Prbyterian Lay Commtee, said the new fn was "an exprs repudiatn of the Bible" and approved "what God do not bls. He said the Fellowship's opposn to the amendment is " no way tend to be anti-gay, " but aims "wh huy" to uphold the tradnal Bible view of marriage.

PRBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA) CHANG S NSTUTN TO CLU GAY MARRIAGE

Although several Prottant nomatns have taken signifint steps toward regnizg same-sex relatnships, only one other major Christian group has endorsed gay marriage as Christian 2005, the 1. "The Epispal Church, which blazed a trail 2003 by electg the first openly gay Anglin bishop, Gene Robson, do not have a formal posn on gay marriage, but allows bishops to ci whether their prits n officiate at the ceremoni. Epispalians will take up gay marriage at a natnal meetg Evangelil Lutheran Church Ameri, which elimated barriers to gay ordatn 2009, tak a siar approach, allowg some discretn by clergy and ngregatns to officiate at same-sex ceremoni whout formally regnizg same-sex marriage as a Uned Methodist Church, the send-largt Prottant nomatn the U.

S., bars "self-avowed practicg homosexuals" om ordatn and prohibs gay weddgs. Many Methodist clergy have been performg gay marriag as a prott of church Rev. Morator Heath Rada durg bate June 2014 on a vote Detro that approved changg the church's nstutn to regnize same-sex Guralnick / The Detro News via APIN-DEPTHPrbyterian Church (USA) Lears Declare Gay Marriage Is ChristianAt 59%, Support for Same-Sex Marriage Hs New HighSupreme Court Agre to Deci on Same-Sex Marriage.

8 ln members, will let dividual church ci whether to perform gay-marriage ceremoni. " Individual clergy may still refe to perform gay-marriage ceremoni. There was a wave of partur and after 2011, when the prbyteri ratified a cisn to orda gays and lbians as pastors, elrs and ans, and that may have cleared the way for Tuday's vote.

HERE’S WHY A VOTE ON GAY MARRIAGE OM PRBYTERIANS MATTERS

NEW YORK (Rters) - Midwtern mister Greg Smh is nsirg an act of eccliastil sympathetic to gay rights sce his son, Matty, me out as gay a ago, the lifelong Prbyterian told his son he will officiate at his weddg, fyg church policy. Relign acrdg to the Natnal Council of Church, is the grips of a crisis over gay 2.

7-ln-strong church has lost about 500, 000 members over the last , and church lears fear that an endorsement of same-sex marriage uld spur an exod of Christians who view as patible wh biblil failg to act uld mean the church is viewed as irrelevant and homophobic by young and progrsive members. Jt two years ago, the church agreed to open the ranks of s clergy to homosexuals, promptg dozens of ngregatns to spl off to jo more nservative nomatns or to form their own.

“But we did manage somethg miraculo: In a polarized church and natn, we spent several days tryg to figure out a way to stay together across our divisns, ” she Prbyterian Church allows misters to bls same-sex unns but prohibs them om solemnizg legal homosexual marriag. PASTORAL QUANDARYThe legalizatn of marriage six stat and the District of Columbia, along wh the growg visibily of gay parishners, has put prsure on U.

3 OTHER CHRISTIAN DENOMATNS THAT ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE

“I thk ’s the same nversatn that’s gog on society, as people have more relatnships wh people who are LGBT and they have to wrtle wh all the issu, ” said Reverend Gradye Parsons, a Prbyterian lear, g the acronym for gay, lbian, bisexual and gay parishners requt a weddg, misters fd themselv a “pastoral quandary, ” he is no official unt of same-sex Prbyterian weddgs, but anecdotal evince suggts they are on the several hours of assembly bate, two misters publicly clared they would perform gay the nsequence of such fiance was also on view: Reverend Tara Spuhler McCabe rigned shortly after beg elected vice morator, a learship post, amid an outcry that she had signed a marriage license for a same-sex uple Washgton, D. ”NO TURNING BACKStill, fiance n e at a heavy Southard, a Prbyterian mister the Boston area, says she has performed four same-sex weddg ceremoni sce 2004, when Massachetts legalized gay one se, she wed a lbian uple, cludg a woman who tght adult Bible study and her partner who tght Sunday school. Ordag bodi (ssns and prbyteri) are permted but not required to orda lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr persons.

The Prbyterian Church (USA), the largt body of Prbyterians the untry, approved a change the wordg of s nstutn to allow gay and lbian weddgs wh the church, a move that threatens to ntue to spl the male Prottant 171 regnal prbyteri (lol learship bodi wh the PCUSA) have been votg on whether to change the wordg to ll marriage a ntract “between a woman and a man” to beg “between two people, tradnally a man and a woman.

”The vote amid a larger bate over whether gay marriage nflicts wh Scripture and would e more Prbyterian church to break relatns wh the PCUSA.