Not Justice, Not Progress, Just the Same Second-Class Status:
An Evaluation of the Theological Task Force Report

John Shuck, Pastor
First Presbyterian Church
Elizabethton, Tennessee

Valentine’s Day, 2006

[2-15-07]

Got comments?
Please send us a note
to be shared here.

It is good for the soul to be reminded of one’s privilege. It doesn’t feel good but it is good for you. I was reminded of my privilege recently. I attended the More Light Regional gathering at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville. Nontumbi "Naomi" Tutu was the keynote speaker. She invited us to recover the true inclusive love that was the mark of the early church. We heard powerful preaching by Ted Smith, professor of preaching and ethics at Vanderbilt. He preached on Revelation and he reminded us that this document provided a powerful critique of Empire. This critique is more relevant than ever to our church and to our nation.

My spirit was fed. I enjoyed connecting with some folks I have known for a while and meeting new friends in my new location. It is humbling for me, a straight person, to attend a More Light conference. They always make sure to welcome straight people. If only our church could return the favor.

Near the end of the conference, we gathered to talk about the upcoming General Assembly. This is the point at which I remembered my heterosexual privilege. I had been thinking that maybe the Task Force Report wasn’t so bad. I had read somewhere that it wasn’t justice, but it was progress. Some conservative groups had been threatening to break away from the denomination if the report was passed without amendment. It must be a good report if the loyal opposition doesn’t like it, I reasoned. While there is much in the report that is good, its final recommendation shatters any good that can come from it. Recommendation number six will allow for neither justice nor progress for lgbt people in our denomination. It requests that we make no change to an unjust, untruthful, and discriminatory policy.¹

The gist of the report as far as lgbt people are concerned is this: our discriminatory policy (G-6.0106b and the Authoritative Interpretation) stays the same.² The bone tossed out to lgbt people is that ordaining and installing bodies could allow candidates to declare a "scruple."³ A candidate could admit that s/he is in a same-sex relationship and be ordained if the ordaining body decides that our denomination’s policies regarding same-sex relationships are not essential. There is no guarantee. The rules stay the same, but if you play your cards right and get really lucky, you might be able to break them. If this report were to pass, the Church would say, in effect, the following to lgbt people: "Know your place. Your sexuality does not meet Presbyterian standards, and it is only by our gracious bending of the rules that you might be allowed to be ordained."

In my inquiry and candidacy phase, and in my fourteen years of ordained service, I have never been asked about my sexuality. My theology is all over the place, but committees on ministry apparently are satisfied that at least I am not gay. Because of this privilege I can get a call almost anywhere I want. I bounce around the country, do ministry, collect a salary, and dream of one day spending my pension with my heterosexual wife. I don’t even need to care about all of this justice business for lgbt people. And I tend to think pretty highly of myself that I do care. That is the beauty of privilege. Privilege allows me to say to my lgbt sisters and brothers, "Hey, don’t be upset. It is progress. We inclusive straight folks love you. Look what we have done. We have elevated your status from abomination to scruple. You should be grateful. Now go play nice."

Our position of privilege deludes us into thinking that we can have it all: peace, unity, purity, and the one word noticeably absent from the Task Force’s title, justice. If the Task Force report is passed in its entirety as recommended, justice will not be served. Neither will progress be made. I know that the members of the Task Force felt that their job was to keep the denomination together. However Jesus said, "If you seek to keep your life you will lose it. If you lose your life for my sake and the gospel, you will gain it."⁴ As I read Jesus, our first concern should not be to keep everything, including the denomination, together. Our first concern should be to proclaim and to live into the justice of the gospel. We only make progress when we lose our lives.

It is interesting that people are concerned that the denomination will split. The lgbt people I know are not interested in splitting the denomination. They simply want to serve it. They are not threatening to take their vast financial treasury and form their own denomination. They want to be recognized by the PCUSA as God recognizes them, as beloved children of God. No one can keep the denomination from splitting. We have no control over what others will do. We all have choices to make. Those who hope for a more inclusive church must choose. With whom will we stand? If we start with justice, we may get unity. But if we start with unity, we will never get justice. Justice precedes unity. We have a choice. Will we seek justice and invite others to unite with us, or will we seek unity and accept injustice indefinitely?

The Task Force recommends that we make no changes to our policy. What does this mean? What is our policy? Thanks to the Presbytery of Cincinnati⁵ and to those who worked to pass an overture that will go to General Assembly, we have been reminded of our policy. I include it here in the form of an affirmation of faith.⁶ In worship, we affirm what we believe. The following seven affirmations of faith are found in the paper that has reached the status of Authoritative Interpretation regarding homosexual persons. The following seven affirmations are what the PCUSA believes. If you are a member of a congregation or presbytery that is part of the PCUSA, this is what you are supposed to believe. These seven statements form the theological basis of our policy regarding lgbt people.

I invite you to say the following affirmations of faith aloud. Make your mouth form the words. Force your vocal chords to utter the sounds. Demand that your ears hear this language. This is what lgbt people hear from our church. You owe it to them to hear yourself say it. Let us affirm our faith, the faith of the Presbyterian Church (USA), together:

"…that homosexuality is not God’s wish for humanity. This we affirm, despite the fact that some of its forms may be deeply rooted in an individual’s personality structure."⁷

"In many cases homosexuality is more a sign of the brokenness of God’s world than of willful rebellion. In other cases homosexual behavior is freely chosen or learned in environments where normal development is thwarted."⁸

"Even where the homosexual orientation has not been consciously sought or chosen, it is neither a gift from God nor a state nor a condition like race; it is a result of our living in a fallen world."⁹

"As we examine the whole framework of teaching bearing upon our sexuality from Genesis onward, we find that homosexuality is a contradiction of God’s wise and beautiful pattern for human sexual relationships revealed in Scripture and affirmed in God’s ongoing will for our life in the Spirit of Christ."¹⁰

"Homosexual persons who will strive toward God’s revealed will in this area of their lives, and make use of all the resources of grace, can receive God’s power to transform their desires or arrest their active expression."¹¹

"…the New Testament declares that all homosexual practice is incompatible with Christian faith and life."¹²

"On the basis of our understanding that the practice of homosexuality is sin, we are concerned that homosexual believers and the observing world should not be left in doubt about the church’s mind on this issue during any further period of study."¹³

Let there be no confusion. This is what Presbyterians believe about gays. When your gay son asks you if the Presbyterian Church will accept him, respect him, and honor his gifts, you can tell him that he is "incompatible with Christian faith and life." When your lesbian sister comes out to you, seeking guidance and compassion from the church, you can tell her that with God’s help she can "…arrest [her] desire or transform [her] active expression." You may say that you don’t believe that. Yet you support the Task Force report that says make no change?

For all of its nice talk about discernment, mutual forbearance, listening to one another, making friends with those on the other side and so forth, the Task Force Report fails to address the real issue. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is not a level playing field. This is not about two equal sides fighting for control. This is not about folks on equal footing who disagree. This is about the oppressed seeking liberation from an oppressive church. Our beloved yet oppressive denomination will never grant justice without being forced to do so. It is that simple. I am often guilty of not seeing this.

Privilege blinds us to truth.

I cannot support recommendation number six of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church because I cannot in good conscience agree not to change a hurtful, unjust, and untruthful policy. I cannot build bridges of unity with my conservative sisters and brothers until the discriminatory policies are removed. Only then will all people be welcome to build these bridges together.

Twenty-one presbyteries have sent overtures to change our policy. It is time for change.

John Shuck, Pastor
First Presbyterian Church
Elizabethton, Tennessee
www.1stpres-eliz.org

Notes

1  Recommendation number six “strongly encourages…the 217th General Assembly (2006) to approve no additional authoritative interpretations, to remove no existing authoritative interpretations, and to send to the presbyteries no proposed constitutional amendments that would have the effect of changing denominational policy on any of the major issues in the task force’s report, including Christology, biblical interpretation, essential tenets, and sexuality and ordination.” Peace, Unity, Purity. P. 43, lines 1305-1312.

2  Removing G-6.0106b will not be enough to remove the barriers to ordination. We must also remove or modify the Authoritative Interpretation. It provides the theological basis for acts of discrimination in our denomination.

3  Peace, Unity, Purity. Pp. 35-36, 1048-1072.

4  Mark 8:35

5  The Presbytery of Cincinnati has sent an overture the General Assembly to remove these seven statements from the 1978 Definitive Guidance which in 1993 became the Authoritative Interpretation.

6  Hal Porter, pastor emeritus of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, led us through this litany at the MLP gathering in Nashville, February 11^th, 2006.

7  (Minutes, UPCUSA, 1979, Part I, p. 262; Minutes, PCUS, 1979, Part I, p. 203, lines 108-110).

8  (Minutes, UPCUSA, p. 262; Minutes, PCUS, p. 203, lines 111-114).

9  (Minutes, UPCUSA, p. 262; Minutes, PUCS, p. 203, lines 114-116).

10  (Minutes, UPCUSA, p. 262; Minutes, PCUS, p. 204, lines 174-178).

11  (Minutes, UPCUSA, p. 263; Minutes, PCUS, p. 205, lines 197-200).

12  (Minutes, UPCUSA, p. 263; Minutes, PCUS, p. 206, lines 239-240).

13  (Minutes, UPCUSA, p. 264; Minutes, PCUS, p. 207, lines 324-328).