Twin Cities Area rejects O and A
a report from Doug King
January 13, 2001
The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area voted today
on the constitutional amendments, and approved two overtures to the 213th
General Assembly.
Amendment A was rejected by a vote of 148-101, and
Amendment O was rejected by 168-80.
In the discussion on "A," one commissioner
supported the amendment, arguing that deleting the present list of
persons to be welcomed as members by the PC(USA) would change nothing,
and simply affirm the welcome that we already extent to all people.
In opposition to "A," another commissioner
recalled how for the centuries we thought it was inclusive enough to say
that "all men are created equal." We have had to revise our
understanding of that statement over the centuries, and have often
modified our language to reflect those changes. We now recognize, he
said, "that we must make explicit statements to compensate for the
exclusions of the past."
The discussion on Amendment O was opened by a pastor
who stated flatly that the total ban on same-sex unions would be a good
thing because "there's only one sexual relationship affirmed in the
Bible." Minister commissioner Jeannette Hickman then commented that
"having seen all our problems with managed health care, this looks
a lot like managed ministry to me." If we are concerned about
healthy committed relationships, she added, we support people who are
trying to build just such relationships.
Two overtures dealing with G-6.0106(b) were presented
to the gathering, and both were approved for transmittal to the General
Assembly. One from Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis calls
very simply for putting to the presbyteries the question: "Should
G-6.0106(b) be deleted in its entirety?" An overture from St. Luke
Presbyterian Church, Wayzata, MN, would go beyond that, calling on the
General Assembly to issue an Authoritative Interpretation by which the
interpretive statements "concerning ordained service by homosexual
persons," beginning with the 1978 statement of the UPCUSA, and the
1979 statement of the PCUS, and all subsequent authoritative
interpretations, "shall be given no further force or effect."
Today's presbytery assembly also elected commissioners
to General Assembly. Clergy commissioners elected for GA included Louise
Bender, Stephen Elderbrock, and Tammy Lindahl.
