(More Apostasy!)
Taking The Task Force To Task
The report of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church (TTF) did not fare well during recent back-to-back meetings of the denomination’s two predominant “affinity groups.”
Last week, in Memphis, the board of directors of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians — a nine-year-old group committed to the full inclusion of gay and lesbian Presbyterians in the PC(USA), including as ordained officers — defended its "neutral" stance on the report, which it said offers "not justice, but progress.”Yesterday, in Orlando, the Presbyterian Coalition — an umbrella group of renewal organizations that oppose gay ordination — condemned the TTF report, calling its recommendations “unconstitutional” and accusing the task force of trying to make an “end run” around the PC(USA)’s prohibition of the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians.
The report, four years in the making, will be presented to the 217th General Assembly in Birmingham, AL, next June.
Primarily at issue are two key recommendations: 1) a proposed “authoritative interpretation” of section G-6.0108 of the PC(USA) constitution that would allow candidates for ordination or installation to declare “scruples” (or conscientious objections) to confessional or constitutional standards, and still be ordained — if the ordaining body decided that such “scruples” did not concern “essential” elements of Presbyterian doctrine or practice; and 2) a proposal that the current ordination standards not be debated or changed during the upcoming General Assembly.
FULL ARTICLE at