Conservative delegates to two national denominational conventions lost battles to either hold the line against gay ministers or to move it back.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to continue their official disapproval of ordination of gay ministers but to allow those who are supportive of an inclusive church to ignore the rule.
A measure approved 298-221 by a Presbyterian national assembly keeps in place a church law that says clergy and lay elders and deacons must limit sexual relations to man-woman marriage. But the new legislation says local congregations and regional presbyteries can exercise some flexibility when choosing clergy and lay officers of local congregations if sexual orientation or other issues arise.
Although this may not on the surface appear to be particularly supportive, it is being viewed as a significant loss for those within the PCUSA that wished to retain a restrictive view on homosexuality.
Also today, the Episcopal Church rejected efforts to put a temporary moratorium on the ordination of gay bishops. After Bishop Robinson was confirmed in 2003, many churches within the Anglican Communion (of which the Episcopal Church is a member) severed ties with the Episcopal Church. This moratorium was viewed as a possible way that the peace could be maintained and the church remain unified.
A proposal for the U.S. Episcopal Church to impose an unofficial moratorium on ordaining more openly gay bishops was rejected on Tuesday in a vote that could further roil relations with fellow Anglicans worldwide.
Although a day remains in which parliamentarian maneuvers could still allow for a vote, the action today suggests that this will not happen.
Those opposed to gay Episcopalians have determined that they cannot share fellowship and communion with fellow Anglicans who disagree with them on this issue. This rejection of the moratorium comes on the heels of the election of a woman as the head of the church. More conservative Anglicans oppose the ordination of women.
It is likely that the worldwide Anglican Communion will break apart with more liberal countries in the West splitting from African and Asian Anglicans. Alternately, the Archbishop of Canterbury may, in a last ditch effort, expel the Episcopalians in an effort to keep the other churches under one roof. This would be, in my opinion, a short lived effort as it would embolden the conservatives to make more demands on other chuches in the West.
Of more practical interest will be what will happen within the Episcopal Church itself. It is highly likely that those conservative Episcopalians who have been unhappy for the past three years will sever themselves from the body and appeal for recognition by the Archbishop as true Anglicans. We should also expect legal battles over the property of those dioceses.
This will be, in my opinion, just the first of the schisms that will arise out of the most divisive issue to affect Christianity since slavery, namely how the body of Christ should respond to those within it who are gay.
UPDATE
In an unexpected move, the presiding head of the Episcopal Church called a joint meeting of Bishops, clergy, and lay representatives and pleaded for some resolution that could be used to show the greater Anglican Communion that their concerns were taken seriously.
Yesterday, at the end of the Episcopal Church’s triennial convention in Columbus, Ohio, bishops and clergy and lay representatives voted overwhelmingly for a resolution calling upon bishops and diocesan standing committees, which are akin to boards of trustees, not to give their consent to the election “of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.”
This nonbinding resolution served to please neither conservatives, who demanded that a moratorium be placed, nor liberals, who were offended that gay Episcopalians are being sacrificed on the alter of “unity”. This unhappy compromise may, however, allow the Anglican Communion a breather in which to come to terms with what fellowship can be maintained between branches that differ so greatly in their understanding of sin, redemption, sexuality, and the application of Levitical Law and cultural prohibitions to the modern understanding of sexual orientation.
A crisis may have been averted. But this issue will not go away and the Episcopal Church will not accept forever the exclusion of gay Christians from full inclusion in its body. We can anticipate further crises and a possible schism within the next few years.
Only vaguely related, but I felt this was too good not to share. After the newly-elected leader of the U.S. Episcopal church said she didn’t believe homosexuality was a sin, the always-excellent Ms. Spaulding collected a list of venomous quotes critical (to be politic) of this announcement.
My favorite has to be “I wonder how long until she throws out the other nine commandments.”
Schism is coming in the PCUSA, as well. They went over the cliff on this one…
Yes, the local PCUSA (Woodbridge, VA) is already discussing leaving the denomination. Makes me feel really welcome. Oddly, the Jax, FL church I was a member of (before a recent move) has not discussed it. I would have thought being further north, and closer to DC would have made a difference, but then again, Prince William County (where WB is) is pretty backwards. I have lesbian friends who vote for Republicans because they think the Dems will take their guns away. The same Republicans who made their relationship illegal, go figure.
Anyhow, if the local PCUSA church leaves over this, I will likely change denominations, sadly. The last time there was a split in the PC was over the ordination of women back in the 70’s. More and more fractures.
If a congregation wants to deny gays ordination as elders or ministers, I think that is OK. So long as they also deny non-celebate, divorced, or remarried hets that right. Oh, and all women. Slave owners and polygamists are OK, though. Just being biblical.
SharonB said:
I have lesbian friends who vote for Republicans because they think the Dems will take their guns away. The same Republicans who made their relationship illegal, go figure.
Not to travel into political territory, but I think the point needs to be made. Neither major political party has been especially helpful with gay rights when it counts, certainly not with same-sex marriage. The main difference I see is that Republicans rarely claim to be in the first place.
David Roberts
Please notice that great big piles of “conservative influence,” not to mention money, were in both conventions, blown away by the intervention of something that looks a lot like the Holy Ghost side of the Trinity.
Even Dr. Gagnon, actually serving on the Committee that took up the 22 ‘stop messing with the homos’ overtures sent in by presbyteries was only able to get 30 of the 58 people voting on the matter to agree with him after way too many hours of grandstanding. The overtures were stopped this time, but then the conservative armada lost on the very large report that restores “local option” considerations that go back 200 years. Their big question now is how much of a donor exhaustion storm they will encounter on the way home. (The Spanish Armada reference is entirely intentional.)
Episcopalians report that the woman elected Presiding Bishop rather unexpectedly turned out to be the best candidate. That it might be a rather prophetic response to folks who want to dictate some aspects of the life of the American section of the Anglican Communion from other continents and the tops of various piles of money, was not formally an issue.
Even the ruling junta at the Southern Baptist Convention took a major hit.
This is all good news because, in each case, the life of the church was more important than the success of the variously conservative parties and personalities within the church. Remember that what got Bishop Robinson elected and confirmed is that it was well known that he would be an excellent Bishop.
The so-called compromise didn’t please the Archbishop of Canterbury either. He is proposing to the Primates at their February meeting to consider allowing a split between the “constituent” members of the Anglican Communion, the so-called Windsor bishops, and “associated” members, the current Episcopal Church. This would in essence produce two parallel provinces. The Archbishop cannot mandate this and thus at this point it is only a suggestion.