PC(USA) Upholds Ordination Standards

By Pauline J. Chang

The 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to continue prohibiting the ordination of active, self-acknowledged and unrepentant homosexuals in the church, on Friday, July 2, 2004. The 297 to 218 vote in effect overturned the PC(USA) Legislative Committee’s earlier recommendation to dismantle the Authoritative Interpretation of the 1978 “fidelity/chastity” standard in the church’s constitution. If the AI were removed, church members would be able to interpret the “fidelity/chastity” law according to their own subjective inference, thereby opening the door to the full inclusion of gay pastors in the denomination.

Following the defeat, the pro-homosexual side of the debate gathered outside the Richmond Coliseum, where the weeklong assembly took place, to mourn and pray together.

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