Well, I’m back from the PC (USA) General Assembly held in San Jose. This certainly isn’t my father’s denomination. Among the highlights:
1. The effort to change the definition of marriage to include same-sex partners was voted down.
2. New changes to the authoritative interpretation of the constitution will permit sessions and presbyteries to ordain people who do not abide by the ordination standards.
The General Assembly has also removed the authoritative interpretation that prohibits homosexual practice for church officers. These combined changes permit homosexuals to serve as clergy and as church officers. These changes take effect immediately.
3. Along with these changes, the General Assembly has sent a corresponding constitutional change to be voted upon by our 173 presbyteries.
If the proposed constitutional changes are approved, the “Fidelity and Chastity” standard of the constitution would be deleted, replaced with a requirement that any person must make a sincere effort to obey one’s personal interpretation of scripture for ordination. (Yes, personal interpretation has trumped objective truth.)
It should be noted that the General Assembly voted to remove the “homosexual perversion” reference in the Heidelberg Confession. Proponents claimed that this change represented a correction in the English translation from the original German document of 1563, which was adopted by the Presbyterian Church in 1967. A minority report was submitted, stated that "the current translation of the Heidelberg Catechism, as adopted in The Book of Confessions, faithfully and clearly declares to the members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and to the world who and what we are, what we believe, and what we resolve to do."
For a perspective of G.A. from the left of the denomination: Witherspoon Society
For a perspective of G.A. from the right of the denomination: The Layman
For a perspective of G.A. from the middle: Presbyterians For Renewal
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