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This atheist is celebrating today with her Presbyterian family and friends! I want equality everywhere, even places I wouldn’t go like the military and church. LGBT-positive changes that religious people bring about in their institutions result in members of that institution re-thinking how they treat lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people everywhere, not just in church. There is a positive ripple effect that benefits us all, whether in their personal interactions with us or how they vote.
A warm congratulations to all those who worked so hard to make this positive change happen. Today is a day for all of us to celebrate.
On Sunday, July 10, changes to the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s constitution go into effect, allowing the ordination of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ministers, elders and deacons. Ratification of these constitutional changes was assured in May of 2011, when a majority of the 173 presbyteries voted to change the policy through a nationwide ratification process. Voting on the amendment continued through July. Ninety-seven presbyteries approved the amendment which will become official policy for the entire denomination on Sunday, July 10. More Light Presbyterian congregations across the country marked the moment with prayer and rejoicing in their worship services. (List: http://www.mlp.org/index.php?topic=churches).
“This historic moment reminds me of when Presbyterians affirmed women as ordained leaders in the church a generation ago,” said Michael Adee, executive director of More Light Presbyterians. ”Across this country members of welcoming and affirming congregations and ministries are telling the stories of faithful candidates who can now be considered for ordination. Years of sharing our lives, Bible study and prayer helped Presbyterians from all walks of life to affirm ordination based on gifts and graces for ministry and God’s love for all people.”
Related:
* Guest Post by Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards: What Today’s Vote Means for the Church
* Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) lifts ban on noncelibate gay clergy but dodges the marriage question
6 Comments
Brava! but…though a wonderful thing for those Gay men and Lesbian women who feel the calling, it needs to be recognised that the mainstream Protestant faiths are dying whilst the homophobic evangelical churches are growing as Americans seem determined to commit intellectual suicide.
So the current scoreScads of Christian sects and mainstreams like Episcopal, Presbyterian, now embrace gay people.
So what’s taking the Catholic Church so long?
A confession: one of my private shamesYears ago–ages ago, in fact–I had a fling with a student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary who was studying to be a Presbyterian minister. He was so deeply closeted, and so convinced being gay was a sin, it was painful to keep company with him. But he was cute and I was young, so what the hell. (The affair didn’t last very long, for obvious reasons. But he did invite me to an orgy that was held right there in the seminary building one night. Seriously attractive men, wild hot sex right there in the middle of one of the most homophobic institutions in the country. You’d almost have thought they were Catholics.)
Years later I learned that he was co-pastoring a church in central Pennsylvania with his lover, who was equally closeted and self-loathing. They routinely preached to their flock about the evils of homosexuality and “counseled” young gay people to repent of their sinful lifestyle. And they were involved with the now-defunct Youth Challenge, a group that taught, among other things, that you could spot gays by their “special boots.” (Youth challenge was ultimately shut down by the state and its leaders prosecuted for all the usual “youth ministry” reasons.)
Gee, I wonder how he and his lover (if they’re still together) are feeling today. And even more to the point, I wonder how many other lives have been hideously twisted by the medieval
superstitiontheology that church has clung to so tenaciously for so long. This is a step forward, no doubt about that. But they’ve got a long way to go, to atone for all the evil they’ve perpetrated and all the lives they’ve damaged over the centuries.Roman Catholocisimis notorious for taking centuries to revise its teachings. The heirarchy is afraid to admit they are wrong, even though many priests will indicate they differ with the church’s position on homosexuality (always off the record).
The church has yet to apologize for torching my name sake in the Campo Dei Fiori in Rome for daring to question the Ptolemaic universe. Giordano and Galileo were right of course. The church has a problem admitting it’s errors, because it would weaken their credibility with the “faithful.”
One of the great paradoxes is that despite the “official dogma and doctrine,” many Catholic theologians openly hold heretical positions, The Presbyterians have done the right thing. The Catholics may want to start by apologizing to Giordano Bruno for burning him at the stake for the “sin” of speaking the truth.
YAWN…So little, so late. What a pity.
Better late than never.The alternative is that they keep preaching that gay relationships are sinful. Now that the Presbyterians have given up deliberately crushing LGBT souls, the spotlight shines just that much brighter on the dwindling number of holdouts. This is a good thing.