PCUSA Jumps Into the Fire

The decline and fall of mainstream denominations continued yesterday as the PCUSA voted to allow gay clergy:

The largest U.S. Presbyterian Church body approved a measure on Tuesday that would open the way for the ordination of gays and lesbians under certain circumstances.

The new policy was approved on a vote of 57-43 percent among 500 church representatives at the biennial meeting of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. It gives local church organizations more leeway in deciding if gays can be ordained as lay deacons and elders as well as clergy, provided they are faithful to the church's core values.

"It permits local governing bodies to examine candidates on a wider criterion than sexual orientation ... it allows these bodies to look at the whole person and not categorize them," said Jon Walton, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in New York's Greenwich Village and a member of the "Covenant Network of Presbyterians" which backed the change.

Kim Clayton Richter of the Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, a member of the same group, said it's wrong to interpret the Bible literally on homosexuality.

Heavens, we wouldn't want to be caught "interpretting the Bible literally".

I'm not a member of the PCUSA, but I know a couple of guys who are and their thoughts on the issue are worth reading.

John Schroeder of Blogotional

Pastor Mark D. Roberts of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Southern Califronia

Mark Daniels, a Lutheran pastor friend from Ohio, also has some thoughts on the PCUSA mess.

This whole thing isn't going to get any prettier. It has been somewhat entertaining, though. Who will ever forget Name That Trinity.