The Presbyterian Church has become America's largest Protestant denomination to endorse gay marriage, after changing its Constitution to read that marriage is a "commitment between two people," instead of a man and a woman only.
The new definition of marriage was ratified last week by the declining denomination's 171 regional Presbyteries, giving the go-ahead for same-sex marriage rituals in all of the church's 10,000 congregations.
Rev. Robin White, who lives with her spouse, Rhonda, and acts as Co-Moderator of More Light Presbyterians, was pleased with the decision.
“So many families headed by LGBTQ couples have been waiting for decades to enter this space created for their families within their church communities,”
So many LGBTQ families? How many would that be? In the meanwhile, the Presbyterian Church has lost over 20% of its membership in the last decade, losing just under 200,000 members in 2012 and 2013 alone.
Maybe gay marriage will reverse this disturbing trend. Just like it has in the Episcopal Church.
Don't hold your breath.
LSP
There was a time that people used to look to the church for a benchmark of what is moral and what is immoral. Times changed, but the church was a rock. The church based its teachings on Scripture, and Scripture didn't change with the times.
ReplyDeleteNot anymore. The church (I use "church" here as any organized Christian religion, all churches take their roots from Catholicism) now bends to social pressure at every turn, some faster and some slower.
The Catholic Church of today has changed quite a bit since the days of the Reformation, but compared to those wacky Presbos, THEY are the rock.
Remember that old radio preacher, J. Vernon McGee? I can still recall him talking about when he asked his grandkid what he learned in Sunday School. The class had been in Revelation, and was using a translation that used "Presbyter" instead of the more common "elder."
ReplyDeleteThe somewhat confused little kid said "Grandpa, we learned about how up in Heaven the 24 Presbyterians put their crowns at Jesus' feet."
McGee said back "Boy, I don't think there's gonna be 24 Presbyterians up there!"
Fredd -- I agree.
ReplyDeleteInniminatus... I laughed!
ReplyDeleteFredd - I think the Orthodox might not agree, they call the Pope the first Protestant.
ReplyDeleteI take it this isn't the same bunch as the southern Presbyterian Church? My wife grew up under that tent in Mississippi and they were pretty hardcore Calvinist from what she tells me.
ReplyDeleteThis would be the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America (PCUSA) -- that's the mainline Pres denom.
ReplyDeleteThey abandoned Calvinism for something else again. Unitarianism?