Written by Leslie Scanlon, Outlook national reporter
Friday, 05 March 2010 20:54
A formal challenge has been filed to the decision of John Knox Presbytery to ordain Scott D. Anderson, a gay man who has lived in a committed partnership for close to 20 years.
The presbytery voted 81-25 on Feb. 20 to ordain Anderson, who currently serves as executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches. Anderson worked as a Presbyterian pastor in California before setting aside his ordination in 1990, after two people from his congregation made his sexual orientation public.
On March 4, the session of Caledonia Church in Racine, Wis., and five Presbyterian ministers filed a remedial case against John Knox Presbytery with the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. They argue Anderson should not be ordained because he does not comply with the ordination standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which require those being ordained to practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single.
The complaint also states that the presbytery should not have allowed Anderson to declare a “scruple” -- basically a conscientious objection – to the fidelity-and-chastity standard. Under a procedure recommended by the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the PC(USA) – a task force on which Anderson served – and later approved by the General Assembly, a governing body can approve a candidates who declares a scruple if it determines that the objection doesn’t involve an essential of Reformed faith and polity.
During his examination by the presbytery, the complaint states, Anderson said “his relationship with his partner was exactly like a marriage except for procreation and that `he’d never taken a vow of celibacy.’ ”
Those who brought the complaint are asking for a stay of enforcement of Anderson’s ordination, which currently is scheduled for May 15.
Response from P. Gregory,
March 07, 2010 Lambertville NJ
The various culture wars fought in the oldline denominational churches the last 40 or so years, have more or less post-staged larger or more more secular stuggles which have happened already in society. As the women's ordiantion struggles of the 1970's lagged 10-15 years the whole Liberation movement which began really in the 1950s and even before that in industrial production during WW2. So the ongoing struggle in the larger church over matters of sexual orientation post-date the AIDS/HIV awareness of the 1980's and the move to same-sex partner benefits and the civil-union laws of earlier in the decade just past. Even the military is now openly comming to terms with the revision of Don't-ask-Don't-tell doctrine. The point is that if modern evangelical-conservatives assume they are still fighting a battle over gay ordination or broader social issues related to human sexuality, that war has been lost, and is over, except for the shouting. Many of those opposed to gay ordination either work for SP 500 corporations that offer same partner benefits or live in states or communities that have explicit non-discrimination polices as a matter of law. People live with two feet always in the sacred and secular, this is why when it come to matter of personal autonomy and choice in faith and practice, modern folks tend to choose those groups and bodies that do not have the baggage or history they saw in the experience of their parents. This is why the "Emergent Church" really has very little to say on matters that drove their denominational elders crazy on sex, behavior, and who one sleeps with. They frankly have other fish to fry or simply do not care.
But what about my local church one may ask? How does what happens in Michigan, Iowa, Calf. affect me and my little community of folks? Well thanks to the PCUSA and PUP it does not. Post-PUP we are a lose connection of affiliated religious bodies that have more or less become Balkanized into regional bodies that apply different standards and different behavior qualifications to matters of ordination. This is what PUP wanted, and this is the results it got. Again, the PCUSA cannot have it both ways at the same time, it cannot allow autonomy to the local body to determine doctrinal standards and practice, and then expect all to freely remit per-capita or retain some national policy on property matters simply because what was the way it was done in 1955, or 1975 and should be good enough for now. Or if you happen not to agree with what goes on in Iowa, or if the PCUSA assumes to act and speak in "Your Name", as it does in Social Witness all the time.
This is why we live in post-denominational age. Again the Emergent or "Wired" church as some call it, the ones you see in Movie theators, is not looking to affiliate with any established Protestant group or take on their agenda or structure. Been there, done that. My counsel to Sessions, Presbyteries, whoever, is you are on your own. And best of luck. There is no bail-out around the corner for Louisville, either in terms of money to save your jobs, or policy/doctrine to make clear for all, just what the larger church believes and acts like. Or what is, and was is not acceptable behavior for ordination. That is so 1975.
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But what about my local church one may ask? How does what happens in Michigan, Iowa, Calf. affect me and my little community of folks? Well thanks to the PCUSA and PUP it does not. Post-PUP we are a lose connection of affiliated religious bodies that have more or less become Balkanized into regional bodies that apply different standards and different behavior qualifications to matters of ordination. This is what PUP wanted, and this is the results it got. Again, the PCUSA cannot have it both ways at the same time, it cannot allow autonomy to the local body to determine doctrinal standards and practice, and then expect all to freely remit per-capita or retain some national policy on property matters simply because what was the way it was done in 1955, or 1975 and should be good enough for now. Or if you happen not to agree with what goes on in Iowa, or if the PCUSA assumes to act and speak in "Your Name", as it does in Social Witness all the time.
This is why we live in post-denominational age. Again the Emergent or "Wired" church as some call it, the ones you see in Movie theators, is not looking to affiliate with any established Protestant group or take on their agenda or structure. Been there, done that. My counsel to Sessions, Presbyteries, whoever, is you are on your own. And best of luck. There is no bail-out around the corner for Louisville, either in terms of money to save your jobs, or policy/doctrine to make clear for all, just what the larger church believes and acts like. Or what is, and was is not acceptable behavior for ordination. That is so 1975.