"Be careful who you hate.
It may be someone you love."

Posted on a billboard along Interstate 77 in South Carolina by PFLAG.

Thanks to Barbara Kellam Scott

Paul Rolf Jensen has become a noteworthy figure in the campaign against the ordination of glbt people in the Presbyterian Church, primarily through the many complaints he has filed against people whose ordination he considers invalid, or who have acted in other ways that he views as violating one provision or another of the Book of Order. (He prefers to call them accusations.)

An invitation to worship and celebrate
the great gifts and diversity of all God's people

Reformation Sunday Worship;
Re-Affirmation of Ordination Vows by LGBT Persons
October 27, 2002 -- 3 PM

South Presbyterian Church
343 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
(914) 693-0473

October 14, 2002
[posted here 10-15-02]

Dear Friends:

Christian conscience calls us together to support our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) sisters and brothers. Churches and individuals from across the Tri-State Area of New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey will celebrate the gifts and diversity of all God's people on Reformation Sunday at South Presbyterian Church, Dobbs Ferry, New York.

Sponsored by Presbyterian Promise, Presbyterian Welcome, and the Dissenting Churches of Hudson River Presbytery, we invite you to join us for an historic gathering to clearly demonstrate the welcoming and affirming communities within many of the churches of the Presbyteries of New York City, Hudson River, and New England.

We encourage you to bring with you a "Statement of Reformation" that focuses on the violence or other issues associated with G-6.0106b and those whom it wishes to exclude from the full worship, work, and leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

State your vision of a reforming church; nail your thesis to the door. We will provide the spikes and hammers; you bring the pounding of your hearts, and depths of your consciences. Statements of faith, vision, and mission; letters of dissent and defiance; quotes that capture your soul and need to speak to ours; blank sheet stained with the tears of this struggle, the names of those targeted, or both -- all will bear witness that in this church of ours the Reformation continues.

The day's worship and action will include preaching by the Rev. Hal Porter, Pastor Emeritus of Cincinnati's Mount Auburn Church; choral singing by the Gay Men's Ambassador Chorus; liturgical drumming; reaffirmation of ordination vows of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender leaders; Communion; and the charge of Martin Luther''s work and words.

We hope you will join us and share as family in the teachings of Jesus and the justice his words call us to practice, regardless of the risk involved.

Peace and Grace to You.

GAPJC dismisses complaint against Synod PJC

[posted here 7-30-02]

The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) has dismissed a complaint from the Presbytery of San Joaquin against the Synod of the Pacific and its PJC. San Joaquin Presbytery called on the Synod to issue a stay of enforcement for the ordination of Katie Morrison, after the Presbytery of the Redwoods approved her for ordination, and a few members of that Presbytery called for a stay of enforcement.

The GAPJC dismissed the complaint primarily on the grounds that San Joaquin Presbytery lacked standing to appeal to the Synod PLC.

The case recently heard by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Pacific, growing out of complaints about the ordination of the Rev. Katie Morrison, is clearly one of some importance in the ongoing "judicial wars" over sexuality and ordination.

We have already posted the report published by the Presbyterian News Service, and now are happy to add two important contributions:

First is the full text of the PJC decision.

Allegations were not specific enough to meet new, higher standard, it rules   [5-21-02]

[4-15-02]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on a Methodist couple in Georgia who struggled with what they felt was a terrible event in their family, when their son came out to them. Finding little help among friends or from their church, they have created a web site of their own - with their son's blessing - to provide support for others. They trace the growth of their own understanding and faith through their son's homosexuality.

They are not concerned with the ecclesiastical struggles as much as with the human struggles of parents and glbt children. This site won't provide cutting edge thinking, but might be helpful to friends and parishioners in similar situations.

After reviewing two decades' worth of studies of the children of gay or lesbian parents, the American Academy of Pediatrics has announced its support of the rights of lesbians and gay men to adopt their partners' children. The survey found that children in same-sex families were as well adjusted socially and psychologically as the children of heterosexual parents.

Such adoptions are now banned in three states, while seven states and Washington, D.C., permit them by law or court ruling. Elsewhere there is great variation in law and in practice, but clearly such adoptions are not easy. Many observers have noted that the Academy is widely respected, and their support for adoptions will probably be taken seriously by many courts and legislatures.

Presbyterian News Service reports on a challenge to Morrison's ordination, which was not sustained by the Presbytery.  [10-23-01]

[6-8-01]

Presbyterian News Service reports that the Congregational Ministries Division Committee will review the covenant between the PC(USA) and the National Association of Presbyterian Scouters, in response to a question about the Boy Scouts' refusal to allow gay men to serve as Scout leaders. It has been questioned whether such policies are inconsistent with the church's policy of welcoming all persons, especially in youth activities.

The review will take place during the meeting in Louisville of the General Assembly Council, just prior to the opening of the 213th General Assembly.

While the Presbyterian Layman has reported that the PCUSA staff "has begun dissociating the denomination from the Boy Scouts of America," Gina Yeager, coordinator of the PCUSA's youth ministry program, said that no such action has even been discussed in youth ministries office.

NOTE: An addition to this report, dated June 1, confirms that the Boy Scouts of America policy of banning gay men as troop leaders -- recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court --  extends to membership in the Boy Scouts by openly gay boys.

And one church session explains why they think it's a good thing.

1,000 Scholars, Clergy Call for Full Acceptance of Homosexuals in Churches

For a theological discussion of the legitimacy of same-sex holy unions, 
click here.

NEW YORK - A thousand liberal religious scholars and clergy in the United States have endorsed a statement affirming sexuality as God's gift and calling for the full participation of women and gays and lesbians in the life of religious institutions.

"We feel there is a need to develop a clear and articulate basis for the living out of sexuality as a life-affirming gift," John Thomas, president of the United Church of Christ (UCC), told ENI.

The declaration, known as the "Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing," was publicly released on Jan. 18. The text of the declaration and a list of supporters were published this week as a full-page advertisement in the New York Times. Conservative critics of the document accused the signatories of trying to overthrow Bible-based morality.

Liberal Protestants dominate the list of signatories, though a smaller group of Roman Catholics and Jews also endorsed the resolution. John A. Buehrens, head of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, endorsed the declaration, along with 14 bishops from various denominations, 15 seminary presidents and academic deans, and theologians from more than 32 U.S. seminaries.

Originally 850 people signed the resolution, but since its release to the public, a further 150 have added their support.

Among prominent clergy endorsing the document were Edmond Browning, retired presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, and Paul Sherry, former president of the United Church of Christ, who has been honored for his work in ministry to gays and lesbians.

The document's signatories declared they were speaking out "against the pain, brokenness, oppression, and loss of meaning that many experience about their sexuality."

"Our culture needs a sexual ethic focused on personal relationships and social justice rather than particular sexual acts," the document said. "All persons have the right and responsibility to lead sexual lives that express love, justice, mutuality, commitment, consent, and pleasure.

"Grounded in respect for the body and for the vulnerability that intimacy brings, this ethic fosters physical, emotional, and spiritual health. It accepts no double standards and applies to all persons, without regard to sex, gender, color, age, bodily condition, marital status, or sexual orientation."

The document goes on to support, among other things, the "full inclusion of women and sexual minorities in congregational life, including their ordination and the blessing of same-sex unions," and calls for religious leaders to participate "in movements to end sexual and social injustice."

The resolution's supporters said the document was significant because for the first time a group of U.S. religious leaders had collectively called for a re-examination of sexual ethics and sexual morality. It was also, they said, the first time that so many religious leaders had, as a group, signed a formal declaration countering traditional theological positions on sexual issues.

Immediate reaction to the resolution - including criticism by several well-known religious conservatives - focused on the resolution's call for the blessing of same-sex unions, one of the most contentious issues facing a number of Protestant denominations.

But Thomas, of the UCC, told ENI that the document's lasting significance stemmed from its overall emphasis on a new sexual ethic linking spirituality and sexuality.

"This is a starting point for a much wider discussion," Thomas said, adding that liberal religious leaders "have not, in an effective and positive way, presented our view on human sexuality. Often we've been silenced in moral debates. We want to make the public aware that there is another perspective."

Larry Greenfield, the president of the Midwest chapter of the American Theological Society, told ENI that the appearance, in the past 30 to 40 years, of women's and gay rights movements had fundamentally changed American society. Church teachings had begun to reflect those changes, he said. "Of course that is going to cause some stir."

What was needed now, he told ENI, was a broader examination of how religious institutions viewed sexuality and how, ultimately, they would recognize and foster the talents of women and sexual minorities. "How many lives, for example, have we wasted in not recognizing the talents of women in ministry?"

But R. Albert Mohler Jr, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press, the Southern Baptist news agency: "The arrogance of this `Declaration' is breathtaking.

"These self-appointed moral revolutionaries will reject the clear teachings of Scripture in order to justify sexual perversions and destructive behaviors," Mohler said. "In utter arrogance they claim a `religious' mandate for their declaration. In a cloak of distortions they seek to overthrow biblical morality and put a humanistic ethic of sexual liberation in its place."

The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), a sexual education organization, sponsored the drafting of the statement.

A major
Ghost Ranch event this summer!

July 28 - August 3, 2008

Paths toward Peace and Justice:
Spirituality, Earth-Care, and the Prophetic Word in a time of Violence

If you like what you find here,
we hope you'll help us keep this website going ... and growing!

Please consider making a special contribution -- large or small -- to help us continue and improve this service.

Click here to send a gift online, using your credit card, through PayPal.

Or send your check, made out to "Witherspoon Society" and marked "web site," to our Witherspoon  Bookkeeper: