Civil Unions and Marriage Issues:
The debate about the definition of marriage: Minority
Report Two
The
General Assembly, during its afternoon session on Friday July 6, debated the
question of marriage as presented by the General Assembly Committee on Civil
Union and Marriage Issues. The Committee brought a Report asking for a
Constitutional Amendment to change our definition of marriage. The Committee
also brought TWO minority reports.
The second Minority Report recommended a clear definition of marriage as a
union of man and one woman. After
lengthy debate the second Minority Report was defeated:
The second Minority Report is copied here. NOTE: this
recommendation was DEFEATED by a vote of 266 Yes to 397 No:
Minority Report two:
Responding
to the wide variety of overtures concerning the definition of Christian
Marriage in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the General
Assembly makes the following statement:
Our
Confessions, based on their understanding of Scripture, define Christian
marriage as a union of one man and one woman. Any redefinition of marriage
should recognize the confessional nature of the definition and should be preceded
by careful and prayerful formal confessional amendment process. As our society
debates the legal status of same-sex relationships, the church recognizes and
reaffirms that any change in the definition of marriage in civil law does not
and cannot change the church’s constitution. As our confessions instruct us,
the church is called to lead men and women into the full meaning of life
together, extending the compassion of Christ to all (The Confession of 1967).
As
our church ministers amidst a contemporary culture that includes same sex
couples, the church should lovingly respond with grace and truth. Additionally,
the 220th General Assembly (2012) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) provides
the following authoritative interpretation of W-4.9001:
“When
W-4.9001 speaks of marriage, it is expounding how marriage is defined and
understood by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), under the authority of the
Scriptures and guided by the confessions. It is not merely describing how
marriage was practiced in any particular society at any particular time.
Therefore, this definition of marriage in the Directory for Worship is binding
upon teaching elders and commissioned ruling elders authorized to perform
Christian marriages. “Officers of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who are
authorized to perform marriages shall not state, imply, or represent that a same-sex
ceremony is a marriage because under W-4.9001 a same-sex ceremony is not and
cannot be a marriage” (Spahr v. Presbytery of Redwoods, 2008). A change in the definition
of civil marriage under state law does not alter the definition of marriage under
the PC(USA) Constitution (Southard v. Presbytery of Boston, 2011). The church’s
definition of marriage may be changed only through amendment of both W-4.9001
and the confessional passages upon which it is based.”
