Several committees at the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) meeting in Pittsburgh have issued reports. These will now be voted on by the General Assembly and if they pass, will be sent on to the presbyteries for voting during the year ahead.
While I’m sure the commissioners did their work as well as they could, I’m personally disappointed with several of their recommendations, including these:
- Changing the definition of marriage from between “a woman and a man” to “two people.”
- Including the Belhar Confession in the Book of Confessions. (A similar proposal came out of the 219th G.A. but it was defeated in the presbyteries.)
- Divesting and creatively investing in Israel and Palestine. They did reject the use of the word “apartheid.”
- Calling for “just access” to reproductive health care.
There’s another recommendation that I’m still trying to figure out.
- Changing the ordination standards to include “repentence” and “grace.” Since it involves ordination standards, I assume the underlying issue is human sexuality, but of course we prefer to speak in generalities.