PCUSA Makes Marriage a ‘Unique Commitment’
Majority of presbyteries vote to no longer limit marriage to a man and a woman.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) will now define marriage as a “unique commitment between two people,” rather than a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman as an act of Christian discipleship.
Last June, the PC(USA) general assembly voted to change the language in its Book of Order, the denomination’s governing constitution. Following the vote, a majority of the PC(USA)’s 171 presbyteries also had to approve the measure for it to go into effect. On Tuesday, this number (86) was reached.
The conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee (PLC) criticized the denomination’s shift.
“In terms of the PCUSA’s witness to the world, this vote demonstrates a complete accommodation to the prevailing winds of our culture,” said Carmen Fowler LaBerge, PLC president, in a statement. “Any prophetic voice that the denomination may have once had to speak truth and call people to repentance is now lost.”
The Book of Order’s new definition of marriage reads:
Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage involves a unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman, to love and support each other for the rest of their lives. The sacrificial love that unites the couple sustains them as faithful and responsible members of the church and the wider community.
The same paragraph in the old definition reads:
Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage is a civil contract between a woman and a man. Christian marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship. In …
PCUSA Makes Marriage a ‘Unique Commitment’
Majority of presbyteries vote to no longer limit marriage to a man and a woman.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) will now define marriage as a “unique commitment between two people,” rather than a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman as an act of Christian discipleship.
Last June, the PC(USA) general assembly voted to change the language in its Book of Order, the denomination’s governing constitution. Following the vote, a majority of the PC(USA)’s 171 presbyteries also had to approve the measure for it to go into effect. On Tuesday, this number (86) was reached.
The conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee (PLC) criticized the denomination’s shift.
“In terms of the PCUSA’s witness to the world, this vote demonstrates a complete accommodation to the prevailing winds of our culture,” said Carmen Fowler LaBerge, PLC president, in a statement. “Any prophetic voice that the denomination may have once had to speak truth and call people to repentance is now lost.”
The Book of Order’s new definition of marriage reads:
Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage involves a unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman, to love and support each other for the rest of their lives. The sacrificial love that unites the couple sustains them as faithful and responsible members of the church and the wider community.
The same paragraph in the old definition reads:
Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage is a civil contract between a woman and a man. Christian marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship. In …
Suicide Bombers Attack Sunday Services in Pakistan’s Largest Christian Neighborhood
Taliban-linked killings provoke unusually violent reaction by Christian minority.
Christian protesters turned unusually violent after suicide bombers attacked Sunday services at nearby Catholic and Anglican churches in one of Pakistan’s largest Christian communities.
The explosions, which took place within minutes about a quarter mile apart, killed at least 13 Christians and four Muslims and injured 80 in the Youhanabad area of Lahore, the Muslim nation’s second-largest city. Protesters killed two men allegedly connected to the attacks, while reports of additional deaths continue to surface.
“This is not how victims usually respond to terror attacks in Pakistan,” wrote Michael Kugelman, a South Asia scholar who argued in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper that the retaliatory violence distinguishes the attack from “just the latest in a long line of horrific attacks on religious minorities in Pakistan.”
Catholic leaders asked Christians to refrain from violence and cooperate with police investigations instead. “In this time of Lent they have participated fully in the death and resurrection of our Lord,” said Oswald Gracias, president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, to AsiaNews. “Surely there will be a resurrection for them.”
World Watch Monitor (WWM), the Associated Press, BBC, Washington Post, The New York Times, and Indian Express report more details about the bombings at Christ Church and St. John’s Catholic Church, for which a Taliban-linked group claimed responsibility.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) called for Pakistan’s government to “learn the lessons” from the last time twin suicide bombers targeted a church: 2013’s high-profile attack on Peshawar’s All Saints Church, in which 180 …
Suicide Bombers Attack Sunday Services in Pakistan’s Largest Christian Neighborhood
Taliban-linked killings provoke unusually violent reaction by Christian minority.
Christian protesters turned unusually violent after suicide bombers attacked Sunday services at nearby Catholic and Anglican churches in one of Pakistan’s largest Christian communities.
The explosions, which took place within minutes about a quarter mile apart, killed at least 13 Christians and four Muslims and injured 80 in the Youhanabad area of Lahore, the Muslim nation’s second-largest city. Protesters killed two men allegedly connected to the attacks, while reports of additional deaths continue to surface.
“This is not how victims usually respond to terror attacks in Pakistan,” wrote Michael Kugelman, a South Asia scholar who argued in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper that the retaliatory violence distinguishes the attack from “just the latest in a long line of horrific attacks on religious minorities in Pakistan.”
Catholic leaders asked Christians to refrain from violence and cooperate with police investigations instead. “In this time of Lent they have participated fully in the death and resurrection of our Lord,” said Oswald Gracias, president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, to AsiaNews. “Surely there will be a resurrection for them.”
World Watch Monitor (WWM), the Associated Press, BBC, Washington Post, The New York Times, and Indian Express report more details about the bombings at Christ Church and St. John’s Catholic Church, for which a Taliban-linked group claimed responsibility.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) called for Pakistan’s government to “learn the lessons” from the last time twin suicide bombers targeted a church: 2013’s high-profile attack on Peshawar’s All Saints Church, in which 180 …
When the Saints Go Marching Into Cuba and Myanmar
Two long-closed countries are opening up. Should US short-term missionaries go?
After nearly 30 years of holding Acquire the Fire conferences across America, Teen Mania will take its flagship event a destination off-limits until recently: Myanmar (Bu…
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