By FC Ndi with additional inputs from Examiner
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
PCC Hierarchy |
Less than a year after the creation of
PCC Houston in the United States of America, the unexpected is said to have
just happened. It is no more rumours that PCUSA has decided to embrace gay
marriage. Homosexuality is not legal in Cameroon. President Paul Biya even made
it clear in an interview in Paris after meeting with Francios Hollande. He said
homosexuality remains a taboo in Cameroon. Yet, the PCC is reportedly wrapped
in the most controversial issue of its existence in the USA. Allegedly, the
issue is a hot potato in the hands of PCC hierarchy given that most of the
funding/projects are sponsored from that end. It is not clear whether PCC hierarchy
in Cameroon will issue a communiqué dissociating self the scandal. It should be
recalled that that the out-gone Moderator Asana took part in the birth of the
first ever PCC Houston on July 27, 2014 with over 400 Christians in attendance.
Allegations abound that he rejected the change in constitution. The question of
every lip is what then happened after Asana? Another question begging for
answers is whether Fonki will succumb today?
According to the Examiner.com, the
Presbyterian Church (USA) is extremely large. The story goes that PCUSA
approved a change in the wording of its constitution to allow gay and lesbian
weddings within the church, a move that threatens to continue to split the
mainline Protestant denomination.
The 171 regional presbyteries (local
leadership bodies within the PCUSA) have been voting on whether to change the
wording to call marriage a contract “between a woman and a man” to being
“between two people, traditionally a man and a woman.” Accordingly, the
denomination reached its needed majority of “yes” votes from at least 86
presbyteries to take effect. The change will be included in the church’s “Book
of Order,” part of its constitution, taking effect on June 21.
The church, which has more than 1.7
million members, voted last June to allow clergy to perform same-sex weddings.
That vote gave clergy the choice of whether to preside over same-sex marriages
in states where they are legal, an action which is now allowed in 36 states and
the District of Columbia. Clergy will not be compelled to perform same-sex
marriage.
Tuesday’s vote carries significance,
writes Leslie Scanlon for The Presbyterian Outlook, because it will be much
more difficult to reverse.
“Changing the constitutional language
regarding the definition of Christian marriage would take the approval both of
an assembly and a majority vote by the presbyteries,” Scanlon writes. “It also
matters to many Presbyterians that their denomination is willing to put
language affirming marriage equality directly in the denomination’s
constitution.”
The vote comes amid a larger debate over
whether gay marriage conflicts with Scripture and would cause more Presbyterian
churches to break relations with the PCUSA. The church has lost 37 percent of
its membership since 1992. Most of the congregations that depart opt to
affiliate with either the Evangelical Presbyterian Church or a newer body
called Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians. The formality of Tuesday’s
decision could accelerate more departures.
Like other mainline denominations, the
PCUSA has grappled with the issue as gay marriage has become legal in more
states. In 2012, the church’s General Assembly narrowly voted to reject a
proposal to redefine marriage as a union between “two people.” Many of the
congregations that rejected the move in 2012 have since left the denomination.
The nation’s largest denominations,
including the Roman Catholic Church and most evangelical churches, recognize
marriage only as between a man and a woman. The Episcopal Church, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ allow
same-sex marriage. The debate has roiled the United Methodist Church, another
mainline denomination. Property disputes and litigation that have occupied the
Episcopal Church in the past decade are now taking place among some
Presbyterian
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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