Mighty Storm Gathering in PCC As PC USA Embraces Homosexuality

By FC Ndi  with additional inputs from Examiner

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)