c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Delegates to the 210th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) did pretty much what their leaders pleaded with them to do, taking up the divisive issue of homosexuality and ordination only long enough to say they didn’t want to deal with it in the coming year.

By an overwhelming margin of 412-92, the commissioners, as delegates are known, rejected a proposal from the church’s Milwaukee Presbytery that would have sent out to the 2.6 million-member denomination’s presbyteries for debate and vote yet one more ordination standard amendment to the church’s rule book.

In other action at the assembly, which ended Saturday (June 20), delegates also called on Presbyterians to”intentionally work toward removing handguns and assault weapons from our homes and our communities”and, meeting in the heart of tobacco country _ Charlotte, N.C. _ adopted a resolution calling for stiff taxes on cigarettes and strong curbs on cigarette advertising.

The rejection of the overture from the Milwaukee Presbytery _ or group of local churches _ would have asked Presbyterians if they wanted to remove a recently adopted amendment to the church’s Book of Order that requires church officers _ clergy, elders and deacons _ to uphold standards of”fidelity in marriage and chastity in singleness.” The standard, widely perceived as aimed at keeping gays out of ordained church posts, had been adopted by a majority of presbyteries after fierce debate during the spring of 1997. But at last June’s General Assembly, commissioners sent another amendment _ the so-called”fidelity and integrity”amendment _ to presbyteries.

That standard, calling for”integrity”instead of”chastity”among pastors and other ordained officers, was considered a softening of the”chastity”rule. It was rejected by presbyteries earlier this year amid signs the polarized denomination has wearied _ for the time being _ of debating the divisive issue of gays in the ministry within a legislative and legal framework.

At the same time as it rejected the Milwaukee proposal to strip the”chastity”amendment from the Book of Order, the delegates also adopted a”authoritative interpretation”of the church’s constitution affirming the denomination’s commitment to”consider the lives and behaviors of candidates (for ordination) as individuals”and not to exclude anyone based on age, race, class, gender or sexual orientation.”It is very clear to us that people matter … that we consider not who a person is but what a person does … and we trust our presbyteries and congregations to determine the fitness of individuals based upon their behavior,”said the Rev. Carol McDonald, chairwoman of the committee that brought the matter to the assembly floor.

Delegates also called for a national conference of Presbyterians to be convened within the next six months”to address the theological and ethical issues in the current crisis”over the role of gays in the church’s clergy.

On smoking, the General Assembly easily adopted _ by a 371-109 vote _ a resolution backing a $1.10 per pack excise tax on cigarettes with further increases in future years and calling for strong, government-enforced curbs on the advertising, marketing, and worldwide distribution of tobacco products, especially to children.

The resolution, which also called for churches and government to”express compassion and concern”for those addicted to nicotine, to tobacco farmers and manufacturing workers in the tobacco industry, was structured along the lines of proposed federal tobacco legislation killed by the Senate Republican leadership earlier this month.

The gun control resolution, aimed at both hand guns and assault weapons, passed by a more than 3-1 margin at Thursday’s session of the weeklong meeting. It was somewhat unusual in that it called on church members to take action in removing guns from their homes rather than merely calling for new national, state or local legislation.”It’s taking this very serious issue and bringing it home,”said the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, who attended the assembly as an ecumenical participant.

The assembly also voted to set up a committee to study the denomination’s stance on legal abortion and to report its finding in two years. Current policy has been criticized by some Presbyterians as confusing because of the various viewpoints of its 1992 policy, which recognizes both the rights of women and of”pre-born women.” In setting up the committee, church officials were directed to make sure it included those”representing the distinctly pro-life perspective”which holds that the”decision to kill an innocent human being is not a Christian option.”

MJP END ANDERSON