16 February 2011
Presbyterians Week Headlines
[4] Christian Hoteliers in England Prosecuted for Not Renting Double Rooms to Homosexual Couples
[7] February 2011 Reformation Voice Available for Download
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World Magazine Associate Publisher Warren Cole Smith will be presenting “Faith-Based Fraud: Corruption, Hypocrisy and Heresy in the Church” at 7:30 p.m. on 17 February 2011 as a special Aréopagus Forum at the Perimeter Church (Presbyterian Church in America) in Johns Creek, Georgia, near Atlanta.
Mr. Smith will highlight some of the most significant faith-based frauds in American history, will look at the theological flaws that allow these scandals to recur, and will provide a prescription for what the Christian church can do to spot and prevent both theological and financial fraud.
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+ Aréopagus Forum, Dr. Jefrey Breshears, 1220 William Robert Drive, Marietta, Georgia 30008, 770-427-7806, info@theareopagus.org
+ World Magazine, 85 Tunnel Road, Suite 12, Asheville, North Carolina 28805, 828-232-5415, Fax: 828-253-1556, mailbag@worldmag.com
+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org
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A February 2011 article in byFaith Magazine Online titled “Overture Two Seeks Term Limits for Elected Leaders” reports that the Presbyterian Church in America’s South Florida Presbytery has submitted an overture for consideration at the upcoming 39th General Assembly that would impose term limits on the Stated Clerk and Program Committee coordinators, for a maximum of two five-year terms. The proposed term limits would not affect those currently in the positions, but would take effect upon the nomination and election of someone new for each position.
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+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org
+ South Florida Presbytery, 950 University Drive, Coral Gables, Florida 33134, 305-323-7495, Contact Page
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An 11 February 2011 article by Editor Emeritus the Rev. Parker T. Williamson in The Layman titled “Whatever!” commented upon the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)’s General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) 8 February 2011 ruling overturning the conviction by the Synod of the Northeast’s Permanent Judicial Commission of the Rev. Jane Southard for violating the PCUSA Constitution by performing a nuptial service in 2008 for two homosexual women.
Mr. Williamson wrote that the decision effectively says “that marriage is not necessarily what The Bible, The Book of Confessions, The Book of Order, and longstanding judicial precedent say that it is,” then quoted two GAPJC concurring opinions saying respectively that the PCUSA Constitution is “contradictory,” and that the PCUSA Constitution fails to provide “an effective and unambiguous definition of Christian marriage.”
Mr. Williamson continued:
“So much for:
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24
“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Mark 10:6-9
“Marriage is a union between one man and one woman, designed by God to last so long as they both shall live.” The Book of Confessions
Mr. Williamson described the 2006 PCUSA General Assembly “Peace, Unity and Purity” report as permitting “the [PCUSA] constitution to mean whatever each, all, or any combination of its 173 presbyteries says that it means,” and concludes that the fourteen members of the GAPJC have, by judicial fiat, defined marriage to be: “Whatever!”
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+ Presbyterian Lay Committee, Post Office Box 2210, Lenoir, North Carolina 28645, 828-758-8716, Fax: 828-758-0920, laymanletters@layman.org
+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
+ Synod of the Northeast, 5811 Heritage Landing Drive, East Syracuse, New York 13057, 315-446-5990, Fax: 315-446-3708, Contact Page
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[4] Christian Hoteliers in England Prosecuted for Not Renting Double Rooms to Homosexual Couples
A 24 January 2011 article in The Christian Institute titled “Homosexuals Try to Crush Christian B&B” reports that Christian Bed & Breakfast owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull of Marazion, Cornwall, England, on 18 January 2011 were ordered by His Hon. Judge Andrew Rutherford to pay UK£3,600 in damages to a homosexual couple who were denied a double room due to the Bull’s Christian convictions.
The judge ruled that the Equality Act Regulations concerning sexual relations mandate that civil partnerships must be treated in the same way as marriage. The judge did though give the Bulls permission to appeal, saying that his ruling “does affect the human rights of the defendants to manifest their religion and forces them to act in a manner contrary to their deeply and genuinely held beliefs.”
Following the verdict, Mrs. Bull has continually received obscene, abusive, and menacing phone calls at her home that she must answer because Mr. Bull has been critically ill in a hospital, and Mrs. Bull is concerned about missing a legitimate phone call. The Bulls are in danger of losing their home where they operate the B&B due to severe financial difficulties.
The Bulls’ legal defense was funded by The Christian Institute, whose spokesman Mike Judge said: “This ruling is further evidence that equality laws are being used as a sword rather than a shield. Peter and Hazelmary were sued with the full backing of the Government-funded Equality Commission. Christians are being sidelined. The judge recognises that his decision has a profound impact on the religious liberty of Peter and Hazelmary.”
A 27 January 2011 BBC article titled “Gay Pair Refused a Room Take Legal Action” reports that a homosexual couple from Brampton, Cambridgeshire, England, are suing a B&B owner in Cookham, Berkshire, England, for refusing to rent the couple a room due to the B&B owner’s Christian convictions.
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+ The Christian Institute, Wilberforce House, 4 Park Road, Gosforth Business Park, Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 8DG, England, 44-0-191-281-5664, Fax: 44-0-191-281-4272, info@christian.org.uk
+ BBC, 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TS, England, Fax: 020-8008-2398
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In response to proposals by legislators in Great Britain to lift the ban on civil partnerships being conducted in places of worship and to allow such ceremonies to have a religious element, on 15 February 2011, the following Joint Statement titled “Homosexual Marriage and the Registration of Civil Partnerships in Churches” was issued on behalf of the Christian organizations Affinity, The Christian Institute, Christian Concern, Reform, and the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches:
“There has been speculation in the press about the Government’s proposals for civil partnerships to be registered in places of worship. There has also been speculation, and indeed confusion, over the separate issue of scrapping the definition of marriage in order to allow two people of the same sex to hold a marriage certificate.
“Government proposals to allow civil partnerships in churches implement changes made in the 2010 Equality Act. However, there has been no announcement from the Government that it has any plans to introduce full same-sex marriage.
“The Definition of Marriage
“The thousands of churches that our organizations represent hold firmly to the clear teaching of the Bible that marriage is the lifelong, exclusive union of one man and one woman. This is the definition that has long been recognized in English law and, indeed, by almost all cultures for all of human history.
“Marriage was ordained by God for the good of all people and is a holy institution. It was also designed to represent something of the relationship between Christ and his church. There are two partners to a marriage because there are two sexes. Marriage is a complementary covenant involving the bringing together of the two sexes not only for the purposes of procreation but also to reflect more fully the image of God.
“We are also concerned about the effect of declaring that the institution in which children are raised does not require both a mother and a father.
“For all these reasons we, and many others, would firmly oppose any efforts to eradicate the definition of marriage and impose a new definition on everyone in order to satisfy the demands of gay rights groups.
“Civil Partnerships in Churches
“We reiterate our long-held opposition to allowing civil partnerships to be registered in churches. It is a breach of undertakings made by Government ministers during debates on the Civil Partnership Bill. Parliament was persuaded to pass that Bill, in part, because it was made clear that civil partnership was a civil rather than a religious institution and would not take place in religious premises.
“However, there are a small number of religious groups who are not content with being able to carry out civil partnership blessing ceremonies, as they currently do, but who want the legal registration itself to take place in their premises. In response to the demands of these groups, the Government is embarking on a course of action that is bringing it into conflict with thousands of evangelical churches and the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.
“In any legislation, churches must be protected against the possibility, now and in the future, of any kind of legal action being brought against churches which conscientiously disagree with civil partnerships.
“When it comes to equality legislation, permission often turns rapidly into coercion. In a country where faith-based adoption agencies have been forced to close or cut their religious ties by equality law, where Christian marriage registrars can be dismissed for their religious views on marriage and where Christian B & B owners are forced to pay compensation to same-sex couples, Christians will need a great deal of reassurance that the Government is not about to do something that will make their situation even worse.”
Affinity’s membership includes the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the First International Presbyterian Church Presbytery of England, the Free Church of Scotland, and the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing).
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+ Affinity, The Old Bank House, 17 Malpas Road, Newport, NP20 5PA England, 01633 855165, peter@affinity.org.uk
+ The Christian Institute, Wilberforce House, 4 Park Road, Gosforth Business Park, Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 8DG, England, 44-0-191-281-5664, Fax: 44-0-191-281-4272, info@christian.org.uk
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
+ Reform, Post Office Box 1183, SheffieldS10 3YA, England, Contact Page
+ Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, Contact Page
+ Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales, epcew@epcew.org.uk
+ Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Ireland , Clerk of Presbytery, Evangelical Bookshop, College Square East, Belfast BT1 6DD, Northern Ireland, 028-9032- 0529, ebsbelf@btconnect.com
+ First International Presbyterian Church Presbytery of England, 44-0-208- 9974706, info@ipc-presbytery.com
+ Free Church of Scotland, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2LS, 0131-226-5286, Fax: 0131-220-0597, catherine@freechurchofscotland.org.uk
+ Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), Rev. John MacLeod, Free Church Manse, Portmahomack, Ross-shire, Scotland, principalclerk@fccontinuing.org
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Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AUSCS) on 11 February 2011 filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Eastern Michigan University, arguing that under the U.S. Constitution, the university can expel Christian student Julea Ward from the graduate counseling program because Ms. Ward was unwilling to “affirm any behavior that goes against what the Bible says” and would always refer to other counselors “all clients who seek counseling for sexual relationship issues she believes to be against the teachings of the Bible.”
AUSCS executive director and United Church of Christ minister the Rev. Barry Lynn commented: “Public universities are expected to serve the whole community. They have every right to set up non-discrimination policies that serve the public interest….Professional ethics standards forbid counselors to discriminate on the basis of their personal religious beliefs. The university has done the right thing by requiring its students to uphold those standards and treat all clients fairly and equally. We hope the appeals court agrees.”
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+ Americans United for Separation of Church and State, 518 C Street Northeast, Washington DC 20002, 202-466-3234, Fax: 202-466-2587, americansunited@au.org
+ Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197, 734-487-1849
+ United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, 216-736-2100, ogm@ucc.org
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[7] February 2011 Reformation Voice Available for DownloadThe February 2011 Reformation Voice is available for download at the Heidelberg Reformation Association website.
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+ Heidelberg Reformation Association, Rev. Howard Sloan, Secretary, 5543 Business 220, Bedford, Pennsylvania 15522
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