Subject: Another IWG Grand Island Letter
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 1997 20:55:53 -0500 (EST)

The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 3 congregations, 6 religious
organizations and 37 clergy from 13 faiths and denominations. If you are in 
the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious 
organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths 
are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in 
other areas.

Apparantly our letter listing religious bodies supporting marriage legalization
was published in the Grand Island Independent, and the local Presbyterian
Congregation wrote in to complain that we had incorrectly included the
Presbyterian Church (USA).  Our response (with enclosure) follows.

February 23, 1997

The Grand Island Independent
PO Box 1208
Grand Island, NE  68802

Dear Editors:

Despite the otherwise correct comments of the Session
of Grand Island's First Presbyterian Church, our
previous letter said that the Presbyterian Church (USA)
supported the legal recognition of same-sex marriages,
not Presbyterian Church (USA) recognition of such
marriages.  

While we do not speak for the denomination, we are
personally members of that body, as are three of our
member clergy and one of our member congregations. 
During the 1996 General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church (USA) the denomination passed a resolution which
both reiterated its historic position that marriage is
a contract between a man and a woman and also
instructed the stated clerk to file briefs supporting
the ruling of the Hawaii Supreme Court should such an
opportunity arise.

While it might be more correct to say that the
denomination opposes the  government's refusal to
legally recognize the marriages of same-gender couples,
the double-negative is extremely confusing.  The
Presbyterian Church's statement concerning marriage
recognizes the separation of church and state and is
consistent with the denomination's position concerning
Colorado's Amendment 2, in which the General Assembly
instructed the stated clerk to file a brief in
opposition to the amendment while at the same time
stating that same-gender sexual activity is not
consistent with God's plan for humankind.  While some
of the organizations we mentioned in our earlier letter
support both legal and religious same-gender marriage,
we were commenting solely upon their stand on legal
marriages, not religious marriages.

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom  		Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

The following press release was copied from the
official website of the Presbyterian Church (USA) : 
http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/oldnews/3713.htm

Title: Assembly favors civil rights
06-July-1996

GA96111

    Assembly favors civil rights

ALBUQUERQUE - After debate that stretched over two
sessions, two attempts
to forestall the issue and one to take no action on it,
the Assembly voted late Friday afternoon to authorize
the Stated Clerk to explore entering friend-of-the-
court briefs in favor of civil rights for same-sex
couples.
    The vote was 281-244 for the majority report from
the committee on National and Urban Issues, and the
action concluded an item that had consumed hours of
committee and Assembly time.
    The majority report affirmed the Presbyterian
church's historic definition of marriage as a civil
contract between a man and a woman, yet recognized that
"committed same-sex partners seek equal civil liberties
in a contractual relationship with all the civil rights
of married couples."
    The action calls for the church to weigh-in, if
feasible, on the side of a ruling from the Hawaii
Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional to deny the
rights and responsibilities of the civil status of
marriage on the basis of gender.
    In so doing, the Assembly apparently chose the view
that the issue was one of civil rights (as proponents
of the majority report stated), rather than an
endorsement of homosexual marriage (the principal
argument offered by those against the report).
    The Rev. Suzan Hawkinson, commissioner from New
Covenant Presbytery, said the majority report "strikes
a balance" between holiness and compassion.
    An attempt to substitute a minority report for the
majority was defeated, 300-222. A motion to take no
action was defeated, 285-246. An attempt to arrest the
matter until after the dinner break also failed -- the
body made it clear it wanted to address the issue
without further delay.
    In response to a question, retiring Stated Clerk
Jim Andrews said he had not entered any comment on the
case previously, despite having been asked to do so in
1995, when the issue originated as a commissioners'
resolution.  Andrews said he declined to do so after
hearing that the majority of Hawaiian Presbyterian
congregations were opposed to such action.
    During open hearings on the issue, a pastor of one
of the seven Presbyterian congregations in Hawaii
testified that six of those congregations chose to
support the traditional view of marriage as a
relationship between a man and a woman. The Hawaii
case, which began in 1991, is expected to be the first
to draw a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on civil rights for
same-sex couples. It currently is awaiting a re-trial
in a lower Hawaii court in August.

-- 

Interfaith Working Group                Religious organizations, congregations
[email-masked]                      and clergy supporting gay rights,
http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/         reproductive freedom, and the 
215-235-3050                            separation of church and state.