# PC(USA) vote on Marriage



## Mr. Valiant-for-truth (Jul 12, 2012)

Did not see anything posted on this.


> In a close vote on an issue that has long divided mainline Protestant churches, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted on Friday against changing the definition of marriage in its constitution from a union between “a man and a woman” to a union between “two people.”
> 
> The vote at the church’s biannual convention in Pittsburgh was 338 to 308, with 2 abstentions. But the decisive generational shift that lies ahead for the church was made clear in a separate tally of votes by seminary students and young adult advisory delegates, known as YAADs. The students voted 82 to 18 percent in favor of changing the definition of marriage, and the young adult delegates voted 75 to 21 percent — but their votes were solely advisory.
> 
> The Rev. Katharine Rhodes Henderson, president of the Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City, said, “If the YAADs had voted, this probably would have passed.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/07/us/presbyterians-reject-change-in-definition-of-marriage.html?pagewanted=print

Interesting that the NYT would start by quoting the Rev. Katharine Rhodes Henderson. She wrote this:


> did you know that the head of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Cecile Richards, and the head of its board, Cecilia Boone, both of whom Auburn is honoring next month at our Lives of Commitment Benefit Breakfast, are people of deep moral conviction? If you didn't, it's because people who may not have the best interests of women in mind have taken responsibility for defining our values and telling our stories for us.


Rev. Dr. Katharine Rhodes Henderson: 10 Christian Women Every Person Should Know

But I digress...

The most worrying part to me is the vote of the seminary students and young adults. By an overwhelming percentage they support changing an institution created by God to satisfy the demands of modern culture.

As Carl Trueman noted in The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind:


> The most pressing challenge from the wider culture is the ethical matter of homosexuality. Cultural attitudes have changed quickly on homosexuality. I remember saying at a Bible study just fifteen years ago that the gay rights movement had reached its high-water mark; for most people, I opined, homosexuality was so obviously immoral that general consensus could not be overcome. I now list that statement as among the most boneheaded and shortsighted I have ever made—and the competition in that sphere is more than a little fierce. I had not reckoned with the power of gay-friendly media presentations, nor with the way the rising generation’s lack of moral foundations could be easily exploited. A Pew Forum survey in 2009 found that the vast majority of Americans under age thirty no longer view gay marriage as an issue at all.



The fact of the matter is that these young people would not have ever supported changing the definition of marriage 50, 100, or 1000 years ago. They are puppets of modern culture. But there is a valuable lesson: Liberal, progressive, open people (such as those in Germany in the 1920s) will bend and sway to whatever cultural winds may blow their direction. They cannot be counted on to uphold simple Biblical truths in the face of cultural pressure.


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## arapahoepark (Jul 12, 2012)

I find it funny how you put this under cults and world religions.


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## Mr. Valiant-for-truth (Jul 12, 2012)

Trent, I wish I could claim the idea but I am following the lead of Backwoods Presbyterian!


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## yeutter (Jul 12, 2012)

The mainstream Presbyterian Church became a cult long ago. The Layman Online


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