Thursday, June 19, 2014

Presbyterians vote to allow gay marriage by whopping 3-1 margin

By Lauren Markoe
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
un 19, 2014

The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted Thursday (June 19) to allow gay and lesbian weddings within the church, making it among the largest Christian denominations to take an embracing step toward same-sex marriage.

By a 76-24 percent vote, the General Assembly of the 1.8 million-member PC(USA) voted to allow pastors to perform gay marriages in states where they are legal. Delegates, meeting in Detroit this week, also approved new language about marriage in the church’s Book of Order, or constitution, altering references to “a man and woman” to “two persons.”

This change will not become church law until a majority of the 172 regional presbyteries vote to ratify the new language. But given the lopsided 3-1 margin of the vote, approval is expected.

Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org

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