PCUSA Approves Gay Clergy

The Presbyterian Church (USA) completed its 219th biennial meeting this week in Minneapolis, which dealt with a number of proposals regarding homosexuality within the denomination. The assembly approved a proposal to allow for the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals to the clergy.

The proposal must now be approved by a majority of the denomination’s 173 presbyteries before it can take effect. This is the third time the assembly has voted to allow the ordination of non-celibate gay clergy. However, the requisite majority approval from the presbyteries failed each time. The assembly’s leadership surprised delegates by deciding to table the issue of redefining the church’s definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. Delegates sent out two reports for further study on the issue to be evaluated at the next assembly. (EP News)

Municipality Hands Church Huge Tax Bill

As cash-strapped cities and municipalities try to find creative ways to generate revenue, some are setting a dangerous precedent when they look to churches as a targeted source. Joe Infranco, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), has seen a marked uptick in the number of such cases. “Whether out of ignorance or malice, (municipalities) are slowly chipping away at the Church’s tax exemption when and where they are able,” said Infranco. “This is a very dangerous trend.”

Just this week, an ADF-allied attorney filed an appeal in a South Dakota state court on behalf of First Evangelical Free Church of Rapid City, S.D., after the Pennington County Board of Commissioners refused to dismiss a $17,000 property tax bill for land the church purchased in 2006.

Despite three South Dakota Supreme Court decisions that ruled such taxes should not be levied, the board voted unanimously (with one abstention) on June 1, to side with the “recommendations made by the Director of Equalization and Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Jay Alderman to deny the abatement request on the grounds that it did not meet the requirements for exempt status.”

Experts point to the diminished view of the role of the church as the primary reason for the increase in government encroachment. (EP News)

Boy Scouts Celebrate 100 Years

Many organizations that celebrate such values as “duty to God and country— words from the Scout oath—have either fallen on hard times or have abandoned these values in a quixotic effort to stay relevant. The Girl Scouts, for example, no longer requires members to believe in God, and it allows openly gay leaders.

The Boy Scouts, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, will have none of that. Atheists have sued the Scouts so they can be members without having to pledge duty to God, but the Scouts have defended themselves vigorously—and successfully—in the courts. Texas Governor Rick Perry, also an Eagle Scout, wrote, “As today’s culture increasingly tells young people that ‘moral values are relative,’ that ‘a person can be their own God,’ attacks have come in waves against the values and institutions we hold dear. Yet the Boy Scouts have stood strong, unwavering in their conviction.” (Warren Cole Smith/EP News)