CLARKSVILLE, AR (AP) - Arkansas Presbyterians have endorsed a church constitutional amendment that would allow non-celibate homosexuals to serve as ordained ministers, elders and deacons.
The 116-64 vote for the rule change within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) took place after a debate on Saturday, February 21, 2009 and was greeted with silence.
The denomination's national General Assembly approved the amendment in June; the measure goes into effect if a majority of the church's 173 presbyteries approve it.
The Presbytery of Arkansas has roughly 15,300 members. It narrowly rejected a similar proposal in 2001.
The denomination currently requires ordained officeholders to "live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness." The amendment eliminates that language and says, instead, that ordained officers would "pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ" and would "declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church."
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
