Opponents of the ban intend to seek its repeal when the nation s sixth-largest Protestant denomination holds its national assembly beginning today in Louisville. We would like ordaining bodies to be given the right to ordain people as individuals, not as members of categories, said the Rev. Laird Stuart, a San Francisco pastor who leads a group pushing for repeal.
Conservatives are prepared to defend the ban.
There is a prohibition that is very straightforward, that we believe the Scriptures teach, and the church ought to proclaim that our officers should model in their own lives, said the Rev. Jerry Andrews of suburban Chicago. S.C. minister Lewis Galloway, pastor of Shandon Presbyterian Church in Columbia, feels dismayed by the whole conversation. The real problem we re facing now is the church is of a divided mind on what the Bible says about human sexuality, Galloway said. And until the church can reach a common mind of what Christ is saying to the church through the Scriptures, we will continue to debate the issue of human sexuality. We live in a culture that is addicted to sex, and people on both sides of this issue are demonstrating that we are more concerned about sex than we are about social justice and the practice of compassion.