Committee Leadership List 
GA08062
Church Orders and Ministry recommends new authoritative interpretation on ‘scrupling’
Proposal would allow ordaining bodies to consider conscientious objection to G-6.0106b
The Committee on Church Orders and Ministry took a vote on Tuesday afternoon. Photo by Joseph Williams
SAN JOSE, June 24, 2008 — The General Assembly Committee on Church Orders and Ministry has voted to recommend that the 218th General Assembly adopt a supplementary authoritative interpretation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) constitution that applies the historical practice of “scrupling” — the declaration of conscientious objection by candidates for ordination coupled with discernment by the ordaining body whether the declared objection is disqualifying — equally to all ordination standards of the denomination.
The authoritative interpretation, brought to the assembly by John Knox Presbytery, reaffirms the scrupling practice affirmed by the 217th General Assembly when it approved the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church (PUP) and effectively overturns a recent General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission ruling — Bush vs. Presbytery of Pittsburgh — that G-6.0106b, the commonly called “fidelity and chastity” ordination standard, cannot be scrupled.
The committee vote was 43-15.
“We cannot be cherry-picking the constitutional provisions,” said the Rev. Mark Achtemeier, the overture advocate for John Knox Presbytery and a member of PUP. “Room for allowing scrupling must be equally applied or it makes no theological sense.”
The committee adopted slightly different wording suggested by the Advisory Committee on the Constitution that makes the new authoritative interpretation supplementary to that included in the PUP report rather than a replacement of it.
The full text of the proposal:
“The 218th General Assembly (2008) affirms the authoritative interpretation of G-6.0108 approved by the 217th General Assembly (2006). Further, the 218th General Assembly (2008), pursuant to G-13.0112, interprets the requirements of G-6.0108 to apply equally to all ordination standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Section G-6.0108 requires examining bodies to give prayerful and careful consideration, on an individual, case-by-case basis, to any departure from an ordination standard in matters of belief or practice that a candidate may declare during examination. However, the examining body is not required to accept a departure from standards, and cannot excuse a candidate’s inability to perform the constitutional functions unique to his or her office (such as administration of the sacraments).”
The committee then cemented its support for the PUP report by voting 42-12 to answer five overtures that would have rescinded or amended the report with the action taken on the new authoritative interpretation.
Opponents of the committee’s decisions said they would split the church and vowed to file a minority report. “The vision has become a nightmare,” said the Rev. Donald Baird, Sacramento Presbytery’s overture advocate for a proposal that the entire PUP report be rescinded. “If Bush is overturned and an amendment to delete G-6.0106b is sent to the presbyteries, a lot of churches will be leaving. All I ask is that you let them take their property without a fight.”
Sylvia Dooling, an elder commissioner and committee member from Plains and Peaks Presbytery, said issuing an authoritative interpretation that allows G-6.0106b to be included in scrupling is “an end run around presbyteries that would in effect give us ‘local option’ rather than be held to constitutional standards for ordination.”
Dooling said “I’d rather we just send out a proposed amendment to delete G-6.0106b than to do this.”
The committee recommendation will now be considered by the full Assembly later this week.