S.C. Presbyterians still weighing same-sex marriage

A month after the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) cleared the way for same-sex couples to be married in their congregations, no couple has yet approached a South Carolina congregation to perform the rite.

But that request may come soon.

The change in the mainline denomination’s constitution, and its redefinition of marriage, becomes official June 21. Since it is voluntary, many congregations are weighing whether they will be open to such ceremonies, said the Rev. Danny Murphy, leader of the Midlands-based Trinity Presbytery, one of five regional governing bodies in the state.

“One of the things that sessions (church governing boards) have to do is make a determination ... whether they will permit their church property to be used for same-sex marriages or not,” Murphy said. So far, he said, “I have not had any sessions, or clerks of sessions, saying they are willing to do it. I haven’t had any sessions that say they wouldn’t.”

Three of the five Presbyteries in South Carolina supported the constitutional change, so it is likely there will be a number of ministers and congregations open to performing same-sex marriages.

The denomination, the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country, has wrangled with the same-sex issue for years, agreeing in 2010 to allow the ordination of gay men and women to become pastors, deacons and elders in the church. Bolstered by the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage and changing societal attitudes, the time was ripe for an affirmative vote on the marriage clause, advocates said.

That came March 17 when a New Jersey presbytery, one of 171 regional governing bodies, cast the critical 86th vote on Amendment 14F in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Book of Church Order. Under that amendment, marriage is no longer defined as being between a man and a woman but described as a “unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman, to love and support each other for the rest of their lives.” It becomes effective June 21 in states where same-sex marriage is legal.

Murphy said he was not surprised by the March vote.

“My sense is that it was going to pass,” he said. He had listened to the debate for years, heard the hurt and anguish of lesbian and gay members who felt left out of the church, just as he had listened to the pained bewilderment of those who could not believe the denomination would alter its centuries-old tenet that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman.

“Even in term of the five executives in South Carolina, we already had a sense that in the majority of Presbyteries it was going to pass,” Murphy said.

The Rock Hill-based Providence Presbytery, the Upstate Foothills Presbytery and Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery in the Lowcountry approved the amendment. Trinity Presbytery, described by Murphy as “moderate with a conservative lean” and New Harmony Presbytery, based in Florence, opposed the amendment.

That reflects two phenomena, both in South Carolina and nationally, said the Rev. Jill Duffield, editor of the Presbyterian Outlook and a former pastor at Shandon Presbyterian Church in Columbia.

“Part of the affirmative vote represents the fact that the more conservative members have left,” said Duffield, a member of Trinity Presbytery. “And some of it is because of a cultural shift and a generational shift.”

Dozens of congregations across the country have abandoned the PCUSA for more conservative Presbyterian turf. The denomination, like other mainline Protestant churches, has seen a steady decline in membership over the last 50 years because of changing American church habits and ongoing debates over social issues.

Presbyterians are no strangers to organized and lengthy debate, tracing their history back to John Calvin and the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) emerged in 1983 to heal the division created a century earlier when northern and southern congregations split over the Civil War and slavery.

Murphy said three congregations in Trinity Presbytery have exited the PCUSA, and a fourth is poised to leave the denomination.

Two Abbeville congregations, Warrenton Presbyterian Church and Rocky River Presbyterian Church, joined the EPC, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a conservative denomination founded in 1981.

Saxa Gotha Presbyterian Church in Lexington left to align with ECO, the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians founded in 2012. Westminister Presbyterian Church in Greenwood is also seeking to be dismissed from the PCUSA to align with ECO.

“I think with the language, “traditionally a man and a woman” and the fact that it is permissive and not directive, you are still going to have churches who say we are going to hang in there,” Murphy said.

With the vote, the issue is no longer a distant theological debate, noted Duffield, who said she would be willing to preside at a same-sex marriage.

“Now, it’s real,” she said.

This story was originally published April 13, 2015 at 4:58 PM with the headline "S.C. Presbyterians still weighing same-sex marriage."