Maybe not much. The Presbyterian Church (USA) announced March 17 that a nationwide referendum among regional bodies (“presbyteries”) has redefined marriage as “between two people, traditionally a man and woman” so same-sex couples can wed in church. This historic change will be very upsetting for a sizable minority but eruptions could be muted, for three reasons. First, some who consider Bible-based tradition a make-or-break conscience matter have already quit the PC(USA). Second, conservatives who remain risk loss of their properties if they leave.
And then dissenting clergy and congregations are told they won’t be forced to change their stand or conduct gay nuptials. But Carmen LaBerge, president of the conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee, is wary. “If this is a genuine justice issue” and the traditionalists are “discriminatory hatemongers” as liberals believe, she wonders how long the church can “limp along between two opinions…. That’s a lot of tension for an organization to endure for long.”
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