Summary
A pastor of a Presbyterian church in Austin, Texas, [Jim Rigby] has faced three similar complaints after performing several same-sex weddings. Each was dismissed on technicalities before a trial could begin. The result is that the accused "get a reprieve, but the discrimination stays intact." By such dismissals, he says, church investigators are saying, "'Because the relationships don't count, [the minister] didn't do a marriage.' They demean the relationship."
[Janet Edwards] pled not guilty, though she herself did not testify. The 'prosecution's chief evidence was her ceremony notes.-"It is my honor, to officiate at the wedding ...," they opened, concluding "I announce you to be a married couple." The sole prosecution witness - John Matta, a top official of the Pittsburgh Presbytery - said he talked to Edwards about the church's view of same-sex ceremonies prior to 2005, but recalled her speaking only "hypothetically.""This is really not about Janet Edwards," said one of the accusers behind both sets of charges, the Rev. Jim Yearsley, a former Perm Hills pastor now preaching in Tampa, FIa. "It's about the church." Edwards' decision Was "an absolute weakening of the ability of the church to minister. We are accommodating culture at the expense of faithful orthodox Christian practice. I think the prohibitions [against same-sex ceremonies] are quite clear. We don't need to be changing."See the full content of this document
Extract
Mixed Blessing
EVEN BEFORE THE not-guilty verdict in the Oct. 1 Presbyterian Church trial of Rev. Janet Edwards - accused of violating church and Biblical rules by performing a same-sex wedding - other sympathetic ministers of the denomination were predicting the outcome.
"They're nice people, they d...See the full content of this document
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