USA - The Presbyterian Church (USA) will return to two issues that have dominated church life for the past decade, with debates scheduled over gay clergy and whether to pull church investments from companies that are involved in Israeli actions against Palestinians.
The church's 220th General Assembly in Pittsburgh that runs Saturday to July 7 will reopen several contentious issues that many in the church thought had been settled.
When the 2 million-member church last met in 2010, delegates approved a change to the church's Book of Order that allows for the ordination of non-celibate gay clergy; the change was ratified by a majority of regional presbyteries in 2011.
The church's new language sidesteps the issue of sexuality and specifies that ordination standards should "reflect the church's desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life." Regional presbyteries, which preside over ordinations, are required to base decisions only on common questions asked of all candidates.
Opponents will try this year to undo that change, and revert to a 1996 standard that required "fidelity in the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness" for all clergy.
Same-sex marriage will also be debated, with four presbyteries petitioning for a modification to the church's constitution from its current definition of marriage as "a civil contract between a woman and a man" to a union of "two people."
The assembly is set to consider several overtures regarding Middle East relations and investment.
In 2004, the PCUSA became the first major denomination to approve a process of "phased, selective divestment," but the move was scaled back in 2006 after Jewish groups complained. Other churches have been largely reluctant to join the divestment cause.
The PCUSA's Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment is also seeking a renewal of the call to corporations doing business in Israel to "confine their business activity solely to peaceful pursuits, and refrain from allowing their products or services to support or facilitate violent acts by Israelis or Palestinians against innocent civilians."