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The largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. will allow pastors to preside at gay weddings in states that recognize same-sex marriage. The Presbyterian General Assembly voted 61 percent to 39 percent in favor of allowing ministers to decide whether to perform the ceremonies. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia recognize gay marriage.

A leader of the Presbyterian Church has added to the already existing tensions between his sect and the Jewish community by publicly calling on the Jewish people to leave Israel and permanently settle in the United States. Reverend Larry Grimm of the Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church in Colorado, a longtime advocate of the movement to economically and socially boycott the Jewish state, said that Jews should realize that America is the true Promised Land. Grimm’s statement comes as the Presbyterian Church (USA) prepares to vote at its General Assembly on whether to formally divest from Israel. In a posting on...

As the biannual general meeting of the Presbyterian Church (USA) begins this week in Detroit, Jewish human rights group The Simon Wiesenthal Center said they have severed all relations with the controversial church. The group also called on PC (USA) members to vote down the anti-Israel agenda that has been praised by David Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and Press TV, a semi-official Iranian government news channel.

I can't cut and paste from the device I'm using, but this article is an interview with the father of Matthew Vines, the author of "God and the Gay Chrisitan." Monte Vines says when his son told him he was "gay" a few years ago, they studied the Bible together and discovered things like the often-cited bad argument that both homosexuality and eating shellfish were abominations in the Old Testament (and on that, God says to the Israelites about things like shellfish that they "shall be abomination for you" - meaning the Jews). So the father changed his mind since...

In a sign of the precarious state of Presbyterian-Jewish relations, the rabbi who heads the largest branch of Judaism in North America will appeal directly to the Presbyterian Church (USA) to step back from a series of critical resolutions aimed at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Invited to address the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Detroit, which begins next week, Rabbi Rick Jacobs said the Presbyterians have the choice of making things worse, or better. “It’s a critical moment,” said Jacobs, head of the Union for Reform Judaism, representing about 1.9 million Jews. “Much is at stake.” At issue...

According to the Christian Post Monday, megachurch, Westminster Presbyterian Church (This is a PCUSA church) in Greensboro, NC will be without a senior pastor because of his recent admittance to having an affair for the entire nine months he has been the pastor. “ Weaver apologized in a letter to the Salem Presbytery: I have violated my ordination vows and my wedding vows," the 33-year-old Weaver confessed in the letter, which was mailed to the congregation on Friday by the Salem Presbytery, the regional governing body for local Presbyterian (U.S.A.) churches. "I am sorry and I ask your forgiveness.” This...

A hard-fought effort to move one of Houston's iconic Christian churches from its long-standing denomination to a new, more conservative group narrowly failed Sunday, with the congregation voting heavily in favor of the move but falling short of the supermajority needed for approval. The leadership of First Presbyterian Church, which was established shortly after Houston's founding, had unanimously endorsed the move from Presbyterian Church USA to the breakaway denomination called ECO, A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. The senior pastor, his staff, and the elected leaders from the congregation argued that PCUSA, the nation's largest Presbyterian body, had become too...

Presbyterian churches are teaching that their Jewish neighbors are inherently racist and prone to abusing the rights of others. That’s the key message of PCUSA’s new congregational study guide, “Zionism Unsettled.” Released by its Israel-Palestine Mission Network, the guide “explores the theological and ethical exceptionalism of Jewish and Christian Zionism, which have been sheltered from open debate despite the intolerable human rights abuses rooted in their core beliefs.” To be clear, this is no mere attack on Israeli policies, but rather on the very legitimacy of the Zionist enterprise. PCUSA has theologically resurrected the UN’s infamous 1975 “Zionism is Racism”...

A delegation of 14 leaders from the Presbyterian clergy, a church that in the past supported boycotting Israeli products manufactured in Judea and Samaria (Shomron), arrived last week to visit Israel. The visit was organized by the America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL); the delegates’ goal was to discover Israel personally and to better understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Representatives from the Presbyterian Church, which has an estimated six million followers, visited the Soda Stream factory, which is located in Maaleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem. They spoke to representatives from the management and several employees. While some United States-based religious groups, such as...

An influential, wealthy Houston church is considering a split from the nation's largest Presbyterian body as it is embroiled in a national debate between those who want to take a more conservative view of the Bible and those who support measures to make room for gay marriage, a newspaper reported Sunday. The First Presbyterian Church, the oldest such congregation in the city, will vote next Sunday on whether it wants to remain with Presbyterian Church USA or join a breakaway faction that wouldn't allow for gay clergy or marriage, The Houston Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/1dAhc7p ). Similar debates are going on...

What has intrigued me most about Pope Francis is not the way in which Catholics -- well, most of them, anyway -- have embraced him but the way in which countless Protestants have moved into his fan club. More is at play here than simple celebrity in our overwrought pop culture. At least, I hope so. The Protestant fascination with him hasn't broken down the many theological, liturgical and structural barriers that still exist between Protestantism and Catholicism, but it has softened them a bit and it has caused some Protestants to want to figure out what makes Francis tick,...

What has intrigued me most about Pope Francis is not the way in which Catholics -- well, most of them, anyway -- have embraced him but the way in which countless Protestants have moved into his fan club. More is at play here than simple celebrity in our overwrought pop culture. At least, I hope so. The Protestant fascination with him hasn't broken down the many theological, liturgical and structural barriers that still exist between Protestantism and Catholicism, but it has softened them a bit and it has caused some Protestants to want to figure out what makes Francis tick,...

A local church will on Sunday ring in the new year by ordaining Philadelphia's first openly gay male Presbyterian pastor. Broad Street Ministry will welcome Princeton Theological Seminary graduate David Norse as its new leader, according to the Avenue of the Arts church's convening minister, the Rev. Bill Golderer. "There's a lot of progressive rhetoric among Christian churches that are trying to revitalize themselves, but this is a progressive move," Golderer said. "Having David ordained to the ministry is a way of performing the gospel that we espouse. It's acting, not talking." The broad-minded church has long been demonstrating its...

(Cazenovia, NY – Oct. 2013) On Sunday Oct. 27 The First Presbyterian Church in Cazenovia will celebrate Reformation Sunday. Jack Heims will play the bagpipes and plaid tartan ribbons will be handed out in honor of the church’s Scottish heritage. Morning worship begins at 10 a.m. The Rev. Dr. Steven R. Thomas will deliver a special message. The Senior Choir will sing and the Sounds of Chimes will perform A fully-equipped and staffed nursery is available for infants and toddlers. School-aged children are dismissed to a special Sunday School mid-way through the service. Heims started piping at the age of...

The largest Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation in Texas has voted to leave the mainline denomination over theological differences. Highland Park Presbyterian Church of Dallas, which has approximately 4,000 members, overwhelmingly approved a resolution recently that would involve the congregation seeking dismissal from PC (USA). Eighty-nine percent of the members present at the Congregational and Corporate Meeting held at the church voted in favor of leaving PC (USA). Last month, Highland Park Presbyterian leadership unanimously approved a resolution to begin the process of dismissal from PC (USA). The Session recommended dismissal from the mainline denomination and membership into the newer more...

Believers in Unbelieving Churches What Should Be Done by Christian People Who are in a Modernist Church? What is the duty of Christian congregations or Christian individuals who find themselves in a church that is dominated by unbelief? Shall they remain in such a church, or shall they withdraw from it and become members of a consistently Christian Church? That is certainly the question of the hour for the orthodox part of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Various attempts are being made to answer the question. Various considerations are being urged on one side or the other. If we...

NASHVILLE (BP) -- One of Christianity's most popular worship songs has been deemed too controversial to be included in the latest edition of the hymnal for the Presbyterian Church (USA). "In Christ Alone," a modern hymn written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, consistently ranks in the top 20 songs sung in churches of all stripes, according to Christian Copyright Licensing International. Yet it contains one line that the PCUSA's Committee on Congregational Song did not wish to include in the denomination's hymnal. The line in question is from the song's second verse: "Till on that cross as Jesus died/The...

Timothy George reports the PCUSA Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song voted against including the popular hymn “In Christ Alone” from their latest hymnal. He writes: Recently, the wrath of God became a point of controversy in the decision of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song to exclude from its new hymnal the much-loved song “In Christ Alone” by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. The Committee wanted to include this song because it is being sung in many churches, Presbyterian and otherwise, but they could not abide this line from the third stanza: “Till on that cross as Jesus died/the wrath...

I saw this over at Denny Burk’s blog today. Apparently the reason the Presbyterian Church USA doesn’t like “In Christ Alone (one of my favorites), is because of that unpopular, un-politically correct word, “Wrath.” As we’ve pointed out many times here at SUFTT, the more sin is watered down, the less we have of the true Gospel. In other words – no sin = FALSE gospel. The PCUSA has been going down a concerning path for quite some time now, and it appears that this is just another symptom of the problem the devil delights in: a departure from Truth...

WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — The National Cathedral is pealing its church bells, along with some other Washington churches, to celebrate the Supreme Court’s decisions on gay marriage. Cathedral spokesman Richard Weinberg said the bells rang at noon Wednesday for 45 minutes to an hour. Bells also rang at other Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Unitarian and other Christian churches