PCUSA Narrowly Defeats Proposal to Redefine Marriage

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At its annual meeting this month in Pittsburgh, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) narrowly defeated a proposal that would have changed how the church defines marriage in its constitution.

After four hours of debate, the assembly voted 336 to 308 against a recommendation to change the current definition of marriage in the Book of Order from a “civil contract between a man a woman” to “a civil contract between two people.” The proposal to change the definition of marriage was submitted to the full assembly by the PC-USA’s Committee on Civil Unions and Marriage Issues, which had previously voted 28 to 24 to approve it.

While the PC-USA Assembly rejected the proposal to redefine marriage, it approved an alternative proposal that calls for two years of “serious study and discernment” about Christian marriage.