Overture to require monogamy for clergy prompts pushback in PCUSA: 'Spiritual coercion'

A proposed rule to mandate monogamy among ordained clergy, including those in homosexual relationships, has prompted pushback from three committees of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

The overture, which was submitted by the Presbytery of Sierra Blanca in New Mexico to be considered at the PCUSA's General Assembly later this month in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, would amend the denomination's Book of Order to require clergy "in any relationship of a sexual nature" to be "living in a monogamous one."

According to "advice and counsel" appended to the overture, the proposal has been met with resistance from the PCUSA's Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justice, the Advocacy Committee on LGBTQIA+ Equity and the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy.

The Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justice said they could not support the overture requiring monogamous relationships "because it extends beyond the Church's call to form disciples into an attempt to regulate the private lives and relational structures of individuals in ways that risk harm rather than healing."

Citing the Book of Order's affirmation that "God alone is Lord of the conscience," the Women and Gender Justice committee said "that the role of the Church is not to impose uniformity of personal life but to cultivate communities marked by justice, accountability, and love," and argued that the overture "frames moral character through a narrow relational mandate that does not, in itself, prevent harm."

Continued below.