Many more Presbyteries have now chimed in on the question of whether or not to eliminate the "fidelity and chastity" requirement from the PC(USA) constitution, and the latest trends are not good for those in favor of keeping it. Whereas the "early returns" were overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the requirement, the latest results have been more even, with a slight edge toward removing it.
19 more Presbyteries have held their votes since my last post and the tally is now 22 Presbyteries in favor of keeping the requirement and 11 wanting to get rid of it (and substitute the new language discussed in an earlier post). This means that since my last update, 10 Presbyteries have voted to do away with fidelity and chastity and 9 have voted to keep it.
Perhaps the biggest piece of news is that the Presbytery of Western North Carolina, which voted in favor of keeping fidelity and chastity when a similar measure came up in 2001, reversed its position on this new vote. 57.1% of the delegates voted to make the change. This is the first Presbytery to "switch sides" from the 2001 vote so far. 140 Presbyteries still have to vote.
My own Presbytery, the Baltimore Presbytery, in a move that shocked no one, voted on January 22, 2009 in favor of removing the fidelity and chastity requirement, 106 to 38.
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