The potential legitimization of homosexuality in the military may be the most serious moral issue in America since Roe V. Wade in 1973

Three member denominations of the Presbyterian and Reformed Joint Commission on Chaplains and Military Personnel (PRJC) have overtured their respective General Assemblies or Synod on the possible repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy.

The PCA, OPC and RPCNA commissioners of the PRJC asked their respective denominations to petition military and civilian leaders “to not repeal DADT.” Three PCA presbyteries also sent in similar separate overtures
· Rocky Mountain Presbytery http://bit.ly/94Y18J
· Savannah River Presbytery http://bit.ly/dh8ogb
· South Texas Presbytery http://bit.ly/co3RRI

The potential legitimization of homosexuality in the military may be the most serious moral issue in America since Roe V. Wade in 1973. Many evangelicals were “morally asleep at the wheel” in those days and the PRJC hopes the petitioned denominations will recognize the extraordinary nature of this issue.

Intense litigation by the homosexual lobby in America and the arrest of ministers in Canada and the United Kingdom for “hate speech” are the proverbial writing on the wall.

The overtures and petitions deal specifically with the impact of a DADT repeal on military chaplains. Consequences of “open homosexuality” in the military would result in:
– chaplains being vulnerable to discrimination and “hate speech”
– possible excision of Bible passages which speak directly to the issue of the sin of homosexual practice.
– chaplains being required to include homosexual couples in marriage retreats
– chaplains facing discrimination or command reprimand if they refuse to perform union ceremonies or marriages
– First Amendment “free exercise” rights being abrogated by “civil rights” or Equal Opportunity claims.

The PCA overtures have been referred to two bodies for pre-Assembly deliberation by the Clerk, Dr. Roy Taylor: Mission to North America and the Overtures Committee (OC). Since the PRJC has a direct link to MNA (the PRJC Executive Director is also MNA’s Director for Chaplain Ministries), MNA will address the overtures as part of their Assembly report. The OC will tackle the overtures as they would any other overture coming to them.

The overtures essentially remind the denominations that it is a grave dereliction of duty to “refuse to confront those who ‘call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light or light for darkness.’ Isaiah 5:20.

Chaplain (BGen) Doug Lee is retired from the U. S. Army and is now serving as the PCA’s Endorsing Agent for Chaplains

[Editor’s note: The original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid, so the links have been removed.]