Church: Gay policy 20yrs old

2005-08-25 22:34

Johannes de Viliers

Cape Town - The policy of the Dutch Reformed Church of 20 years ago - that homosexual relationships were sinful - "is still valid".

This is one of the reasons on which the Cape of Good Hope circuit of the church bases its decision that Dominee Laurie Gaum cannot be a minister as long as he is living according to his homosexual orientation.

This decision, which was officially announced on Wednesday evening, has drawn comment from a wide section of the church.

The general opinion since last year's general synod was that the church was "officially undecided" about the acceptability of homosexual relationships.

It was decided in October that the church had to deliberate on the matter further before an official policy could be decided.

'Aberrant form of sexuality'

However, on Wednesday, the Cape circuit put the cat among the pigeons when it wrote in its decision "since the general synods of 1990, 1994, 1999, 2002 and also 2004 did not issue any clear statement that gay relationships, in love and faithfulness, which included sex, were not acceptable to the church, the 1986 decision is still in force".

The 1986 decision said, among other things, that homosexuality "is an aberrant form of sexuality".

According to the finding, Gaum, who had a relationship with the late Douw Wessels, had to be released by his congregation.

Local circuits have own rights

The general synod should be requested to suspend his powers of office until such time that he agreed to "live in celibacy regarding persons of the same sex".

Dr Nelus Niemandt said on Thursday on behalf of the synodical board that the fact that the synod was in the process of a discussion on homosexuality could not impede on the right of local circuits to "exercise clerical supervision of the full conduct of a minister and act according to its own discretion in terms of the Word of God and the credo of the church".

The circuit decided that Gaum's gay orientation was not deserving of disciplinary measures on its own, but that his homosexual behaviour did disqualify him provisionally for the calling of minister.

- Die Burger