Presbyterian Church Ordains First Gay Minister

A Presbyterian Church in Wisconsin ordained the church’s first gay minister Saturday.

According to a report in Fox News, Scott Anderson, 56, was ordained in the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Madison, Wis., more than 20 years after leaving his Presbyterian church in California after telling his congregation he was gay. At that time, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. barred homosexuals from serving as ministers. Last year, however, the National Assembly of the Presbyterian Church voted to remove the ban. Before revealing his homosexuality, Anderson served as a minister in a Presbyterian ministry in Sacramento, Calif. from 1983 until 1990. He came out to his congregation and resigned after a couple threatened to reveal his sexual orientation.

There have, however, been rumblings that by ordaining Anderson, there is likely to be a split in the Presbyterian church. Tom Hay, director of operations for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) told the Huffington Post that he did expect it to happen.

"The Episcopalians, the Lutherans, the United Church of Christ have all made this step and all have experienced losses," he is quoted as saying. "I would expect we will, too. I would grieve that and hope we can find better solutions than to break apart."

In 2004, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Foley Beach formed in Loganville after breaking away from the Episcopal Church of U.S.A. following the appointment of the Rev. V. Gene Robson, an actively gay man, as a bishop in 2003. However, since its early beginnings in the cafeteria of Loganville Middle School, Holy Cross Anglican Church has grown to a thriving church in Gwinnett County with Beach now consecrated as the first Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the South.

"For many caught in this dilema, they will not have a choice -- that is, if they practice and live the teachings of the Bible," Beach said, adding it is always tragic to see this happen. "But 2,000 years of Church history has shown us that the Church has a pattern of drifting away from the teachings of the Bible, and then some group has to make tough choices in order to remain faithful to the Lord."