Presbyterian Church (USA) members and other observers around the country are closely watching the next phase in the case of a Cincinnati minister convicted of violating church law by performing same-sex marriages.
On April 29, the Presbyterian court in northwest Ohio that oversees churches in Ohio and Michigan will rule on whether the Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken violated the denomination's constitution. Church observers say the case could have a major impact on the authority of the Presbyterian constitution at a time when various Protestant denominations are struggling with challenges to the authority of their governing documents.
"All mainline Protestant denominations are having to deal with a broader issue than just the gay marriage and ordination questions," said David Neff, editor of Christianity Today magazine. "They are having to decide -- the authority of the church doctrines. -- If denominations lose the authority of their church documents, how will these groups define their identity?"
The recent acquittal of a lesbian minister in the United Methodist Church on a charge she violated church law by living openly in a lesbian relationship and the recent consecration of an openly gay man as an Episcopal bishop has sparked debate over church law within those denominations.
The constitution of the 2.5 million-member Presbyterian denomination defines marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman. The highest Presbyterian court ruled in 2000 that ministers may bless same-sex unions, but cannot marry those couples.
"The significance of the Van Kuiken case goes to the heart of the question of whether the Presbyterian Church will enforce its own constitution or has, in fact, declared that it is no longer a constitution but a local option for churches -- merely a guide or a wish book," said the Rev. Parker Williamson, chief executive of the Presbyterian Lay Committee -- the independent group based in Lenoir, N.C., that affirms biblical traditional values.
Michael Adee, a spokesman for the Minnetonka, Minn.-based More Light Presbyterians organ-ization that works for full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Presbyterian Church (USA), also expects the case to effect how the constitution is interpreted.
"It is up to the legislative body of the church to change the constitution," he said, "but every court case influences its interpretation."
It has been almost a year since the judicial commission of the Cincinnati Presbytery -- a cluster of Presbyterian churches in the Cincinnati area -- convicted Van Kuiken of violating church law by marrying same-sex couples and publicly rebuked him.
Van Kuiken continued to marry couples after the court ordered him to stop and was ousted in June as a Presbyterian minister by the Cincinnati Presbytery for violating the court order.
The permanent judicial commission of the synod that oversees Ohio and Michigan churches in February reinstated Van Kuiken, ruling Feb. 6 that the Cincinnati Presbytery could not remove him while the lower court's order was under appeal.
Van Kuiken, a married heterosexual, is hoping the Maumee court will rule in his favor again, despite the constitution.
"I have always said that just following orders has never been an excuse," he said. "Individuals and the courts should have the ability and the obligation to follow their own consciences."
Repeated calls seeking comment from the Cincinnati Presbytery and the Presbyterian Church (USA) headquarters in Louisville were not returned.
Most observers believe that no matter which side wins April 29, the case will be appealed to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission -- the highest court in the denomination.