The GA of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand convenes on Sept. 28th and one of the closely watched items on the docket is an item to affirm the action of the 2004 GA excluding anyone in a sexual relationship outside marriage, including practicing homosexuals, from being ordained to the offices of minister or elder.  This item was referred to the presbyteries in 2004 for advisory votes and 12 voted in the affirmative, 10 in the negative, and 1 abstained.

This week anti-homosexual bumper stickers were mailed to the approximately 500 GA commissioners.  The stickers read “Gays aren’t welcome in our church” and “Gays are a cancer in our church.”  The mailing has been uniformly condemned by groups across the spectrum in the New Zealand church.  The denomination has put out a press release and the current moderator, the Rt. Rev. Garry Marquand has sent a letter to the churches about it.  The church is cooperating with the police and the Human Rights Commission but while the Commission says it constitutes “hate speech” they add that there is not much they can do about it since it is also in the domain of free speech.  The news is getting wide coverage in the NZ national press.  Here are two  articles are from Stuff and Radio New Zealand.