Watching the Pittsburgh PJC Trial and Inaccurate Media Headlines

There is way too much to watch at the moment with the GA of the PCANZ and Presbyfest in the news at the moment, but the Pittsburgh Presbytery trial, or re-trial, of the Rev. Janet Edwards got underway yesterday and it is reasonable to expect a decision today.  (If you want background on this you can check out my previous post on the case.)

I’ll keep watching for a decision, but while watching I noticed that several news outlets have gotten good stories out, such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and KDKA, among others.  But I must take issue with the news story, particularly the headline, in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.  The headline is:

State Court Backs Presbyterian Minister

If you read the article you find that this is not even close to the truth.  The real story is that a former State Superior Court judge, Justin M. Johnson, testified in the Rev. Edwards’ defense that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Constitution does not prohibit same-sex weddings.  That, to me, is a far cry from a state court intervening in a church trial.  To the article’s credit it does quote PC(USA) Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons as saying that the constitution does prohibit ministers from preforming same-sex weddings.

Anyway, just watching and waiting to see how the Presbytery PJC rules.

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