淡藍網3月19日訊：經過長達十年的辯論，美國基督教長老會決定修改教會憲章，正式承認同性婚姻。

該教會最高立法機構在去年6月已經通過相關議案，但仍需171個教區的領導機構批准。17日公布的投票結果顯示，多數教區贊成將憲章中的婚姻定義從“一男一女之間”修改為“兩人之間，傳統為一男一女”。

這一改變將於今年6月21日正式生效，之後美國長老會的神職人員可以在自願的前提下，為同性婚姻合法地區的同性伴侶主持婚禮。另外，曾因主持同性婚禮被教會處分的神職人員，其處罰記錄將被撤銷。

支持婚姻平等的牧師布萊恩·艾利森(Brian Ellison)對上述決定表示歡迎，同時呼籲教會成員求同存異、保持團結。

美國長老會擁有180多萬信眾，是北美地區最大的長老教會。

Leaders of Presbyterian Church USA congregations voted to change the definition of marriage from the union of “a man and a woman” to “two people.”

Come June 21, the new policy allowing the church to marry homosexuals will take effect, the Blaze reported.

The church’s 171 bodies, known as presbyteries, voted on the constitutional change Tuesday, months after the General Assembly recommended it, the New York Times reported.

“Finally, the church in its constitutional documents fully recognizes that the love of gays and lesbian couples is worth celebrating in the faith community,” said Rev. Brian Ellison, executive director of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, to the New York Times. “There is still disagreement and I don’t mean to minimize that, but I think we are learning that we can disagree and still be [in] church together.”

The Presbyterian Church USA is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, and touts about 1.8 million members, making it the largest of the Presbyterian denominations in the nation. Still, a segment of the church’s membership – mostly in the more conservative camps – cut ties in 2011 after the governing body ratified a decision to let gays and lesbians serve as ordained pastors, elders and deacons.

The New York Times reported the membership drop of the conservative base in 2011 likely cleared the way for the new definition of marriage to pass church muster.

But not all remaining church members are happy about the change.

Political correctness would banish this book, which bluntly explores the mainstreaming of homosexuality. Get “A Queer Thing Happened to America.”

Paul Detterman, national director of The Fellowship Community, a body of conservatives that maintained membership in the church post-2011, said in the New York Times: “Our objection to the passage of the marriage amendment is in no way, shape or form anti-gay. It is in no way intended as anything but concern that the church is capitulating to the culture and is misrepresenting the message of Scripture.”

Detterman also said that it’s likely “another wave, a sizable wave, of conservative folks” will now abandon the church.

He also said he and his fellow conservative group members wouldn’t be among the wave of those exiting.

“This conversation is dreadfully important to be part of,” he said, the newspaper reported.

As for ripple effects in other church denominations, Alan Wisdom, a Presbyterian who serves as the interim editor of Theology Matters, said not to worry.

“I don’t see any further large mainline denominations making the same move,” he said, the New York Times reported.

So far, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Quakers and the Unitarian Universalist Association of Churches allow clergy to perform gay marriages.