What Luther Hath Wrought
The bitter fruits of Protestant personal interpretation

In a series of examples of DoubleSpeak that would make Orwell proud, the Presbyterians have ruled that a "minister" who can't be a "minister" can "minister" at homo/lesbo "weddings" that were never really suppose to happen in the first place. Huh?

Example 1:
Because the section of the faith's constitution that reserves marriage for a man and a woman "is a definition, not a directive," Rev. Spahr was "acting within her right of conscience in performing marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples," the tribunal said in a written ruling. So a definitive ruling isn't so definitive after all, right?

Example 2:
The judicial commission appeared to accept that reasoning, writing that the Bible proclaims "a message of inclusiveness, reconciliation, and the breaking down of barriers that separate humans from each other". Do I REALLY need to cite example upon example of passages in The Holy Bible that speak of homosexuality and abomination in the same breath?

Example 3:
Spahr, a minister for more than 30 years, came out as a lesbian in 1978. The Presbyterian Church does not allow openly gay or lesbian members to serve as ministers. Still, she was allowed to keep her position but has been prohibited from leading an individual church since 1991. OK, I want to make sure I understand this... she can't be a minister, but she's a minister.

But in all fairness, I shouldn't be all that hard on the Presbyterians. After all, the "conservative" Cardinal Schönborn hasn't done a damn thing to one of his so-called priests who recently "blessed" sodomite unions on of all places, the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Vienna.