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Presbyterians keep ban on noncelibate gay pastors: Closer vote this time

Though it was a closer vote this time, the regional bodies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) again declined to change the church’s rule barring noncelibate gays and lesbians from being pastors.

On April 25, unofficial tallies showed that 88 presbyteries—one more than the simple majority needed—opposed a change, according to the Presbyterian News Service. By that date, 69 presbyteries, the church’s regional bodies, had voted to remove the requirement that church officers live within a faithful heterosexual marriage or, if single, have no sexual relations.

Presbyterians, Lutherans cut jobs, reduce budgets: Slumping stock portfolios; declines in donations

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America both have slashed their 2009 budgets, cutting programs and laying off scores of personnel as denominations continue to suffer from the recession.

The ELCA, the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination, announced a $5.6 million reduction in its 2009 budget on March 31. The cut was necessary in part because regional synods plan to decrease their contributions to the denomination by $2.4 million this year, church leaders said.