(AgapePress) - A pro-family activist is questioning a Presbyterian camp's decision to host an "ecumenical" retreat for homosexuals in Pennsylvania.
Last weekend, the Westminster Highlands Presbyterian USA Camp in Emlenton held an "open door retreat" for individuals who claim to be "gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, or questioning." Among those in attendance were homosexuals from local Roman Catholic and Methodist colleges. The event was sponsored by a homosexual group at nearby Methodist-affiliated Allegheny College.
Diane Gramley, with the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, believes this is another unfortunate example of churches refusing to confront sin.
"The Presbyterian Church USA has gone overboard to be accepting of homosexuals even in their sin, and has not been willing to address the issue from a biblical standpoint," Gramley says. "To me, this is just an extension of what they unfortunately have fallen into."
The activist says the retreat is "not good news for those faithful Presbyterians who know what the Bible says." She notes that in 1978, the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA declared that "the practice of homosexuality is a sin" -- but that the retreat is more evidence of mainline denominations such as the PCUSA steadily departing from Bible teaching.
"They've taken scripture, and they will believe it up to a point," Gramley says, "but when it comes to actually confronting sin, they want to be too accepting. I mean, God loves these people -- there's no doubt about that -- but yet God does not love the sin. They don't want to go beyond the 'God loves them' part, to where God loves them but ... hates the sin."
Gramley says it is clear the Presbyterian camp is not fulfilling its mission statement to "provide Christ-centered community living experiences."
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