Presbyterian ministers can now bless same sex unions without fear of being disciplined.

And while many local Presbyterians are in favor of that, many others are complaining same sex unions are contrary to Scripture.

Here is OnQ, correspondent Michael Bartley for some background on this story.

Michael?

Stacey, it all started when the Presbyterian Church was High Court ruled.

There's nothin in the Presbyterian constitution forbidding the blessing of a gay commitment or union.

After that ruling, some church leaders called for the Presbyterian constitution to be changed to forbid blessing gay unions, while other church leaders are thrilled to preside over gay unions.

You know, you're approaching East Liberty when you see one of the most impressiv steeples in the Pittsburgh area.

Inside, the East Liberty Presbyterian Church Sanctuary is undergoing major refurbishing.

Built in 1933, East Liberty Presbyterian is an inspiring sight with stained glass windows and precision carved religious sculptures.

And what some church members call an open minded approach to religion.

Jeffrey Johnson, who is openly gay, is the assistant music director.

Johnson and his partner had their union blessed by a Presbyterian minister not here at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, but at their home.

I really believe that our relationship is a gift of God, and it's a gift of of love.

And I believe that, love really emanates from creator love flows down from creator and all real deep love is a part of that.

The minister who blessed Johnson same sex union did not face disciplinary action.

And recently, the Presbyterian Church ruled that the church constitution, the Book of Order, had nothing in it to forbid blessing gay unions.

The East Liberty Presbyterian Church has never held a ga commitment, service or blessing.

But the recent ruling has at least one gay couple requesting a blessing.

The pastor, Reverend Robert Chesnut, says he's mor than willing to bless gay union.

This is an open congregation and we have a goodly number of gay and lesbian couples in our church.

And and most of them are among our best members, stable, serious, successful members of society.

Chesnut has authored a new book called Transforming the Mainline Church.

He urges Christians to take a more open minded approach and interpreting Scripture.

What we need to do is take a big picture look at the Bible.

If we try to approach the Bible in the same way that the Bible was approached in the pas to justify slavery, for example, or to justify a second class status for women in the church and in society.

And we want to use that same kind of approach toda on the sexual orientation issue.

Then I think in terms of logical consistency, we will have painted ourselves into a corner, unable to defend ourselves from the proposition that the Bible supports slavery or same class citizenship for women.

We seem to often get, kind of preoccupied and obsessed with sexual sins, and maybe because they're in a way a lot easier to focus on than some of the other sins, like greed.

Social injustice.

Obesity.

And while many here at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church are thrilled about seeing the blessing of gay unions or commitments, church leaders at the main office on the Northside at the Pittsburgh Presbytery are getting plenty of phone calls opposing same sex unions.

John Matta is the stated clerk of the Pittsburgh Presbytery.

They're saying that they don't like the idea of people, ministers blessing, relationships between, members of the same sex.

And they think that is contrary to the Scripture and that they hope the church will stop that.

It's based on the view of the church that, marriage is to be between a man and a woman and that, relationships which purport to be marriages are not proper.

But Reverend Chesnut says it's important to clarify he'll be blessing a union, not performing a marriage.

Some, if not many, Presbyterians probably would think you're out on a limb here.

Wouldn't you agree?

There are many.

Yes.

Who would think that I'm out on a limb here, but I have a lot of people out on that same limb with me nationwide in our denomination, commitments are about the heart.

Obviously, marriage license don't seem to keep heterosexual relationships together.

I think that a piece of pape is not what's going to keep keep you together, but a community behind you, supporting you.

That's what counts.

Reverend Chesnut believes a clear majority of his congregation support the blessing of same sex unions.

What's not clear, however, is whether a majority of Presbyterians and church leaders nationwide are ready to show their support.

In a few weeks, the Presbyterian Church as a whole could decide whether to explicitly forbid same sex ceremonies the blessings of them, even if they do it, wouldn't take effect until about a year from now.

So you could see same sex ceremonies performed in some local Presbyterian churches, or at least by Presbyterian ministers.

We found out there are several what's referred to as gay friendly churches and reformed synagogue in Pittsburgh doing same sex ceremonies.

We will keep you posted on what decision is made in the mainline Presbyterian Church, and have a follow up report and further discussion later.

So you can imagine and say what you would cal a, I think, a contentious issue.

A lot of people having a difficult time with this.

I'm sure they are.

And, as you mentioned, the presbytery, the main office is hearing some opposition about this.

Are they hearing from some of the more conservative pastors?

Indeed, they are all around town.

In fact, I talked with Reverend Doug Pratt of the Memorial Park Presbyterian Church.

That's in McCandless.

He told me today, sexual relationships outside of marriage are wrong for Christians.

This is an attempt by pro gay church members to water down the church's position.

He says the Presbyterian constitution already forbids blessings, same sex unions, and will make our opinions known as the church decides what to do next.

What is the timetable on all of this before they make some sort of decision on the nationwide basis?

It's fairly quick.

It'll be the 27th of this month.

They will meet in what's called the General Assembly.

If they decide to take the language out or put the language in that would explicitly forbid the blessing of these unions, then the Presbyterian Church, or if you will, will sort of meet as a whole some 170 cities, presbyteries, and then they'll decide on this whole issue and, and and be applied to the church constitution.

All right, Michael, thank you.