NGK same-sex union change challenged

THE Dutch Reformed Church (NGK) will have to explain to the North Gauteng High Court why it recanted on an earlier ruling to approve same-sex unions.

The church changed its stance a year later, saying these relationships did not meet Christian guidelines.

Reverend Laurie Gaum, with the support of his father Frits Gaum, a leading figure in the church, are asking the court to overturn the 2016 decision in which same-sex relationships were denounced by the church council.

The matter is set down for August 21, when the court must decide whether the church’s change of heart, barely a year after its groundbreaking resolution to acknowledge samesex unions, is consistent with its constitution as well as the Constitution of South Africa.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since the Civil Union Act came into force in November 2006.

In 2015, the church gave its blessing in this regard in line with the constitution and the decision of many other churches.

It concluded at the time that “the best application of the Biblical message as we understand it, accepts same-sex relationships.”

It also permitted pastors to solemnise same-sex unions and it allowed for homosexual people to participate fully in all the activities and privileges of the church.

In 2016, during an extraordinary meeting, the General Synod of the church made a U-turn and went back to its original stance of not recognising same-sex relationships and unions.

This decision was binding on every member of the church.

Gaum, in papers filed at court, said this was done despite accepting that a substantial part of the Dutch Reformed Church’s membership holds the unshakable religious conviction that samesex relations are permitted by the Bible and that God did not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

It will be argued on Gaum’s behalf that through this “flawed” decision-making process and its outcome, the church and the synod have infringed the right to religion itself and have imposed their religious beliefs on others.

The result, Gaum said, was severe emotional and spiritual harm, culminating in suffering.

The church, on the other hand, said the 2016 decision constituted the sincere religious beliefs of the majority of synod delegates.