The Overtures Committee of the 37th General Assembly rejected Overture 18 from Eastern Pennsylvania Presbytery yesterday.

The overture, titled “A Declaration Concerning Homosexuals in the Military,” would have authorized the moderator of the Assembly to hand-deliver a letter to President Barack Obama, reminding him of what “has in all history been the unambiguous instruction of God our Creator regarding sexual relationships among mankind.”

The recommended letter reads in part, “The Presbyterian Church in America, as one expression of God’s Church in the United States, seeks lovingly to warn that your publicly announced intention to normalize and commend homosexual relationships for members of the Armed Forces would deny Divine purpose in the very Creation of Man, and would contend against Divine law that has been revealed for the great good of all Mankind.” The letter also would have reminded the President that, “This Nation’s prosperity and security is ultimately dependent upon the good pleasure and Providence of God.”

In rejecting the overture, the committee stated, “The proposal fails to meet the standard of the Westminster Confession of Faith 31.4—the case is not extraordinary and no civil magistrate has required such advice.”