PITTSBURGHâ€â€A local pastor is seeking a top office within the Presbyterian Church because he is concerned it's straying too far from church law.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Rev. Rus Howard, 50, the pastor of Peters Creek United Presbyterian Church, wants to be the Church's next stated clerk, which includes overseeing the implementation of the constitution of the 2.4 million-member church.
Howard said the current officer holder, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, hasn't done enough to uphold the church's ban on gay ordination.
"Each time a clergyperson, an elder, a congregation, a presbytery, an officer, or any other governing body in the PCUSA is allowed to defy our constitution without discipline, the PCUSA inches closer to total anarchy," Howard told the newspaper.
Howard also said he would like Kirkpatrick to take a greater role in stressing that the church is committed to marriage being between a man and a woman.
Howard has been an outspoken member of the church. In 2002, he was among a group that taped "A Call to Confession and Repentance" to the door of the denominational headquarters in Kentucky.
He said he doesn't expect to win the election, but he hopes his views are heard.
"I think I need to stand up and put myself on the front line," he said.
