Other Churches:

While the United Presbyterian Church is the first U.S. denomination to hold a full-dress debate about having homosexuals in the clergy, five other major Protestant denominations are confronting the problem:

> Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (878,000 members). Last year the General Assembly of the United Presbyterians' Southeastern sister church decided that homosexuality "falls short of God's plan." It shied away from a stronger condemnation, though, and approved a long-range study. A bill before the upcoming June 9-16 assembly in Shreveport, La., would repudiate homosexual activity and ban "unrepentant homosexuals" both from lay offices and the clergy. > Episcopal Church (2,882,000 members). A commission is studying the issue in preparation for next year's General Convention. But the furor last year over the ordination of New York's Ellen Barrett as the church's first openly homosexual priest forced the House of Bishops to declare its "present understanding" against ordination of "advocating and/or practicing" homosexuals, as distinct from persons with a "homosexual orientation."

> United Church of Christ (1,801,000 members). Under local option, the heirs of the Puritans chose to ordain the nation's first openly homosexual clergyman, William Johnson, in 1972. The church has set no national policy on ordination, but an agency is conducting a long-range study. United Church People for Biblical Witness, organized in April, is at work against a new denominational study guide that takes a tolerant view of homosexual behavior. f United Methodist Church (9,861,000 members). A church agency proposed that the 1976 General Conference repeal a four-year-old policy statement that homosexual practice is "incompatible with Christian teaching." Repeal would have laid the groundwork for future ordinations. The delegates swamped the proposal and even vetoed a proposed sexuality study. Last year New York's Bishop Ralph Ward raised conservative hackles by not ousting a pastor who openly admitted being a homosexual.

> Christian Church-Disciples of Christ (1,302,000 members). Last October's General Assembly adopted "for study" a report stating that homosexuals' "gifts of ministry are to be welcomed" (referring to the "ministry" of all church members). The assembly rejected an explicit condemnation of homosexual life-style for Christians and set up a study on ordination, which will be dealt with at next year's assembly.

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