This Wednesday, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA cast two contradictory votes.

On the one hand, it voted 405-92 to maintain the church constitution’s “fidelity and chastity” rule for ordained ministers. In other words, Presbyterian pastors must be faithful in marriage and chaste in singleness. Like other mainline denominations, the PCUSA has also debated whether to sanction same-sex marriages, but so far, it has refused to do. Maintaining the fidelity and chastity rule strengthens this refusal.

On the other hand, the General Assembly also voted 298-221 to allow ordaining bodies within the denomination considerable leeway over how–or whether–to enforce this constitutional rule.

Mark D. Roberts is a Presbyterian pastor, and he has started a blogging series about this controversy on his website. Check it out!