...Le Tourneau was determined prior to the adoption of G-6.0106b, which specifies that a candidate who refuses to repent of any selfacknowledged practice that the confessions call sin is not eligible for ordination or installation. Orientation, therefore, alone is insufficient to make a person ineligible for ordination or installation. Further, this commission cured the theological defect of the Le Tourneau Decision through the application of the doctrine of total depravity in Wier 2. The defect in question rested upon the assumption that one category of persons is more prone to sin than other categories of persons. The doctrine of total depravity teaches us that not only do all fall short of the glory of God, but that there is no part of our person that is not in need of the redeeming grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, sexual orientation alone would be no more sufficient or reasonable grounds for further questioning than would singleness, obesity or any other categorization. In other words, stereotypical profiling is not a reasonable or valid ground for singling out a candidate for additional questioning. Therefore, if a person does not self-acknowledge a practice that the confessions call sin, then a governing body has a positive obligation to make further inquiry only if it has direct and specific knowledge that said person is in violation of the ordination and installation standards of the Constitution. In order to faithfully hold the essential tenet of total depravity, there must be a higher pleading specificity as to what constitutes the grounds for reasonable cause prior to inquiry. A hunch, gossip or stereotype is not a sufficient ground to compel a governing body to make further inquiry. Reasonable grounds must include factual allegations of how, when, where, and under what circumstances the individual was self-acknowledging a practice which the confessions call a sin.

Since the standard for self-acknowledgment is that it be plain, palpable, and obvious, the ordaining and installing governing body is in the best position to make any such determination based on its knowledge of the life and character of the candidate.

To single out a category of persons above and beyond other persons as more likely to sin violates the doctrine of total depravity. All fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and are prone to sin (Psalm 14:1-3; Romans 3:9-12; Ephesians 2:1-3; The Scots Confession, C-3.03; The Heidelberg Catechism, 4.007, 4.008; The Westminster Confession, C-6.031-.036). Therefore, while homosexual practice is proscribed by the General Assembly, all persons, being sinners, are equally likely and prone to violate the standard set forth in G-6.0106b, which applies to both homosexual and heterosexual persons. Since the ordaining and installing governing body best knows the life and character of the candidate, initial and further inquiry as to compliance with all the standards for ordination and installation belongs to that governing body. If that governing body has reasonable cause for inquiry based on its knowledge of the life and character of the candidate, it has the positive obligation to make due inquiry and uphold all the standards for ordination and installation. Consideration for inquiry is to be made solely on an individual basis (GA Minutes, 68, 166, 1998). Therefore, if notwithstanding the requirement of individualized inquiry based on reasonable cause, a governing body makes a line of inquiry to a candidate without reasonable cause, all candidates currently before that governing body must undergo the same inquiry.