(AgapePress) - The moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has stood trial for refusing to call a special meeting of the denomination's General Assembly.

Although the Presbyterian Church (USA) has reaffirmed its ban on ordaining homosexual ministers, many leaders in the denomination have declined to enforce it and have created a constitutional crisis in the church. It was that crisis which led 57 commissioners to request that moderator Fahed Abu-Akel call a special meeting of the General Assembly to deal with this refusal to enforce the church's standards -- a request Abu-Akel denied.

Parker Williamson is executive editor of the Presbyterian Layman. He says the Abu-Akel case has great significance.

"There's a great stirring across the church over this matter of the church's constitutional standards not being enforced by those who have the authority to do so," Williamson says. "This case spotlights that whole matter and shows how important it is."

Williamson says the denomination's supreme court is likely to affirm Abu-Akel.

"The denomination's officials have brought out their big guns in this case," he says. "They have a lot at stake here. And the persons who have been put on that court over the last several years have been people whose view of the constitution is, in my judgment, very liberal."

Hearings in the Abu-Akel case took place Monday, and the court is expected to announce its ruling in two to three days.

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