stick a fork in them; they're done

PC(USA) Assembly Blasted for Trashing the Trinity, Other 'Crazy' Decisions

By Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
July 10, 2006

(AgapePress) - A conservative minister says the Presbyterian Church (USA) did more than alter a major doctrine of the Christian faith at its recent convention. According to one Presbyterian Lay Committee member, a number of "crazy" actions took place at the denomination's meeting last month in Birmingham, Alabama.

At the recent 217th General Assembly meeting, PC(USA) commissioners voted to allow the denomination's churches to use the phrase "compassionate mother, beloved child, and life-giving womb" instead of "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" when referring to the Trinity. This was just one of the 12 phrases approved by the Assembly as permissible substitutions for the traditional names of the Godhead, another being "rock, cornerstone, and temple."

When one California pastor was asked how he felt about the new terminology for the Trinity, he told the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "You might as well put in Huey, Dewey, and Louie." That minister is not alone in his sentiments -- another conservative Presbyterian theologian and pastor is similarly expressing disgust at what he describes as the denomination's move to "alter a major doctrine of the Christian faith."

Pastor Parker T. Williamson, CEO of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, says the PC(USA) is showing contempt for historic church teaching with these substitutions. "The understanding of God as three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in this divine communion that draws us into itself -- all of that's been trashed by this assembly," he contends.

The denominational leaders also endorsed medical marijuana use and approved the ordination of homosexuals under certain circumstances. And Williamson says the "crazy" goings-on at the General Assembly did not end there. "Someone had made a resolution to declare suicide bombing a crime against humanity," he notes.

"Now, you'd think that would be approved rather quickly, wouldn't you? I mean, suicide bombing is not exactly a godly act," the Lay Committee spokesman says. But against all expectation, he observes, the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, one of the denomination's official agencies -- along with its Advocacy Committee on Racial Ethnic Concerns -- lobbied against approval of the resolution.

Committee members "came in and recommended that that thing not be passed because it might offend the Muslims," Williamson says. But during extended debate on the issue, commissioners were urged not to follow the advice of the Social Witness Policy Committee to disapprove the resolution, one youth advisory delegate begging them to "Think about the headlines tomorrow." Eventually, the committee's recommendation to disapprove was voted down, and a motion to approve the resolution was made and finally carried.

Williamson feels the events of the Birmingham General Assembly meeting reflect deep-seated problems in the Presbyterian denomination. The PC(USA) is in a state of "schism," the conservative pastor asserts, and the denomination is hemorrhaging members left and right.