As world leaders gather in
Rome, our Washington Office reminds us of Presbyterian perspectives on
church-state relations
[4-6-05]
As the world mourns the death of Pope
Paul II, this email serves as a reminder of what the General Assembly has
said regarding government to church relations. The news is full of stories
about the official US delegation and how many former Presidents should be in
attendance at the funeral. The information below is taken from an
introductory section of the Social Witness Policy Compilation of the
Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP). General Assemblies,
over the years, have continued to support church to church relationships
between the PC(USA) and the Roman Catholic Church as part of our ecumenical
efforts.
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Church and State
ACSWP Introduction
The Presbyterian understanding of how the church
and state should related to one another has undergone a substantial
transformation in the years since 1945. In 1947, the UPCUSA Assembly
declared: ". . . Now, therefore, this Assembly respectfully requests our
Government constantly to be mindful of its avowed faith in Almighty God as
the fountainhead of our rights and liberties and on every public occasion to
give due and proper recognition of this Faith . . ." (PCUSA, 1947, p. 110).
The clear expectation of the church was that the state would be Christian,
or at least theistic.
The Presbyterian General Assemblies came to
their present understanding of the proper relationship between church and
state through a sometimes difficult struggle with Roman Catholic power in
the 1940's, 50's and 60's. Fear of the Vatican's power in temporal affairs
caused each major Presbyterian body's 1946 General Assembly to protest the
". . . continued official relations between our government and the Vatican,
under whatever guise they are cloaked . . ." (PCUSA, 1946, p. 84; see also:
PCUS, p. 82; UPCNA, p. 771). The protest was repeated in subsequent years by
the Assemblies of each particular church (PCUS, 1947, p. 89, PCUSA, 1947, p.
176; PCUSA, 1949, p. 251; PCUS, 1950, p. 48; PCUSA, 1950, p. 243; PCUSA,
1952, p. 205; PCUS, 1952, p. 68; PCUS, 1953, p. 93). The 1948, PCUS Assembly
approved a paper entitled "Roman Catholicism and Protestantism," which
concluded, ". . . the ultimate goals of the Roman Catholic Church conflict
with fundamental American principles," and ". . . present policies of the
Roman Catholic Church endanger our way of life . . ." (PCUS, 1948, pp. 155 &
159). Meanwhile, the PCUSA Assembly of the same year viewed, ". . . with
deep apprehension any trend . . . which would give any of the various
religious organizations in this country a position of privilege . .." (PCUSA,
1948, p. 206).
In the 1980's, given a reassertion of
religion's role in political life, this time largely the product of
Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist groups such as the Moral Majority,
church/state concerns again emerged as a topic of interest to the
Presbyterian General Assemblies. In 1984, the General Assembly adopted a
resolution opposing the establishment of diplomatic relations between the
U.S. government and the Vatican. Even though its protest proved fruitless in
the end, the church was on record as having opposed the establishment of any
form of official representation between the federal government and any
religious entity (PC(USA), 1984, pp. 350-352). Church-state issues were also
raised in the context of laws respecting clergy confidentiality on which the
General Assembly made its views known in a 1987 resolution appearing below.
Most recently, in 1988, the General Assembly adopted a major policy
statement on religious liberty, entitled "God Alone is Lord of the
Conscience," also excerpted below.
Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory
Director, Washington Office
Presbyterian Church (USA)
202-543-1126
202-543-7755 (fax)
100 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Suite 410
Washington, DC 20002
For more information, contact:
Rich Houston, Presbyterian Washington Office, 100 Maryland Ave. NE, Suite
410 Washington, DC 20002 202-543-1126, fax 202-543-7755. Email
rhouston@ctr.pcusa.org
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