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Baltimore Presbytery passes Overture to Delete B.13. (Demonstration Ban)


11-21-00

At its Stated Meeting on 16 Nov. 2000 the Presbytery of Baltimore approved the following motion:

The Presbytery of Baltimore overtures the 213th General Assembly (2001) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to amend The Standing Rules of the General Assembly by deleting B.13. [B.13. reads as follows: "Peaceful demonstrations shall be allowed twenty-five or more feet outside of the entrances to the building in which the General Assembly meets.  Spontaneous or planned demonstrations by individuals or groups are prohibited inside the building where the General Assembly meets. The Moderator of the General Assembly shall declare all demonstrations that occur in plenary session out of order and, if demonstrators fail to immediately disband and desist, may recess the General Assembly to a fixed time and place. This rule does not prohibit the spontaneous or planned celebration of an action of the General Assembly or of any event in the life of the Church."]

RATIONALE

The presence of B.13. in the Standing Rules of the GA is an abandonment of the great respect dissent has held in the history of the Reformed tradition. Born in dissent, the Presbyterian Church from its inception has recognized the importance of dissent. "There have at all times been great contentions in the Church, and the most excellent teachers of the Church have differed among themselves about important matters without meanwhile the Church ceasing to be the Church because of these contentions. For thus it pleases God to use the dissensions that arise in the Church to the glory of his name, to illustrate the truth, and in order that those who are in the right might be manifest (I Cor. 11:19)."

[Book of Confessions, 5.133.]

The presence of B.13. is a failure of the GA to recognize that its own deliberations, actions, and desires for good order are not the final word. From the time of Calvin, the Reformed tradition has insisted that the sole sovereignty of God over creation makes it impossible for any human institution, including the Church, or any person, to claim absolute power or final truth.

The presence of B.13. unduly restricts the moderator's "authority necessary for preserving order and for conducting efficiently the business of the governing body." [Book of Order, G-9.0202a] General Assembly demonstrations in recent years have occurred only at the discretion of the moderators. B.13. prohibits future moderators from full exercise of their authority, as well as their pastoral judgment. It is an affront to past moderators and an undue restriction on future ones.

IF ANY OTHER PRESBYTERIES DESIRE TO CONCUR WITH THIS OVERTURE, PLEASE DO SO.

Don Stroud
Minister of Outreach and Reconciliation for
That All May Freely Serve: Baltimore

 

 

 
 

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BECOMING NEIGHBORS:
An Invitation
to Global Discipleship

A Witherspoon conference
on global mission and justice

September 16 - 19, 2007
Louisville, Kentucky

 

Check out our report from the Conference
on
Terror, Torture,
and Security

 

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