Why do we call for civility?
[10-18-01]
Some people who have seen the "Call
to Civility" (issued in August by the Witherspoon Society and
the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship) have asked us why we've been
concerned about this. They have not seen any evidence of the
"consistent and vociferous personal attacks directed at the
Moderator" and the 213th General Assembly, that were the
stimulus for that call.
Cataloguing all the attacks would demand more time
than we can give to the task right now, but it's a fair question, so
we'll try to give some evidence for our concern.
Soon after the Assembly the Presbyterian Layman
charged
the Assembly with "apostasy" - a strong word of
condemnation, even in the long lexicon of condemnations in the Christian
tradition. Specifically, the editorial declared: "We declare this
Convention Center gathering an apostate assembly. We do so fully aware
of the gravity of that charge."
Then at a gathering of conservatives in Denver at the
end of July, Moderator Jack Rogers was invited, and was subjected to a
lengthy series of scoldings from participants, many of whom expressed
special condemnation of him because they had once viewed him as a fellow
evangelical, and saw him now as a traitor to his former faith.
Some of the criticisms were published
by the Layman, and we offer here just a few excerpts:
Rebecca McElroy, vice moderator of the 2000
General Assembly: "One, I was disappointed at your
'apology' at the General Assembly regarding your remarks about the
Confessing Church Movement. You should have offered that apology to the
full General Assembly, not merely at the Presbyterians for Renewal
breakfast. Your words seemed clever. You said you were sorry that people
were offended. That is not an apology. ..."
Herbert Schlossberg, an elder in National Capital Presbytery:
"Recently I reviewed Arnold Toynbee's list of the characteristics
of a declining culture. One of those characteristics is sexual
antinomianism. If you don't get something that simple and basic right
…… "
John H. Stevens of First Presbyterian Church
in Colorado Springs: "I don't think you understand the
gravity of this issue. Our General Assembly has moved away from the
absolute basis of the church. People are shocked, appalled, but when I
talk to the General Assembly staff, I don't think they get it. I am
frightened for the future of the church. We have positioned ourselves
for a disaster. Mr. Moderator, we've got to have some leadership from
you. ... I don't see you giving us the leadership we need. In fact, I
see you doing exactly the opposite. Unless you change your ways, this
will be a very different church than it was when you became
moderator."
Bill Dudley of Signal Mountain (Tenn.) Presbyterian Church:
"I want to raise concerns over your statement about the Confessing
Churches. ... We need a leader who will speak definitively about the
Lordship of Jesus Christ. As a commissioner to the 213th General
Assembly, I felt a great vacuum of spirit in that place. I plead with
you to speak to the church and be truthful to your calling in your
ordination vows."
John Powell of Mount Lebanon Presbyterian Church
in Pittsburgh: "You were my teacher at Fuller Seminary. We
shake our heads, Jack, and we wonder how you could lead us in the way
you are. My prayer is that in your heart of hearts you will return to
your first love. Your actions are not 'bridge-building.' What I am
hearing is that you are the point person for the great divide in our
denomination. You are the point person for heresy. We have been taken
over by the shock troops and brown shirts of the left. We love you in
Christ. Many of us would not be leaders in the Presbyterian Church if it
were not for you. We urge you -- our brother in Christ -- to step back
over the line, to be in the world but -- for God's sake -- not to be of
the world. We want to be in fellowship with you, Jack, but these issues
are the very test of fellowship."
Louis Fowler, presbytery executive in North Carolina, Tennessee
and now Alabama: "I have learned much from your books, and
I have been happy to call you a brother in Christ. But I was deeply
offended by the discrepancy between your self-description as an
'evangelical' and your public condemnation of the Confessing Church
Movement. There is a vast discrepancy between your writings and your
condemnation of those whose simple statement is that Jesus Christ alone
is Lord."
Camille Josey of Atlanta, a commissioner to the 213th General
Assembly: "The feeling I had at the Louisville Assembly
was like a vision of Jesus Christ saying to those who led the
bureaucratic structures of Jerusalem, 'Are you teachers of Israel, and
yet you do not know these things?' What I saw in Louisville was the
intellectual arrogance of our denomination's elite. I was also troubled
by the unfairness that I saw at the assembly."
John F. Sloop of Harrisonburg, Va.:
"... You use good words, but give them different definitions,
completely different from mine. You say you are an evangelical and you
greet us in the name of the sovereign Lord Jesus, and yet you deny that
sovereignty. We are no longer talking about a mere difference of
opinion. It looks more like another gospel, as Paul said in Galatians.
Obviously, something has happened in your life. I would like to know
what has caused you to change."
Jeremy Grant of Omaha, Neb.: "The group of pastors
with whom I meet has asked me to plead with you. We ask you to make a
U-turn. Jesus Christ is the Lord, not a lord. The word of God is
ultimately trustworthy and reliable. After hearing this year's General
Assembly, I had the sense that there is no reason why I should bother to
tell my neighbors about Jesus. They are fine, just as they are. You have
an opportunity to bring unity to this church by coming back to the
gospel. There is no other gospel. But in your leadership position you
have spoken words that cause great harm to the church. People are
leaving us."
Pamela Powell, a Presbyterian minister and assistant professor
of pastoral ministry at Trinity Episcopal School for the Ministry in
Pittsburgh: "Jack, you were a bright light for me as a
teacher at Fuller Seminary. But you have made a commitment to a
different culture. As a pastor and seminary teacher, I have a great
concern about this. Look at the death rate in the homosexual culture.
Promiscuity is rapidly rising. We are promoting a lifestyle where people
are dying in droves. And because of what we say, they are encouraged to
think that this self-destructive behavior is godly. Turn around Jack.
For God's sake, turn around."
Jim Mead, former vice moderator of the General Assembly and now
executive at Pittsburgh Presbytery: "I am ... concerned
over your remarks about the Confessing Church Movement. They have had
the effect of marginalizing a significant part of the body of Christ. I
have wondered if you intended to hold these brothers and sisters up for
ridicule. Marginalization is an effective political strategy. You are
pushing the church closer to schism."
As the Call to Civility makes clear, our concern is
not simply with attacks on Moderator Jack Rogers, but also with the
denial of any legitimacy to the 213th General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church. And the Layman continues (in its October
2001 issue) to accuse the Assembly of apostasy.
If you agree with us that the kind of rhetoric cited
above is beyond the bounds of civility (not to mention charity) in the
life of our church, we hope you will join in adding your name to the
growing list of signers.
The Call to
Civility is followed by the list
of signers. And you can add your own name (and any titles or
church connections by which you would like to be described) by sending
a note.
