Saturday, July 03, 2004

"an evil assembly"

Well, the mainline Presbyterians’ General Assembly was sad. Yes, they voted to not defy their own constitution on the issue of ordaining practicing homosexuals. Whoop-de-doo. But the Liberals never give up. They’ll push this issue again and again and . . .

For all their talk about unity, Liberals in the Presbyterian Church (and elsewhere, of course) seem to go out of their way to alienate conservatives. There’s the Reverend Elenora Giddings Ivory, director of the PCUSA’s Washington office, bragging of their support of abortion and of this year’s baby killing march. There’s the General Assembly passing by 78% to 22% a resolution calling the Iraq war “illegal.� So George Bush and our soldiers are war criminals?

And, as I mentioned, Clifton Kirkpatrick got reelected stated clerk with a disgusting 66% of the vote. You know when Kirkpatrick lies? When he swears to uphold the constitution of the Presbyterian Church. For he has made clear he has no intention of lifting a finger to enforce it. Yet that hasn’t kept him from using strong arm tactics against those who conscientiously can not allow their money to go to having Christian values trashed.

There was every reason in the world to dump Kirkpatrick. But the vote wasn’t even close. Conservative Presbies, if that’s the best you can do, then you should be ashamed.

More sordid details of the General Assembly can be found at layman.org

From here, it’s clear that the best we can expect out of the Presbyterian Church USA is to be stuck with liberals in leadership positions and for the same battles to be fought year after year after year.

It’s been suggested the best possible resolution is “a gracious separation� – splitting the denomination between the orthodox and others. Doing that amicably would be a positive witness and would enable both sides to move on.

But it’s unlikely liberals would agree to that, so I think that leaves conservatives in the PCUSA with only two good choices: 1. Get organized and kick the liberals out of leadership positions and keep them out. Rather unlikely. Or 2. Leave the mainline Presbyterian Church. Because right now, you’re embarrassing yourselves and aiding the enemy – just like you have for decades.

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