Why this Call?

Why this Call to Civility?

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 213^th 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.