Who really wants to silence the prophetic
public voice and restrict the freedom of Christian conscience within
Mainline Protestantism — and why is this an important struggle?
A Moment to Decide: The Crisis In
Mainstream Presbyterianism,
does precisely this investigative work, in the first of a series of
book-depth denominational research reports.
With the support of the Presbyterian
Information Project, the Institute for Democracy Studies has produced a
180 page, 600-footnote guide to the five primary Right Wing
organizations active in the denomination. A Moment To Decide sets
the current struggle in historical terms, reaching back to the business
and political empire of J. Howard Pew in the 1930’s and tracing his
Anti-New Deal legacy through the funding of the Presbyterian Lay
Committee into the present. Also profiled are the history and leadership
of Presbyterians Pro-Life, Presbyterians for Renewal, The Presbyterian
Forum, and the Presbyterian Coalition — whose judicial task force is
initiating the disciplinary trials to enforce "Amendment B."
How closely do the different conservative
interest groups cooperate? How theological are their agendas? How much
are the attacks on gay ordination and feminist theology just the
beginning of a roll-back on the role of women in leadership and
theological freedom in the seminaries?
Not all those who cry "Bible,
Bible" are free of ideology. But what about the conservative
"war-room" at the General Assembly? The
"shepherding" of commissioners? The battering of national
staff? And the money — over $15 million annually going into Renewal
Network member budgets — what kind of church does that buy? Recent
General Assemblies have maintained that Theology, Mission and the Church
itself matter. How much? When the Lay Committee boasts of spending
$250.000 so influence the upcoming General Assembly alone ...
A MOMENT TO DECIDE
CALLS FOR PRAYERFUL REFLECTION, THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS, & DEMOCRATIC
ACTION: BUT YOU HAVE TO BUY IT FIRST.
Order it for $18.00 from:
Presbyterian Pipeline, at the
Presbyterian Publishing Corporation: 1-800-227-2872 or write:
Presbyterian Pipeline, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202.
e-mail: ppc@pcusa.org
Initial endorsers of this project include
Robert Bohl, Joseph Dempsey, Christian Iosso, Justin Johnson, G. Daniel
Little, Mary McNamara, Mary Jane Patterson, James Sanders, Byron Shafer,
and Eugene TeSelle.
