Parker T. Williamson
editor-in-chief
Emboldened by this summer’s General Assembly,
and indifferent to the backlash against some of the actions of
the 2001 General Assembly, denominational staffers and “More
Light Presbyterians” are defying the Church’s faith
and morals in incredible new ways.
In August, Mary Elva Smith, director of Women’s
Ministries at Louisville headquarters, announced at a
denominationally sponsored conference that she believes it is
time for the church to sponsor a new event that would be
similar to the first ReImagining God assembly. Smith
participated in the 1993 original, during which leaders
rejected the atonement of Jesus Christ, lauded lesbianism and
celebrated a “milk and honey” communion service in
honor of the goddess Sophia. The conference ignited a
firestorm among Presbyterian congregations.
While Ms. Smith proposed her global conference on feminist
theology to a Presbyterian audience in Montreat, the August
issue of
More Light Update landed in Presbyterian
mailboxes. With unbridled enthusiasm,
Update applauded
the recent General Assembly’s proposal (“Amendment A”)
that Presbyterians remove all standards of sexual behavior
from their Constitution.
Included in the
Update was an anonymous Presbyterian’s
wistful recollection of times he spent in a gay bath house. “It’s
a place where hundreds of gay men assemble to wander around
dark halls and rooms and a steam room wearing nothing but
towels seeking sex,” he said. “There is an
atmosphere of pure sexuality, but it also has an atmosphere of
acceptance. Everyone is equal, wrapped only in a towel and
seeking nothing but sex. Of course, the gym-toned bodies get a
lot more attention, but everyone is welcomed in this temple
with its ritual of gay sexuality.”
The writer ended his article with a warning that if the
Presbyterian Church (USA) will not bless the relationship he
enjoys with his current partner, he will “have no other
option than the steam room at the gay bath house.”
These themes are not foreign to those who believe the words of
Scripture should frame our conduct. From Elijah’s contest
with the prophets of Baal, to Paul’s struggle with
devotees of Aphrodite and Artemis, God’s people have
known that paganism breeds sexual immorality. When we turn our
backs on God and prefer autonomy to obedience, we inevitably
become captives to desire.
“Maybe we’re talking about a different god,”
Lesbian “evangelist” Jane Spahr once told a General
Assembly audience.
Indeed, we are.
Parker T. Williamson is editor-in-chief of
The Layman.