Kirkpatrick backs off rhetoric of anti-capitalism statement By John H. Adams The Layman Online Friday, October 15, 2004 LISLE, Ill. – After he was elected president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in August, Cliff Kirkpatrick gave his blessing to a controversial WARC resolution that declared capitalism to be "an immoral economic system defended by empire" and said "the integrity of the Gospel is at stake in the face of the current system of neoliberal economic globalization." "I invite every one of our churches to support WARC and one another in points of needs; to be a community that truly covenants for justice in the economy and the earth; to be a community that works in our churches all over the world for gender justice, for full participation of youth in all our activities," Kirkpatrick told Ecumenical News International, an agency that is funded by the alliance and the World Council of Churches. But on Thursday, at the meeting of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Kirkpatrick, the denomination's stated clerk, backed off some of the stridency of the WARC statement. He did so in response to a question from task force member Mark Achtemeier, who told Kirkpatrick, "I do worry about the kind of document that came out and condemned capitalism per se." Achtemeier noted that most Presbyterians probably support capitalism as an economic system. Barbara Wheeler, president of Auburn Theological Seminary, also expressed concern about the "rhetoric" of the WARC declaration. "I am concerned, too," Kirkpatrick said, referring to the language of the resolution, which was clearly anti-American – just as the PCUSA has approved similar anti-U.S. statements on Iraq (a war declared "unwise, immoral and illegal") and Israel (calling for divestment of PCUSA stock in corporations doing business with Israel). "Much of the language [in the WARC resolution] is clearly not the language I would choose," Kirkpatrick said. He cited two words in particular – "empire" and "neoliberal." But before the questions, Kirkpatrick gave the task force a glowing report on the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. He said there is a connection between the mission of the alliance and the task force. "After you made the profound declaration that Jesus Christ is our peace, Jesus Christ is our unity and Jesus Christ is our purity," he said, "the whole question is how the peace, unity and purity of our church relates to the peace, unity and purity of the whole church." Kirkpatrick credited the task force with being one of the reasons that he decided to run for and win election to a third term as stated clerk of the denomination. "Thanks to all of you," he said. "I'm not exactly sure what you're going to do. But my hopes and dreams are for the ecclesiology of the church. … You really do represent people who do have deep differences, but they come together in unity. What's modeled in this room can be modeled in many ways for the church." He said the task force, which has spent much of its time developing and asserting its unity but has offered little evidence of what its final report in 2005 will look like, has accrued "moral authority" in the denomination. "You have huge moral authority," he said, "so much so that every time the General Assembly gets stuck, they say let's refer it to the theological task force." Kirkpatrick viewed the task force's work in the light of the ecumenical movement. "You all know that great quote of George McAfee Brown, 'to be Presbyterian is to be ecumenical,'" he said. Kirkpatrick, who as stated clerk is the chief ecumenical officer in the PCUSA, has become one of the most powerful ecumenical leaders in Protestantism. He serves on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and the Executive Committee of the National Council of Churches. With Kirkpatrick's leverage, the PCUSA leads U.S. Protestant denominations in per-capita financial support for those bodies, which have had severe staff and program cutbacks because of declining support from other denominations and communions. "The World Alliance is one of the ways that we do ecumenical work in the Reformed family," he said. "The movement started about 50 years ago. For many years, it was an English-speaking club primarily. Obviously, over the last 20 years, it has become a global fellowship with over 220 communions and well over 70 million members." One great change, he said, has been the growth of Reformed churches in Africa, Asia and Asia Minor, which now represent over two-thirds of the Reformed membership worldwide. He called his participation in the August meeting of WARC in Accra, Ghana, "a spiritually transforming experience" with "marvelous preaching, worship and dancing." Hobbled by a broken ankle, which he suffered while playing golf after the meeting of the 216th General Assembly, Kirkpatrick said he joined the dancing with the help of his crutches. "I've got pictures," he added in a remark aimed at any doubters. "The other life-changing experience," he said, "was a trip to the slave dungeon" where Africans captured (mostly by Africans) were held before being sold as slaves. "That's where the slave trade was carried on for over 200 years," he said. "It was almost an evil spiritual atmosphere." Today, the dungeon is empty and a Reformed church is on top of it as a reminder, Kirkpatrick said, that "never again will we be in a position where Reformed churches bless that." While he later backed off the wording of the Accra resolution, Kirkpatrick said WARC's view is that "God's call to us for this time and this day is to be agents for justice. All of a sudden, we're in a new global order. Never has there been a time in history when the gap between the rich and the poor is so wide." Kirkpatrick said the delegates to the Accra conference paid little attention to matters of sexuality. "The alliance did call on all of our churches to work for human rights for gay people. We took no action on ordination." "To the best of my knowledge," he added, "we're the only church to have a constitutional provision" prohibiting the ordination of practicing homosexuals. "Eleven churches in the alliance currently are open to ordaining gays and lesbians. But the vast majority do not support the ordination of gay persons." Of those communions that oppose the ordination of homosexuals, Kirkpatrick said, "Some are actively engaged in what I think are homophobic and discriminatory campaigns."

Respond to this article

Home · Archives · The Layman · PLC Publications Presbyterian Lay Committee · Feedback · Links