Overture wants PCUSA to ask tough questions about PUP recommendation

Overture wants PCUSA
to ask tough questions
about PUP recommendation

By John H. Adams
The Layman Online
Wednesday, March 1, 2006

The Presbytery of Santa Barbara has sent the General Assembly an overture that asks pointed questions about the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity.

The overture, first proposed by the session of Community Presbyterian Church in Ventura, Calif., calls for removing Recommendation 5 from the task force report and weighing its possible impact on the Presbyterian Church (USA) before reconsidering it.

By the numbers
10
Number of overtures calling on changes to the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity.

4
Number of overtures generally affirming the task force's report. .

56 Number of pages in the task force report.

Recommendation 5 is a proposed Authoritative Interpretation that would allow ordaining bodies to decide whether a practicing, unrepentant homosexual should be ordained. The task force does not consider the denomination's constitutional ban on ordaining such candidates as an "essential," but as a "standard."

Furthermore, Recommendation 5 calls for ordaining bodies to honor each other's decisions rather than seeking disciplinary action to enforce the constitution.

Many analysts of the task force report have described Recommendation 5 as "local option."

The Santa Barbara overture asks the denomination to weigh the possible consequences of the overture. It poses a number of questions, including:

a. Will recommendation five create a de facto state of local option in which the previously held national standards for ordination become locally defined, maintained, and implemented?

b. Will the implementation of Recommendation Five lead to the effective and practical fragmentation of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and thus the loss of peace, unity, and purity? What is the evidence that such a fragmentation will or will not occur?

c. What are the most likely consequences and effects that will occur-both negative and positive-if Recommendation Five of the report is received as an authoritative interpretation of G-6.0108? What are the likely costs of these consequences upon the finances, membership, unity, mission, and witness of the church? Can these conclusions be substantiated and soundly justified?

d. How might presbyteries respond or react to ordinations done by other presbyteries and/or sessions that are perceived as violating the national standards of the church? Is this likely to lead to an increase in remedial cases brought before the Permanent Judicial Commissions of presbyteries, synods, and General Assembly?

e. Which standards within the church are most likely to be declared a scruple and thus potentially non-essential doctrine or practice? Is it likely that doctrines and/or practices deemed essential to the life and witness of the church by the majority of the church will be annulled by locally determined standards and/or interpretations?

f. Is it in the best interest of the larger church and pursuant to its peace, unity, and purity, to have standards decided by the ancient, catholic, Reformed, and/or national church annulled through the decisions of lower governing bodies or minorities within the church? How likely and how frequently might this occur?

g. With the tension between the recommendation's reliance upon the standards of the church and the recognition of freedom of conscience and authority of each ordaining body, is it in the church's best interest to more precisely define what is meant by the phrase "essential tenets"? If Recommendation Five affirms and relies upon national standards is it not necessary that these be carefully and precisely defined?

h. Will Recommendation Five, if received as an authoritative interpretation of G-6.0108, facilitate or damage the peace, unity, and purity of the church? What are the reasons and evidences for either?

i. How will the implementation and likely effects of Recommendation Five affect our ecumenical and interfaith relationships?

j. How might the implementation of Recommendation Five affect or even reverse the church's commitment to ordination of women? Will this recommendation effectively allow sessions and presbyteries to declare this a scruple and thus a non-essential tenet? Should this occur, what effect might it have on the larger church?

In its rationale, the overture says, "The implications of Recommendation Five are potentially vast, largely unexamined, and may negatively affect the church in ways that are currently unforeseen. It is incumbent upon those in leadership to fully grapple with the implications of their decisions. Obviously no one can predict the future. But decisions of leadership, especially decisions of this magnitude and complexity, require a clear understanding of how they will/may affect the church before they are implemented or declared authoritative. If this is true generally, it is especially so for Recommendation Five of the PUP report which is complex and potentially far reaching."

The full text of the overture:

Overture 97. On Removing and Referring Recommendation 5 from the Theological Task Force Report, and Appointing a Task Force to Answer Questions Through the Careful Study of Recommendation 5 – From the Presbytery of Santa Barbara.

The Presbytery of Santa Barbara, with sincere desire to promote the peace, unity, and purity of the church, and concerns that the good intentions of the Theological Task force on Peace, Unity, and Purity will not succeed if their report is received as it currently stands, respectively overtures the 217th General Assembly (2006) to implement the following two actions:

1. The General Assembly remove and refer Recommendation Five (lines 1048-1304) of the Report of the Theological Task Force for the purpose of submitting this recommendation to careful, precise, and intentional scrutiny which will provide for the General Assembly and the larger church well informed, researched, and substantiated answers to the following questions:

a. Will recommendation five create a de facto state of local option in which the previously held national standards for ordination become locally defined, maintained, and implemented?

i. How will the implementation and likely effects of Recommendation Five affect our ecumenical and interfaith relationships?

2. The General Assembly appoint a Task Force comprised of members drawn from across the theological spectrum of the church charged with specifically answering the above questions and any others that may be raised through the careful study of Recommendation Five of the Peace, Unity, and Purity Report, reporting their findings to the General Assembly in two years (June 2008)

Rationale
We value the work of the Theological Task Force and believe they genuinely desired to provide a perspective and means by which the church might move forward in peace, unity, and purity. We make no judgments on individual character, motives, or acts, but assume the best, believing that the members of the Task Force approached their work with good intentions and high hopes for the good of the church. Our concern grows from our belief that these intentions and hopes may not succeed if their report is approved as presented. While numerous concerns might be noted, ours primarily rests with recommendation five of the report. We are concerned, through careful study of the report, the state and history of the church, and responses already made across the breadth of the church that this recommendation will render the noble goals of the task force impossible and will in fact lead to the loss of peace, unity, and purity, and eventually to the fragmentation of the PC (USA). We hope we are wrong and might be proved wrong through the diligent study of Recommendation Five and questions it has raised. We believe that only such a study can show the church whether or not such concerns are realistic or, hopefully, unfounded and groundless.

1. The implications of Recommendation Five are potentially vast, largely unexamined, and may negatively affect the church in ways that are currently unforeseen. It is incumbent upon those in leadership to fully grapple with the implications of their decisions. Obviously no one can predict the future. But decisions of leadership, especially decisions of this magnitude and complexity, require a clear understanding of how they will/may affect the church before they are implemented or declared authoritative. If this is true generally, it is especially so for Recommendation Five of the PUP report which is complex and potentially far reaching.

a. We are concerned that Recommendation Five will enable or allow some form of local option. The church has a right and need to know if local option will in fact occur and what such changes might look like.

b. We are concerned that Recommendation Five may lead to the fragmentation of the church. If some form of local option actually occurs, with different standards being maintained or, conversely, annulled across the church, we wonder if these differences will not expand into separation and schism. It is the responsibility of the church's leadership to study the possible effects and consequences of Recommendation Five and whether or not it is truly in the best interest of the church to make this recommendation the authoritative interpretation of G-6.0108. We are concerned that the effects of Recommendation Five may be irreversible and it is thus of great value to the church to determine before the fact how the church may be affected.

c. This is not about predicting the future as much as learning from the past and discerning the present. Currently the mood across the church is tense and brittle. San Diego Presbytery is considering whether adoption of the PUP report does not in fact constitute schism. Others are raising similar and even opposite concerns and contemplating appropriate and corresponding responses. It is crucial that the church study, discern, and understand the tensions and results that could or will arise from the implementation of Recommendation Five, and that this is done before it is implemented. Again, this is not about predicting the future. It is not about subjective opinions, hunches, or feelings. It is about discerning the actual state of the church and making rational deductions drawn from facts. Based upon the voting records, acts, and statements issued by presbyteries over the past ten years it is in fact relatively easy to foresee how presbyteries (and thus the larger church) may respond to the passing and implementation of Recommendation Five. We are concerned that the implementation of Recommendation Five will lead to an increasing number of constitutional standards being set aside and a corresponding increase in remedial cases brought before the church's judicial commissions. We fear that ordination examinations and transfers from Presbyteries of different standards will be particularly rancorous and volatile and worry that the peace, unity, and purity of the church will suffer.

d. Recommendation Five may lead some to relax the standards of the church and others to more carefully, precisely, or narrowly define them. Many will see the ignoring or dismissal of long held standards as evidence that the essential tenets of the church need to be clearly defined and articulated. Others may see the defining of essential tenets as a denial of the freedom of conscience and limiting of the Spirit. Currently several presbyteries are preparing statements which define their understanding of essential tenets. This is believed necessary for numerous reasons: first, the concept of standards within the Presbyterian Church (USA) is nebulous at best. We have no single creed or confession describing our belief; we promise to be "instructed and led" by the confessions without any clear definition of what that means, we affirm that there exists "essential tenets of the Reformed faith" (G.14-0207) without ever defining or articulating them. To stem this confusion and provide clear guidance for ordaining bodies some judicatories may hold it necessary to declare, define, and delimit the essential tenets of the PC (USA). Whether or not this will occur and what may result from such actions remains an open question but one with far reaching implications. We believe this must be carefully researched and addressed by the church.

e. We are concerned that Recommendation Five will lead to deepening confusion and disagreement over what points of theology and practice will or will not be understood as a standard of the church. It is possible that G-6.0106b be will be declared a scruple or non-essential. It is conceivable that issues revolving around the particularity of Christ and his being the only way to salvation may see further challenges. Possible also are debates centered upon the nature, authority, and interpretation of Scripture. All of these have already been the object of debate and all been affected by vastly different interpretations of the constitutional and theological standards of the church. We wonder too if women's ordination will be declared optional and thus set aside under the provisions of Recommendation Five. We are concerned that the implementation of Recommendation Five will only exacerbate the confusion, disagreements, and points of contention already in the church. In the end, only serious study of past debates, PJC cases, and writings across the church will be able to answer these questions and address these concerns. We hold there is deep need and justification for a task force appointed for this purpose of carefully studying the implications of Recommendation Five.

f. Recommendation Five may lead to the rejection of standards long held by the catholic and Reformed church. We are concerned that standards, determined, interpreted, and maintained by the vast majority of the church across time and continents, might be annulled and overturned by some judicatories, while others seek to maintain them. We are concerned that this may increase distrust, division, trials, and even schism. We believe it possible that this recommendation may actually deny the church any real peace and unity and we thus urge the General Assembly to appoint and charge a task force to determine whether such concerns are valid or unfounded. For this reason we call upon the General Assembly to seriously study the meaning, implications, costs, and consequences that may come from the implementation of this recommendation before it is declared an authoritative interpretation of the church.

g. It is conceivable too that Recommendation Five, if manifesting in local option, will affect relations with other Christian bodies, missions organizations, and interfaith dialogue. Whether this is so and how it may be so must be studied and ascertained before the recommendation is made authoritative.

2. It is essential that such questions, potential problems, and other unmentioned or unforeseen issues and complexities be studied before this far reaching recommendation is made an authoritative interpretation of the church. To do otherwise may be seen as an abdication of the responsibility of leadership. We therefore call upon the General Assembly to appoint a wise and balanced Task Force that will explore the issues raised above as well as any others which may arise through their work, with the charge to report its findings and conclusions to the General Assembly at its 2008 meeting. The purpose of this Task Force is to seriously consider these questions and related consequences, and ultimately, recommend whether Recommendation Five should be implemented, amended, or permanently dropped.

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