Documentary on college women's group mailed to commissioners By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, June 9, 1999 A 20-minute documentary video about the National Network of Presbyterian College Women has been mailed to commissioners to the 1999 General Assembly. The film, titled "Defying the Faith," was produced by the Presbyterian Lay Committee. It includes footage from a hearing held earlier this year by the task force that reviewed the resources and programs of the Network and prepared a recommendation to the General Assembly. Donations to the Lay Committee made possible the production and distribution of the documentary. More than 4,000 Presbyterians had written the Lay Committee expressing dismay over the continued funding and sponsorship of the Network. Network questioned about links At one point in the film, General Assembly Moderator Douglas W. Oldenburg questioned Network members and advocates about the Network's former Internet web site. The Presbyterian Lay Committee had provided the task force with documents that showed that the Network's web site was a gateway to hard core pornography. Since the video has been distributed, several supporters of the Network have questioned the charges that the web site served as a gateway to pornography. From the Network's web site, which was on the PCUSA's internet server, visitors could click a button that directed them to a site called "Christian Views of Homosexuality." That site, in turn, allowed them to connect directly to hard core pornography. Apologies and explanations During the hearing, Network members and staff apologized for the links to pornography and gave a variety of explanations for why the link occurred. The principal explanation was that they did not know that it led to pornography and that the PCUSA had failed to provide enough money and staff oversight to ensure that such links did not occur. After the Presbyterian Lay Committee submitted its research on the Network's web site to the task force, the Network removed all of the contents of the site. Months later, the Network opened an entirely new web site without links to other sites. The old web site also included the Network's booklet, titled Young Women Speak, a document that suggested prayers to "Christa … our primeval mother,'' spoke approvingly of homosexual and premarital sex and recommended that the Network become allies with Presbyterian groups that oppose the denomination's "chastity/fidelity" ordination standard. The old web site also included as resources for young women to read a number of books written by principals in the ReImagining God movement. Those resources are not promoted on the new web site. Also, the Network says that its controversial booklet, Young Women Speak, is out of print.

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