By Mateen Elass, on his personal blog.
Gradye Parsons, the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is our very own reincarnation of the Man of La Mancha, Don Quixote.
Riding on his tired old horse, Rocinante, whom he imagines to be a valiant charger, Don Quixote races into battle against ferocious giants that in reality are windmills. His sidekick, Sancho, tries to help Quixote see the truth, but the crusading knight will have none of it, and so becomes famous for “tilting at windmills.”
Gradye, in his apparent quest to outdo do other mainline religious leaders at curing all manners of social injustice, has been busy this last month, riding the tired nag of the PCUSA and leveling his lance at some of the ferocious giants facing our world.
Notably, he has signed his name to letters seeking to extinguish some monumental evils:
On March 7, he penned a passionate missive to President Obama, urging him to participate in the signing of the international Paris Agreement on climate change to be held in NYC on April 22. According to Parsons, the PCUSA has been deeply encouraged by the Obama administration’s “…strong commitment to working for climate justice and environmental responsibility,” and the President’s presence is necessary to keep the momentum going in the right direction.
On March 9, he joined an amicus brief filed to support the Obama administration’s appeal to lift a court-ordered injunction against the President’s executive actions on illegal immigration policy.
On March 16, he joined his name (and that of the PCUSA) to a letter urging the House of Representatives to vote to “… end our long-standing and counter-productive embargo on Cuba.”
On March 29, he put out a call to the governor and legislature of North Carolina to repeal a new law which bans people from using bathrooms that don’t match the sex indicated on their birth certificate. While this might seem a common-sense protection to most, in the eyes of social justice crusaders it smacks of discrimination.
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This is a huge waste of Mr Parsons time. No one in politics or government cares what PCUSA thinks anymore.
O the lack of civility. Why does this sound like a Trump campaign rally?
I’m strongly opposed to Mr Trump, but completely agree with this article. Gradye long ago became a liberal political activist drawing a PC(USA) salary. Which goes a long way toward understanding why the PC(USA) is in total meltdown mode. Pretending to be a player on the national political scene is so much more fun than actually trying to be a leader of the whole PC(USA).
After a long USAF career, much of it spent in Washington working at the national political level, I retired to a farm raising horses for combined training. One of the oldest horse jokes is “How do you make a million dollars in the horse business ? Start with two.”
How do you make a million-person PC(USA) ? Start with four million and put liberal political activists in charge.
James,
I am not a Trump supporter. Do you not see any possibility that my comments could be directed by theological and ecclesiological concerns, or must everything you read be interpreted through political lenses? And where do you accuse me of a “lack of civility,” if those words are directed at what I have written? Do you make no allowances for satire as a legitimate organ of communication, or is everything that opposes those things you hold dear “incivil”? If you feel the need to comment, please do so with something that adds substance to the debate.
Lack of civility? That’s really rich coming from the revisionist crowd.
Except, perhaps, The Layman, which posted this article, and you, who read it and commented. Why, I wonder, does a non-PCUSA entity like The Layman invest so much resources in following PCUSA goings-on?
Brad, perhaps this will help you answer your question — the objectives and mission of the PLC, which has been reporting on the state of the PCUSA and its prior incarnations perhaps longer than you have been aware.
http://layman.wpengine.com/about-us/objectives-and-mission-of-plc/
Seriously, Brad….you REALLY wonder that?…where have you been the last few decades.
Brad, why do you care what the Layman says? Why would you post? If you wholeheartedly believe in the PCUSA, why do you care what anybody that is outside the PCUSA says?