wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] No meeting of minds

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Note #8103 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04061
February 4, 2004

No meeting of minds

Presbytery decision for and against Williamson pleases nobody

by John Filiatreau

ASHEVILLE, NC - After nine contentious hours, much of it devoted to
procedural questions and some even given over to histrionics, Western North
Carolina Presbytery on Jan. 31 approved a compromise measure invalidating the
ministry of the Rev. Parker Williamson, CEO of the Presbyterian Lay Committee
and executive editor of its publication, The Presbyterian Layman.

	The presbytery, rather than placing Williamson on "inactive status,"
instead opted to designate him a "member at-large" thus preserving his voice
and vote in the presbytery.

	The presbytery's Committee on Ministry (COM) had recommended inactive
status for Williamson. After the amended motion passed by a vote of 150-106,
Williamson, who had argued against the "at-large" designation, said, "Mr.
Moderator, it aggrieves me to have to do this, but we have to do this: We're
going to be going to court."

	The debate constituted a referendum on The Presbyterian Layman.

	Like all presbytery meetings, this one started with worship, during
which the approximately 250 voting members and 200 visitors prayed for "a
double portion of courage" and for protection from "the storm that batters
and bruises," and asked God to "guard our tongues today, that we may not
wound."

	The level of mistrust was palpable. Williamson's group had brought a
court-certified stenographer to make a record of the proceedings, and
Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International (PRMI) intended to get it all
on video.

	However, the presbytery decided that only an audio tape would be
made, by two elders from the host church, First Presbyterian of Asheville.
Video was ruled out, because, as one speaker warned, "there is editing that
can be done."

	Tom Philips of Banner Elk Presbyterian Church, a member of the
presbytery's COM, said the committee "brings this recommendation with sorrow
and regret," but because of the "tone of insult and innuendo" and "slanting
of reporting" that are characteristic of The Layman, had had no choice but to
recommend against revalidation. He said Williamson must be "accountable, as
every one of the rest of us is accountable."

	"When fellow Christians ... are belittled, undermined and continually
demeaned ... when a publication seems bent on destroying a fellow Christian,
how do we stand idly by?" he asked. "How can we validate a ministry that does
not validate the ministry of the entire church?"

	The latter was a reference to the "Declaration of Conscience" the PLC
issued last October, in which it said, "We no longer believe that either the
General Assembly per-capita budget or the unrestricted mission budget of the
PC(USA) is worthy of support." Rejecting "any compromise with proponents of a
false gospel," the PLC urged sessions to "prayerfully consider" redirecting
per-capita assessments and undesignated mission funds "to ministries at home
and abroad that are demonstrably faithful to the gospel."

	Cynthia Williams, another COM member, listed some of the
transgressions of The Layman: suggesting that former Moderator Syngman Rhee
was a Communist and an agent of the government of North Korea; dismissing the
Confession of 1967 as "not a valid confession of the church"; ridiculing the
leadership of the PC(USA) for "counterfeit faith" and for "tolerating evil";
referring to the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick as "His Holiness the stated clerk";
and all but promoting "gracious separation" as a viable alternative for
dissenting congregations.

	When it was his turn to speak, Williamson said he was a victim of "14
persons huddled behind closed doors" who had "proceeded in secret to malign
this ministry."

	He said The Layman has been examined by no fewer than five General
Assemblies, most recently in 1995, and in every case commissioners
"overwhelmingly" refused to censure the publication.

	But other speakers quoted from the report of a "reconciliation
committee" to the 1995 Assembly: "It is time for the Lay Committee to end its
destructive tactics and unending attacks upon women and men who are seeking
to do God's work through the offices of the PC(USA)."

	Peggy Hedden, the chair of the PLC, said the COM had looked at just
one issue of The Layman, and had turned down an invitation to come to Lenoir,
NC, where the PLC has its headquarters, and meet its staff. She said the COM
quoted "no single word" from any PLC publication in making its
"unsubstantiated charges."

	George Saylor, of First Presbyterian Church of Lenoir - where
Williamson served as pastor before taking over The Layman - defended him as
"a man who stands up for the denomination and for the faith" and opposes
"infidels and threats to the purity of the faith." He called the PLC's
"Declaration of Conscience" a "rather benign and non-controversial"
statement.

	Another speaker said of Williamson, "As far as I know, he is not only
a valid man, he has done an exemplary job ..."

	The Rev. Linn "Rus" Howard - a corresponding member from Washington
(PA) Presbytery and all-but-announced candidate for General Assembly stated
clerk - said "a terrible injustice" was being done "to the Lay Committee and
to our brother Parker Williamson." He said the "burden of proof" was on the
presbytery to support "these serious charges," and he insisted that
Williamson deserved a hearing before a "fair-minded and unbiased judge."

	He rejected the charge that he and Williamson and the PLC "do not
support the missions of this church. The undesignated mission money of this
church and unrestricted per-capita does not go to missions," he asserted,
adding: "I take very personally a charge that we don't support missions in
the world on behalf of the Presbyterian church. It's absolutely false; you
cannot document it; and it is a false and fraudulent charge."

	Williamson followed up by criticizing, among others, the PC(USA)'s
Washington Office and abortion policy. "And yet, because I tell you these
things - these true things  - some of you... now seek to mute my voice,
abolish my vote, and, if I will not move to a more malleable ministry, revoke
my ordination," he said, deriding "the paltry so-called evidence" and
"blatant falsehoods" presented by the COM and calling the proceedings "a
kangaroo court."

	The Rev. Pete Peery, who proposed the "at-large" compromise, told his
colleagues that he'd "really been in prayer about this." He said the
presbytery could confer "member at large" status on Williamson "whether
Parker wants it or not - he's under the authority of the presbytery." Peery
said it was a way for the presbytery "to make a judgment about the ministry,
but not then sanction ... a faithful member for 32 years."

	Williamson said it would make him "a sort of a man without a country.
I rise to speak against this amendment," he said. "You do me no favor by
passing this amendment. ... To suggest that a person can be separated from
that person's ministry is to suggest that you can unscramble an egg."

	The Book of Order defines a member at large as a previously active
member "who now, without intentional abandonment of the exercise of ministry,
is no longer engaged in a ministry that complies with all the criteria" of a
valid ministry. It says such status is granted in cases of "family
responsibilities or other individual circumstances which the presbytery
recognizes as important," and "may be granted ... upon the minister's
application."

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