wfn.org | GAC executive admits initial response to Ficca controversy was

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Note #6247 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

"inadequate"
2-November-2000
00391

GAC executive admits initial response to Ficca controversy was "inadequate"

Detterick says GAC will review policies for choosing conference speakers

by Alexa Smith

INDIANAPOLIS -- The executive director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
General Assembly Council apologized Tuesday for the Council's "inadequate"
initial response to complaints about the orthodoxy of a speaker's remarks at
a summer conference in Los Angeles and said denominational conference
planners must ensure that controversial theological ideas are not allowed to
go unexamined at church events.

	John Detterick addressed about 400 Presbyterians here during a very
disgruntled annual gathering of the Presbyterian Coalition, an umbrella
organization for conservative and evangelical groups in the PC(USA) that was
organized in 1993 to support a ban on the ordination of sexually active gays
and lesbians. Nowadays, the Coalition is most visible  in seeking to
maintain those ordination standards, both legislatively and judicially.

	Detterick was responding to a controversy ignited last summer when the Rev.
Dirk Ficca, a Presbyterian minister from Chicago who is executive director
for the Parliament of World Religions, said at the Presbyterian Peacemaking
Conference that Jesus Christ is not the only way to salvation.

	Last month, when a Dallas church demanded that the GAC state publically
that Jesus Christ alone is Lord and Savior, the council's response was
published widely and found lacking by many evangelicals.

	Since then, the Montreat (N.C.) Presbyterian Church has informed the GAC
that it intends to file judicial charges against the council for failing "to
review the work of GA agencies and bodies ... in light of mission
directions, goals, objectives and priorities" (Book of Order G-13.0103.e),
"to warn or bear witness against error in doctrine or immorality in practice
in or outside the church" (G-13.0103.p) and "to uphold the Great Ends of the
Church" (G-1.0200).

	Detterick said the peacemaking conference was right to focus on interfaith
issues, given how much religion is a factor in many of the world's
conflicts, such as in the Balkans and in the Middle East.

	The problem, he said, is that it was not a Muslim, a Buddhist or even a
Roman Catholic who offered a perspective that "differed from our
Presbyterian beliefs," which would have been, as he said, "fine and
helpful."

	But Ficca is a Presbyterian minister, "and that exacerbates our problem,"
he said.

	From his Louisville office, Detterick told the Presbyterian News Service
that he did not promise anything comparable to self-censorship but to find
legitimate ways for controversial ideas to be clarified and discussed.

	"We need to sit down and think about what people (might) say, if they'll
push the envelope too much, raise an issue that causes confusion.  And find
ways to put it into context," he said, noting that a panel discussion after
a presentation might be one way to deal with an potentially explosive
presentation.

	"We must not be guilty of censorship," Detterick added, "but we also must
be clear about who we are."

	Detterick told conferees that, personally, he's learned two things.  "We
must do a better job of anticipating what speakers at conferences will
likely say and be prepared to put their comments into appropriate context,
if necessary. Presbyterians are thinking people and do need to hear other
perspectives.

	"People going into interfaith mission work need to understand that's what
they're going to run into," Detterick said. "Accordingly, our conference
planning must not be passive in setting, and maintaining, who we are
doctrinally," he said.  "We will do so."

	He said the GAC's chair, Peter Pizor of Las Vegas, intends to appoint a
task force to evaluate conference planning procedures and to recommend
improvements. The task force will begin meeting within 45 days. Detterick
also said the issue will come before the GAC at its scheduled Feb. 19-24
meeting.

	Dettrick's remarks were music to the ears of many attending the Coalition
gathering, entitled "In Christ Alone: Christo-exclusivity in a .com world."

	The Rev. Joe Rightmyer, executive director of the evangelical group
Presbyterians for Renewal described anything less than Christo-exclusivity
as "heresy," and said he believes that agencies of the denomination have a
responsibility to promote only the soundest of doctrine.

	The Coalition's chair, the Rev. Jerry Andrews of suburban Chicago, heard
Detterick promise increasing accountability of GA agencies, "appropriately,"
he said, "holding people and the sponsoring organization accountable."

	 Detterick insisted the GAC is composed of people of "great faith" who are
"committed to the church and its doctrines."  He said while this matter is
painful for all, it is good for Presbyterians to be talking about theology
and about Presbyterian beliefs.  "This is a good study moment for the
church," he said.

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