January 12, 2006
by Jerry L. Van Marter

ATLANTA – Gathering for the last time before it presents its report to next summer's 217th General Assembly, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church (TTF) reaffirmed its belief that the recommendations in its report, if adopted, will contribute to "a more faithful spirit" within the denomination.

And although many Presbyterians – especially those at both extremes of the theological/political spectrum – have criticized the report, the task force members don't think the report will produce a schism in the 2.3-million member church.

"Reports don't cause schism; people cause schism,"said the Rev. Milton "Joe" Coalter, a task force member from Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, VA.

The TTF unanimously approved its report to the Assembly. That in itself was a feat, considering the wide theological diversity of its members.

The TTF's recommendations appeal to the church to affirm its unity; to engage in a process of spiritual discernment and theological reflection, as the task force itself has done for the past five years; and to develop decision-making models that "complement" the majority-rule parliamentary model the PC(USA) has employed for more than 200 years.

Most debate has focused on two recommendations:

• passage of a proposed "authoritative interpretation" of the PC(USA) constitution that would allow candidates for ordination to declare a "scruple" (conscientious objection) in a matter of church doctrine or polity and permit the ordaining body to determine whether the scruple is a disqualifying departure from the "essentials of Reformed faith and polity"; and,

• a temporary moratorium on proposed amendments to the current ordination standards

Church groups opposing the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians have said the proposed authoritative interpretation would in effect open the door to the ordination of homosexuals. Groups supporting gay and lesbian ordination have harshly criticized it for maintaining the current ordination standards.

Several proposals to delete section G-6.0106b of The Book of Order – which restricts ordination to men and women who practice "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness" – have been submitted to the General Assembly, which convenes in Birmingham, AL, on June 15. Assembly planners have said that the TTF's report will be considered before proposed constitutional amendments.

Coalter rejected the claim that the proposed authoritative interpretation would open the door to wholesale ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians. "We are not calling for the abandonment of the current standards for ordination," he said, "but Presbyterians have historically distinguished between standards and essentials, and we are following that historical heritage."

"Scruples" have been part of Presbyterian polity since 1729, and the discretionary power of ordaining bodies to decide whether a scruple involves an essential of the faith has been explicit in The Book of Order since 1983.

There is a difference between standards and essentials, Coalter told the Presbyterian News Service. "It is instructive that no General Assembly has ever adopted a list of essential tenets," he said. "And some Assemblies have said it's not even appropriate to do so, even if we could agree."

But the church has always been willing to adopt standards.

"That says to me that there is an inherent difference between standards and essentials," Coalter said. "Standards are aspirational and in some respects negotiable. Essentials are not negotiable. That is not to say standards are wishy-washy. It simply means that the desired qualities present in a standard may be balanced by other gifts or graces. Essentials simply cannot be departed from."

"There is no perfect set of rules and regulations that will make all people good," said TTF member Mark Achtemeier, a professor at Dubuque Theological Seminary. "So we are trying to propose a more faithful spirit within the church, an ethos of trust and vulnerability that an endless spate of judicial cases can't hope to honor."

TTF member Frances Taylor Gench, a professor at Union-PSCE, said trust is the crucial element. "In the end, we have to be honest that there is a vulnerability here, because we can't force anyone to behave the way we hope them to," she said. "We have to trust our brothers and sisters."

Coalter agreed. "We have to trust that others who we don't know are trying as hard as we are to be faithful," he said. "The Book of Order clearly expresses principles for honoring all parties, and that there's a cost and level of vulnerability required to make this work."

TTF member Barbara Wheeler, the president of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, said such trust could be enhanced in ordaining bodies as they grapple with individual candidates' scruples. "Ordaining bodies are going to have to do more work discerning essentials and non-essentials – everyone will have to read the Book Of Confessions," she said.

"We're asking that the bar be raised in all ordaining bodies," TTF member Sarah Sanderson-Doughty added.

Task force member William Stacy Johnson of Princeton Theological Seminary concluded that the issue in the church is not the TTF report but what level of theological diversity will be permissible in the PC(USA). "Our polity approach (of allowing ordaining bodies to determine fitness for office) is similar to the Presbyterian Church in America, where many of our conservative critics are more comfortable theologically," he said. "But the PCA has an ethos of uniformity that we don't have, so there's more trust in and tolerance of ordaining bodies. We say that in a diverse church, tolerance isn't enough, that we're called to embrace and embody a deeper koinonia (Christian fellowship or communion with God and with fellow Christians). What concept of koinonia are our critics espousing?"

Another way to look at the situation, said Wheeler, is to ask, "What will happen if our report is not accepted?" The answer, she said, is a return "to hand-to-hand combat over overtures and amendments for years to come."

Task force co-chair Gary Demarest called that outcome "insanity," which he defined as "doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different outcome."

In preparing for its pre-Assembly conference in Birmingham on the morning of June 15, task force members are preparing to address the questions it hears most often as it presents its report to groups of Presbyterians. So far, members have met with 57 presbyteries, four synods, five seminaries and many other groups and congregations, and have scheduled visits with another 56 presbyteries, six synods and two seminaries in coming months.

Member Scott Anderson said he looks forward to those meetings. "We've heard the predictable responses from the advocacy groups," he said. "I continue to be eager to hear from the 80 percent of Presbyterians who are not affiliated with any of these groups."

Presbyterian News Service