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August 28, 2006
Presbyterian Mainstreaming Conspiracy
The Presbyterian Church continues on its road to irrelevancy by publishing a 9/11 nutter conspiracy theory book:
The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government, according to a book to be released later this month by Westminster John Knox Press a division of the denominational publisher for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action is the third book on the subject by David Ray Griffin, a professor emeritus of theology at Claremont School of Theology who is also a well-published and prominent process theologian.
This is part of a continuing trend of mainstream organizations trying to legitimize insane conspiracy theories. With actions like these is it really a surprise that denominations like the Presbyterians are declining? How do they expect normal people to take them seriously when they publish junk like this? This reminds me of the sad LA Times article from a few weeks ago on the decline of liberal denominations and focused on the decline of the Episcopal church, which I grew up in. It also mentions the Evangelical Lutheran Church which I am currently a member of, but the church I go to actually believes in the Evangelical part of Evangelical Lutheran):
Embraced by the leadership of all the mainline Protestant denominations, as well as large segments of American Catholicism, liberal Christianity has been hailed by its boosters for 40 years as the future of the Christian church.Instead, as all but a few die-hards now admit, all the mainline churches and movements within churches that have blurred doctrine and softened moral precepts are demographically declining and, in the case of the Episcopal Church, disintegrating.
It also mentions other denominations like the Presbyterians and some of their other antics:
Following the Episcopalian lead, the Presbyterians also voted to give local congregations the freedom to ordain openly cohabiting gay and lesbian ministers and endorsed the legalization of medical marijuana. (The latter may be a good idea, but it is hard to see how it falls under the theological purview of a Christian denomination.)The Presbyterian Church USA is famous for its 1993 conference, cosponsored with the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and other mainline churches, in which participants 'reimagined' God as 'Our Maker Sophia' and held a feminist-inspired 'milk and honey' ritual designed to replace traditional bread-and-wine Communion.
As if to one-up the Presbyterians in jettisoning age-old elements of Christian belief, the Episcopalians at Columbus overwhelmingly refused even to consider a resolution affirming that Jesus Christ is Lord. When a Christian church cannot bring itself to endorse a bedrock Christian theological statement repeatedly found in the New Testament, it is not a serious Christian church. It's a Church of What's Happening Now, conferring a feel-good imprimatur on whatever the liberal elements of secular society deem permissible or politically correct.
Posted by Pete at August 28, 2006 07:47 PM
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Comments
Yeah, I continue to be amazed at the blinders approach of liberal church leadership. They keep claiming that being more open to non-traditional beliefs/theology and supporting morally relativistic doctrines will lead to the growth of the church because it will be more attractive to a wider segment of the populace. This is despite the fact that the increased liberalization of the church has been accompanied with rapidly decreasing membership.
They don't seem to grasp the concept that the church is supposed to stand as a moral bulwark against the excesses, relativism, and occasional nihlism of society. What most people find attractive is a solid entity that preaches a coherent message they do not receive elsewhere. When the church purposely reshapes itself to reflect society, however, what's the point in joining when it offers nothing more and nothing different from what people get from and in society? That is, if the church and its message are little different from society and its message, then there seems little reason to join the church since people will get nothing from it they don't already get from society. That and they would have to get up early on Sunday.
Posted by: Dangerous Dan at August 31, 2006 12:28 AM