Leftist Excesses in the Presbyterian Church

Check out the site of Concerned Presbyterians, a group opposed to the leftist excesses of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and especially it’s campaign of divestment directed as the state of Israel.

The PC (USA) doesn’t bother to try to hide it’s political biases. For example, a colloquium sponsored by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy and the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2004 issued something called the Stony Point Declaration which attacked the United States for:

. . . pursuing a “global empire, backed by unprecedented military supremacy,” its commitment to a “capitalistic economic system [that] has enriched the corporate ruling class at the expense of the earth and the poor,” and generating “monstrous inequality and massive suffering.”

Why do rank-and-file Presbyterians, who are not particularly leftist, put up with this? One answer is: they have no choice, since the machinery of the denomination is firmly in the hands of the clerical elite.

The other answer is, many have not. A news release on the denomination’s website is headlined:

PC(USA) membership declines, giving up

Membership loss is largest since 1975

The release makes a big deal out of the fact that:

. . . Presbyterians are giving to the church at record levels. “Giving to the church is up substantially in every category and at every level of the church’s life,” noted General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick in a prepared statement released with the statistical report.

In other words, we can tolerate losing our people, so long and the dwindling number of members writes bigger and bigger checks.