It may have been the altitude—one mile above sea level—or perhaps only remembrances of the old pioneer experience suggested by the “unsinkable” millionairess Molly Brown, who lived there. But whatever the cause, this year’s 184th General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., meeting in Denver, Colorado, proved particularly unpredictable.
Foremost on the list of surprises was the firm decision on the part of commissioners (voting delegates) to withdraw from the ten-year-old Consultation on Church Union (COCU), which had been launched by former stated clerk of the UPUSA church Dr. Eugene Carson Blake. Withdrawal of the three-million-member denomination was expected by many observers to have the effect of ultimately defeating the COCU plan to merge the nine participating churches. The action was unexpected, since COCU’s Plan of Union was currently only under study and was not to be presented for definitive action until next year’s assembly.
Withdrawal from COCU came early in response to an overture from the Presbytery of Philadelphia. The overture had originated in Philadelphia with a group of conservative ministers and laymen known as the Geneva Forum. In its original form it had merely asked for rejection of the proposed union plan while nevertheless “continuing ecumenical conversations through the Consultation on Church Union.” In Denver this original motion was strengthened by the assembly’s Committee on Bills and Overtures so that the recommendation that reached the floor called for total withdrawal. According to spokesmen on the committee, the decision was reached despite pressure by denominational officials to reverse it. Final action passed by a vote of 411 to 310.
Several days later, a maneuver to delay the disengagement until January 1, 1973, and to permit the United Presbyterian Church to send observers to COCU even after that date was defeated. COCU committee members were given until October 31 to terminate their participation. Also defeated (365 to 333) was an earlier substitute motion to keep the denomination in COCU while nevertheless rejecting the current plan.
Reaction was predictable. Dr. James I. McCord, chairman of the UPUSA Committee on COCU and president of Princeton Seminary, called the assembly’s decision “an aberration that will have to be corrected.” He tended to blame the results on the Presbyterian Lay Committee, a conservative group within the denomination that had been laboring for a year to defeat the COCU proposal. McCord argued that the COCU committee had erred “in letting the process of study and criticism go on too long.”
Dr. Robert V. Moss, president of the United Church of Christ, which was also involved in the Consultation, expressed “deep regret” at the action. The Reverend William A. Benfield, chairman of the delegation to COCU from the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (Southern), argued that the “precipitous action” of the northern church would be interpreted as “breaking the faith” by the other denominations.
Those who supported the assembly’s action reiterated their belief that the COCU plan was obsolete and unworkable and that its defeat actually freed the church to pursue more valid and more promising ecumenical ventures.
One such venture seemed to be found in efforts to unite the northern and southern churches. The General Assembly voted to continue such efforts, which could lead to the reunion of the two major Presbyterian denominations “within five years,” according to the Reverend Robert C. Lamer, co-chairman of the joint reunion committee.
For a time it looked as if the same script would be played out on the issue of United Presbyterian participation in the Key 73 nationwide evangelistic campaign. UPUSA’s Council on Evangelism had opposed participation, but this was reversed by the assembly’s own committee. However, after extended debate, at which youth delegates spoke heartily in favor of the Key 73 proposal, a vote of 387 to 237 barred Presbyterian involvement at the denomination level. Instead the action recommended that the proposal be called to the attention of the lower judicatories of the church and to local congregations.
In an important denominational matter, the assembly also approved costly and extensive plans to restructure all the boards and agencies of the church along more modern lines and to relocate headquarters from Philadelphia to New York. This restructuring is intended to produce substantial savings in overhead and staff salaries, though no one would estimate how many of the 1,028 staff jobs would be eliminated. The move is expected to result in a voluntary loss of 20 per cent of the executive and 60 per cent of the secretarial and clerical personnel. Technically, all the current jobs are up for grabs, and there is no guarantee that any one now employed by the church will be rehired.
In further actions the assembly also:
• Adopted a statement urging that women should have “full freedom of personal choice concerning the completion or termination of their pregnancies” and that abortions should not be restricted by law.
• Called for the immediate and total withdrawal of all United States forces from Southeast Asia and asked Congress to withhold spending for support of the war effort.
• Rejected efforts to alter or eliminate the controversial Emergency Fund for Legal Aid (which came under fire last year because of a grant of $10,000 to the Angela Davis Defense Fund), while at the same time establishing a further set of guidelines and criteria for the administration of the fund.
• Adopted a report of the Standing Committee on Baptism that acknowledges the validity of both infant and believers’ baptism and permits the practice of both within the church.
• Called for extended changes in America’s criminal-justice system, substantive tax reform at all levels of government, and congressional action to prohibit “the manufacture, sale, ownership, and possession” of concealable weapons.
• Approved plans for a new monthly magazine to be known as A.D., combining and replacing the present magazines Presbyterian Life and the UCC’s United Church Herald.
On the first day of the assembly, the position of moderator—highest leadership post in the denomination—passed from Lois H. Stair to C. Willard Heckel, a professor of constitutional law at Rutgers University. In a postelection interview, Heckel justified the Angela Davis grant, expressed reservations about Key 73, and opposed the Indochina war, terming U. S. involvement “lawless … immoral … and stupid.” He won a first-ballot victory over three other candidates.
Estranged Presbyterians Aye Reunion Basis
Two small groups of Presbyterians, divided since 1939, took a significant step toward reunion last month in separate but related actions. The Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church both approved a new “Basis for Union” and instructed subcommittees to report back next year with detailed plans for a church merger. Negotiations between the two churches—which have a combined membership just over 25,000—have been under way for more than five years. The actions came at a time when many union-movement advocates in both churches had given up hope of getting together.
Reformed Presbyterians in their 150th general synod, held at Harvey Cedars, New Jersey, listened to Covenant Seminary president Robert G. Rayburn present the proposed “Basis,” then approved it overwhelmingly after moderate debate. Opponents argued chiefly that Orthodox Presbyterians had not yet shown sufficient willingness to recognize the right of a church body to speak on moral issues not explicitly forbidden by Scripture.
Approval of the same “Basis” by Orthodox Presbyterians meeting in Oostburg, Wisconsin, came from a majority of at least two-thirds.
Joint committees of the two churches will work during the coming year on such matters as merging presbyteries, control of educational institutions, publications, and realignment of missionary agencies.
At Harvey Cedars, about 200 commissioners heard reports of unprecedented evangelistic growth in local churches of the Reformed Presbyterian denomination. Elder Marion D. Barnes, president of the recently accredited Covenant College at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, was elected moderator.
JOEL BELZ
Flunking A Religious Test
Can a Christian organization (radio station, magazine, or college, for example) hire personnel—or deny employment—on the basis of religious creed? This is the latest question that the federal government is asking, and in the first case tested the answer is no.
The Federal Communications Commission notified radio stations KGDNAM and KHIQ-FM in Edmonds, Washington, that they violated the law by requiring prospective employees to answer such questions as “Are you a Christian?” and “Is your spouse a Christian?” Trygve J. Anderson, an applicant for radio announcer, complained to the FCC that such questions “have no bearing on a person’s ability to handle a job in broadcasting.” King’s Garden, Incorporated, owner of the stations, replied that most of its programming is inspirational.
The FCC cited statutes already on the books (1964 Civil Rights Act and the rules of the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity) that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of creed. To avoid asking questions for employment such as those King’s Garden uses, some federal personnel suggest that the employer advertise with the religious press or recruit from religious colleges.
In handing down the ruling, the FCC said that persons employed to present a particular religious philosophy over the air may be exempt from the religious discrimination code, but that this is “a very narrow exemption” and not applicable to general employees.
The Department of Labor has issued proposed new guidelines to define further the statutes the Edmonds stations violated. The new order emphasizes that it’s the employer’s obligation “to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to religion.”
GLENN D. EVERETT
Passing The Missions Buck
Unlike many of the major denominations, the 120,000-member Christian and Missionary Alliance reports its revenues have increased consistently since World War II, reaching a total of $7.6 million for worldwide missionary work last year. CMA treasurer B. S. King said that 95 per cent of the money comes through free-will offerings. The funds are used to support 191 missionary personnel and their work in forty countries.
The report was given at the annual CMA meeting, held in suburban Oakland, California, last month. The Omaha Gospel Tabernacle in Nebraska led giving with $106,500.
American Baptists: Some Dreams Come True
To conclude his speech at the sixty-fifth annual meeting of the 1.5-million-member American Baptist Convention in Denver last month, District of Columbia congressman Walter E. Fauntroy—a black Baptist clergyman who sings tenor fairly well—burst into strains of “The Impossible Dream.”
While the song was intended to underline his call for blacks and whites to work together, it was also a fitting finale to much that had transpired at the business sessions.
For years various groups in the ABC have been pursuing their own versions of the impossible dream. This year the dream came true for some. Leaders who have lobbied for denominational restructure and streamlining won their case by a wide margin. Evangelicals, feeling the ABC has been long on social action and short on evangelism, were warmed by the virtually unanimous endorsement of ABC participation in the nationwide Key 73 evangelism campaign next year—and by the election of a theologically conservative general secretary. Racial-justice forces won a resounding okay for a joint $7.5 million fund-raising venture with the predominantly black Progressive National Baptist Convention (the money will be used mostly for minority educational purposes). And mission leaders glowingly reported receipts of more than $16 million and deferred gifts of $7 million in a campaign launched in 1963 to raise $10 million for capital needs of ABC home- and foreign-mission agencies.
But for Women’s Lib advocates the dream ended in never-never land, and for anti-war enthusiasts and the resolutions committee the dream lapsed into a nightmare.
Under the terms of restructure, overwhelmingly approved (though only 1,900 of the 3,200 delegates voted in the late-night session) and due to take effect January 1, 1973, the ABC’s name will be changed to “American Baptist Churches in the U. S. A.”
The name change was only one of a number of important measures. Four major denominational program boards, until now autonomous agencies that have elected their own officers and staffers, will be brought under the direct control of a new 200-member policy-making “General Board.” Selection of the latter is designed to give the grass roots more say in denominational doings. Three of the boards will have their names, not functions, changed to reflect their status as boards of national, international, and educational ministries.
The new general secretary, dean and New Testament professor Robert C. Campbell of the American Baptist Seminary of the West at Covina, California, will have greater authority than any of his predecessors. (In perhaps the briefest acknowledgment speech in Baptist history, Campbell responded, “Thank you, I think.”)
The ABC’s presidency, a figurehead position, will be rotated among clergy and laity with equal consideration given all candidates “regardless of race or sex.” (This year’s president is pastor Gene E. Bartlett of Newton Centre, Massachusetts, formerly president of Colgate Rochester Divinity School.) An amendment intended to guarantee women 50 per cent of the General Board’s seats was defeated 2,221 to 296. A section calling for the ABC’s annual conventions to be replaced by biennial meetings survived 1,385 to 1,101, but many delegates said they wanted more—not less—fellowship, and they vowed to raise the issue again.
As predicted, the resolutions session again this year ended in a shambles for want of a quorum. And again the issue up for grabs was a lengthy controversial statement on the Indochina war. It called for “immediate” unilateral ceasefire and withdrawal by U. S. troops and congressional cut-off of war funds. Indiana pastor A. E. Lacy, with backing of the resolutions committee, introduced a shortened version of the original, but it was rejected 846 to 818. A New Jersey layman then introduced an amendment supporting President Nixon’s policies. In light of the earlier action it could conceivably have squeaked by, but the convention fell apart amid haggling and a quorum call. (It was the first major church parley following mining of North Viet Nam’s harbors and the step-up in bombing.) The opposing groups ended up sending their statements as telegrams to Nixon.
An endorsement of Key 73 and part of a statement on racism were voted upon before the fiasco took place. The Key 73 paper called for “person-to-person communication of our faith.” witness through social action, experiments in worship forms, and togetherness with other Key 73 participants. The racism measure supported quality education for all children, even if busing is necessary to achieve it.
All was quiet on the black, Spanish American, and Indian caucus fronts. (“It’s because we’ve made progress in these areas,” explained an ABC press spokesman.) Even the evangelically oriented American Baptist Fellowship took pains to avoid rocking the boat.
But also missing were last year’s throngs of young people caught up in revival, the crowded evangelism and spiritual-life seminars, the sense of spiritual jubilance and expectancy. The dream of a revived, revitalized ABC seemed a bit more possible then.
EDWARD E. PLOWMAN
