“The Presbyterian Panel,” the denomination’s ongoing study of a representative sample of Presbyterians, was surveyed just before the General Assembly about some big issues before the church, especially the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church (PUP). The results of that survey were not tabulated nor analyzed until after the Assembly. We can now get a first look at how members, elders, pastors, and specialized clergy (those not serving congregations) think about PUP.
The PUP report began with a traditional theological foundation, and the survey shows that the church agrees. In response to basic claims, taken directly from the PUP report, overwhelming majorities of members, elders, and pastors — more than 90 percent — agree, “my faith is in the God of Israel who raised Jesus Christ bodily from the dead.” Likewise, more than 80 percent of each group agrees, “Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through him.” Most specialized clergy, always the most liberal group of the four, also agreed with both traditional claims, though at a lower level (84 percent and 64 percent, respectively). Above 80 percent of each group believe that the Bible is the true Word of God, reaching more than 90 percent among pastors.
The church also strongly endorses the idea that God loves everyone. Even for the most contested category — “God loves everyone regardless of sexual orientation” — and among the most conservative group — the elders — only 7 percent disagree. Clearly, the contention over sexual orientation in the church is not driven by hate.
The central debate over the PUP report turned on the careful balance between recommendation 5 and recommendation 6.
Recommendation 5 proposed a new authoritative interpretation of the constitution that emphasizes that local ordaining and examining bodies — presbyteries for ministers, sessions for elders — have the responsibility to apply the church’s standards. However, if a candidate declares a “scruple” about some part of the constitution, it is up to the local examining body to decide whether this scruple touches “an essential tenet of the Reformed faith” or not, subject to review by the higher church courts. Most conservative advocacy groups in the church opposed this authoritative interpretation.
To find the opinion of the church on this core provision of recommendation 5, the Panel was asked, “when an ordination candidate disagrees with one of the church’s constitutional standards, ordination should still be allowed to proceed if the disagreement is not over an essential tenet of Reformed faith or polity.” The answers to this question were closer than were the theological affirmations. About a third of the laity was neutral, suggesting that not all were confident they understood the subtle polity issue involved. In each group, though, significantly more Presbyterians agreed with this “local application” standard than disagreed with it. For members, the agree/disagree ratio was 39 percent to 28 percent; for elders, 37 percent to 32 percent; for pastors, 49 percent to 33 percent; and for specialized clergy, 56 percent to 27 percent.
The complement to local application of national standards is judicial review by the higher bodies, in those cases of disputed local decisions. The Panel was asked to agree or disagree whether “higher governing bodies have a right to review whether lower governing bodies were reasonable, responsible, prayerful, and deliberate in examining candidates for ordination and installation.” Judicial review by higher bodies was supported by 70 percent of the laity, and more than 80 percent of the clergy. The one substantive amendment that the General Assembly made to the PUP report expanded this specific section to make clear that judicial review could address the substance, as well as the procedure, of local examinations.
Recommendation 6, on the other hand, proposed leaving the rest of the constitution as it is, including the “chastity and fidelity” provision, G 6.0106b. It was opposed by most liberal advocacy groups.
The test of recommendation 6 came in this question: “The 2006 General Assembly should not change current denominational policy on any of the major issues being contested in the church today, including Christology, biblical interpretation, essential tenets, and sexuality and ordination.” Among members, elders, and pastors, twice as many favored keeping the constitution as it is to changing it. Only among the specialized clergy — who represent less than half a percent of the church as a whole — did more favor change than the status quo.
The Panel was also asked their opinion on deleting G 6.0106b, the “chastity and fidelity” provision of the constitution. A majority of members, elders, and pastors wanted to keep that section of the constitution. Once again, only among the specialized clergy was there a liberal majority, almost two-thirds of whom wished to eliminate this rule.
One clear message to come from “The Presbyterian Panel”: Most Presbyterians want the church to have real standards. In answer to the statement, “a church that is not clear about what it believes is not worth belonging to,” nearly two-thirds of members, elders, and pastors agreed or strongly agreed.
Most of the church supports the principles of the Peace, Unity, and Purity report, Now that the church has adopted the report, though, most Presbyterians will want it to really deliver more peace within the church’s constitutional standards.
William (Beau) Weston is NEH Professor of Sociology at Centre College in Danville, Ky., and the author of “Peace, Unity, and Purity: Summary and Response” for The Thoughtful Christian (Presbyterian Publishing Corporation). Thanks to Research Services of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for sharing the Panel data.
