By Mateen Elass, on his personal blog.
Two days ago I reported on the travesty which occurred last Saturday in Portland at the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA. Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons had asked some of his denominational employees to fashion a short worship service to commemorate the lives of shooting victims in Charleston and Orlando, and it was the first agenda item on the docket for Saturday afternoon. The leadership deliberately designed this service not simply as an ecumenical affair (inviting leaders from other Christian denominations to help lead) but also as an interfaith event (inviting one leader from an anti-Christian religion — Islam).
Not surprisingly, the Muslim man, Wajdi Said, led the assembly in a prayer in Arabic from the Qur’an, and then proceeded to speak a prayer to Allah in English seeking the conversion of all there to Islam, and demoting Jesus to a status equal to other prophets, including non-biblical ones (Ishmael and Muhammad). The final part of the liturgy he read was something he, together with the denominational designers, must have created — it was a prayer based on four passages from the Qur’an (there was nothing recognizable from the Bible), and was in printed form as well as projected on screen for the assembly.
There was no visible negative reaction from the assembly, but a few days later the Stated Clerk received a protest letter written by a Korean Presbyterian and signed by 25 Assembly commissioners ( just under 5% of the 594 registered commissioners), drawing attention to the disgraceful judgment of those who had planned and permitted this act of casual blasphemy.
Watch the apology here. It begins at the 2:44:53 mark.
21 Comments. Leave new
I’m just glad Parsons is gone, time will tell about his replacement……..
Um … frying pan, fire ??
With fewer than 5% of Commissioners expressing offense and the overwhelming Islamophobia in the church and the country, I’d say Rev. Parsons’s apology was more than adequate.
Grady’s Parsons needs to be removed immediately. His extremely poor performance in supporting bloodthirsty Muslims is intolerable. Does he not realize that Muslim want us dead, gone from the earth. Don’t give me that garbage that not all Muslims are radical either.
Mr Parsons inexcusable performance should get him removed immediately.
Where did this Wajdi come from?
Has anybody seen a Presbyterian praying at a mosque or a large gathering of muslims……….yeah I didn’t think so.
The point is a denomination that purports to be Christian should not be inviting anti-Christians to speak at their meetings. This particular speaker made sure he demoted Christ from God to prophet and included him in a list of non-biblical so-called “prophets” (Ishmael and Mohammed) in his speech. He never should have been a speaker at GA.
Removed from what? He’s not the Stated Clerk anymore.
There’s nothing quite like painting a whole segment of the population with a broad brush. It worked for Goebbels, and it obviously works for you.
I’ve prayed in front of Muslims, and the sun still rose the next day.
He lives in the Portland area and serves as President of the Muslim Educational Trust, a group seeking since its establishment in 1993 to present the palatable face of Islam to the Western world.
I believe Gradye remains in office through July 31. J. Herbert begins his service on August 1, if I’m not mistaken.
Are you seriously placing Muslims in the same category as Jews?
The fact that “fewer than 5% expressed offense pretty well summarizes the whole ‘too far gone’ state of being for the denomination!, doesn’t it, Matthew…..thank you for pointing that out.
Yay! The PCUSA is more than adequate.
Finally, as expected, the PCUSA provides the clearest symbol of their renunciation of God’s jurisdiction over it; confirming a denomination irretrievably apostate under current management.
I’ve been asked since yesterday’s posting if the current edition of http://www.koppdisclosure.com can be forwarded/printed without my permission.
Sure.
So much for the PCUSA leadership. Now we know why the PCUSA is going down the drain.
Very poor judgment to invite a Muslim to lead the kickoff of the 2222nd GA. Who’s scheduled for the next GA, Dr. Jeremiah Wright?
“You shall have no other gods before me”
James, Justin is referring to the concept, not the specifics. I imagine that it would be difficult to argue against the fact that a very erudite small faction or individual can sway the thinking of huge numbers of people or even entire nations. the Nazi’s had a lock on the methodology, as did Pol Pot and Idi Amin. Jim Jones accomplished the same thing as did the guy who had his followers convinced that mass suicide could enable the body to hook on to the tail of a comet. To paint the entire Muslim community with the ISIS brush is specious.
I have been a reader of the LAYMAN for decades, reading the hard copy version cover to cover. I was sorry to see the print version discontinued, but continue to peruse the scaled-down online edition. In all these years I cannot recall an article or editorial that was positive about the PCUSA, with the LAYMAN not only emphasizing the negative, but seeming to take a not-so-subtle delight in the gradual decline of he Denomination. Virtually all posters take the same negative approach to the Denomination using various selected Bibical passages to support their positions. Accompanying the elimination of the hard copy LAYMAN and the relocation of the HQ, and probable downsizing, I suspect LAYMAN finances are on shaky ground. I often wonder why the LAYMAN doesn’t just fold up the tent and align itself with one of the two offshoots of the PC(USA) either of which would be more closely identifywith the LAYMAN’s theological outlook. But then, I guess, most of he remaining staff not only would have little to criticize, but likely would soon be on the unemployment line.