Unity in Diversity’ conference draws small crowd
Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, May 3, 1999
ATLANTA – Touted by Presbyterian Church (USA) Vice Moderator James Mead as a “vastly diverse group,” approximately 250 Presbyterians gathered here on April 29 to celebrate something they called “unity in diversity.”
Only a handful of evangelicals was present, so few that former General Assembly Moderator Clinton Marsh asked, “Did the conservatives call for a boycott?” The subject reappeared during a feedback session at the end of the conference when several liberals openly lamented the fact that they found themselves preaching to the choir in this almost homogeneous gathering.
Although no boycott had been announced, the conference program was reviewed in February by Presbyterian renewal group leaders, many of whom said they had no intention of attending a program that was so obviously loaded with left-wing ideology.
Two evangelicals added
In a last-minute attempt to restore the event’s credibility, the planning committee added two evangelicals to the program, but the belated repair produced few additional registrations. The few evangelicals who did appear – some in support of their token colleagues on the program – expressed a profound feeling of theological estrangement.
James Kim, a Korean Presbyterian minister from Dallas, voiced what he said many racial/ethnic representatives were feeling: “My people cannot accept ordination of homosexuals, and I feel quite alienated in this conference.”
Several liberal caucuses were conspicuously present. Sixteen Covenant Network board members registered, so many that they even held a board meeting in tandem with the conference.
Numerous self-proclaimed homosexuals attended, including “lesbian evangelist” Jane Spahr and More Light Presbyterians leader Scott Anderson. Leaders of social activist organizations, including Barbara Kellam-Scott from Voices of Sophia and Eugene TeSelle from the Witherspoon Society, appeared. Women’s ministries staff member Barbara Dua, supervisor of the controversial National Network of Presbyterian College Women, was present, along with Barbara Roche and other former staff members who were active in the 1993 ReImagining conference.
Diversity: an essential tenet
While labeling conservatives “fundamentalists” because of their insistence that key doctrines of the Christian faith – such as the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ – are essential, the conference showcased a fundamentalism of its own: Diversity was virtually declared an essential tenet of Christian faith. A recurring conference theme was that all ideas are to be tolerated, so long as none renders judgment on others. Judgmental ideas were judged “arrogant,” or “narrow,” or “mean-spirited.” The only view that was deemed “beyond the boundary” was the idea that some ideas are right and others wrong.
Clarice Martin, associate professor of philosophy and religion at Colgate-Rochester University, was the keynote conference speaker. Martin said she is teaching a course on “the end of the world in America” which is sensitizing her to “new millennium issues.” Her task in Atlanta, however, was not so much to anticipate the future as to rewrite the past. Her job, she said, was to show that the Apostle Paul considered diversity an essential ingredient in Christian faith.
In setting up her argument, Martin said she needed to say that Paul didn’t say some of the things that the Bible says he said. She did this by declaring that Paul authored only seven epistles. All the rest, she said, were written by others who used his name. (Traditional scholars ascribe 13 epistles to Paul.)
Martin noted that Paul’s world included many cultures and that nowhere does the apostle argue for a suppression of ethnic and cultural differences. “The call of God does not require a social or ethnic change,” she said. “In Christ, God’s purposes of inclusion are being realized.”
No judging allowed
Martin then shifted her argument from affirming God’s acceptance of different people to affirming God’s acceptance of different behaviors. “Because God made us one people, there should be no judging of the other,” she said. “Since each person is accountable to God, any warrant for rejecting the cultural or social practices of another is removed.” Paul gave the world a theology of diversity and pluralism, said Martin. “It is a theology of conversion to the neighbor.”
In response to Martin, conferee Kent Organ noted that Martin had celebrated Paul’s liberal approach to certain cultural practices like food laws, but that she had omitted Paul’s strong rejection of other practices, particularly in the area of sexual ethics. Another respondent cited passages in Paul’s epistles wherein he condemns sexual sins, including the practice of homosexuality.
Martin dismissed the criticisms, repeating her assertion that Paul did not write much of the Scripture that is attributed to him. The few troublesome passages that remain, she suggested, can be dealt with by realizing that at these points Paul “is a person in process.”
Historical perspective
Plenary speaker J. Bradley Longfield sought to put current Presbyterian conflicts in historical perspective. “Conflict requires at least two parties that are opposed to each other, are willing and able to articulate that opposition, and are somehow bound together so that fighting has more appeal than separation,” he said. Presbyterians fight, he said, because they prefer fighting to schism.
Longfield divided all Protestants into two groups, evangelical and liberal, or, quoting Jacobsen and Trollinger, “the polyester, punch and crackers people versus the 100 percent cotton, wine-and-cheese crowd.” He said that although there are crossovers (some liberals wear polyester while reading Christianity Today and some conservatives imbibe while listening to NPR) the liberal-evangelical categories tend to hold in any analysis of disputes within the Presbyterian Church (USA). Between militant liberals and militant conservatives, Longfield observed, is a group of largely middle-of-the-road folk whom the militants seek to influence.
One of the reasons why disputes among church people become so vigorous, suggested Longfield, is the fact that they are viewed as matters of “transcendent importance.” “Church conflict,” he said, “is generated because people in the church confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.”
Culture wars
Longfield noted that while church disputes are at their core theological, other factors play a role, notably the influence of culture. “Frequently, concerns from the society impinge on the church and on ecclesiastical debates whether or not the participants acknowledge them or admit them,” he said. Longfield noted the influence played by such factors as geography, the role of seminaries, race and gender issues, and the trend toward decentralization in America’s institutional life.
Longfield observed that considering its huge membership losses, “these are not the best of times” for the church, and he suggested that the “voltage of conflict” that has assaulted the church has played a part in its decline. But he offered no solutions for resolving the conflict.
Losing balance
Jack Rogers, an adjunct professor at San Francisco Seminary, offered an addendum to Longfield’s address. Conflict occurs, he said, “when people lose their balance.” He suggested that Presbyterians would do well not to take too seriously many aspects of their faith. “We need to have not too many essentials, and certainly not to lift our pet theories to the level of essential because if we do, we tend to lose our balance,” he said.
Rogers expressed his view that there are many opinions in Scripture and the Reformed Tradition, and that people holding various points of view could find support for their ideas in these documents. Therefore, he suggested, it does no good for one side in an argument to appeal to Scripture. What must be discussed, he said, is how we interpret Scripture.
Picking up on the conference theme, Rogers suggested that church conflict could be reduced if all the parties would celebrate diversity. “When we lose the balance that diversity provides, that’s when we lose our unity,” he said.
Racial/ethnic complaints aired
Gayraud Wilmore, emeritus professor at the International Theological Center in Atlanta, shared some of his experiences as a black leader in the Presbyterian Church and linked his “marginalization” to the refusal of the denomination to ordain persons who practice homosexual behavior. Wilmore said he was pleased to participate in the unity/diversity conference because it served to get issues out on the table. His endorsement of dissenting voices was qualified, however: “I suggest that we seek a practical unity that encourages responsible dissent and the equitable distribution of materials and resources as long as the parties do not reflect a mean spirit.”
Almost two hours of the conference were devoted to hearing complaints from representatives of racial/ethnic groups regarding their experiences of exclusion in the mostly “Caucasian Presbyterian Church (USA).” Synod executive Harry Del Valle presented a history of Presbyterian ministries in Puerto Rico. He said that people whom whites label “Hispanic” have far to go toward reaching their full leadership potential in the denomination. “Diversity is here,” he said, “but we have to raise the question of domination.”
Executive Presbyter Joseph Lee, from San Jose, announced that he bears the scars of discrimination and that he still experiences anger and pain. “I hate the name ‘undocumented workers,'” he said. Lee said he hates the fact that whites say Asian food “stinks” when they don’t realize how an Italian deli smells to him. “Don’t say ‘inclusiveness’ when you mean ‘assimilation,'” he said. Caucasians welcome food, colors and other customs from racial/ethnic groups, he said, “but that’s not inclusiveness; that’s tourism!”
Rev. Buddy Monahan, chaplain for Menaul School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, noted the fact that church groups often approach him seeking to do something for Native Americans. Suggesting that this kind of benevolence smacks of racism, he asked why the white churches don’t invite his Native American students to come teach a Bible study. “Ministry is a two-way street,” he said.
Looking to the Trinity
Professor Sang Hyun Lee of Princeton Seminary placed the issue of diversity in a theological framework. He pointed out that in the life of the Trinity we are given a perfect model for diversity as God intends it. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons, but they are of one essence. “If this is true diversity,” he said, “then we don’t have it yet.”
Lee said that the unity we seek will not come from the mainstream, but from the edges. He reminded his audience that God came into the world as a “liminal and marginalized person.” If we Presbyterians want unity amidst our diversity, we must each “leave our cultural center and go to the edge, the liminal … We must all leave home a little bit.”
Systemic discrimination
Rev. Gloria Jean Tate, a pastor in New Jersey, listed several concerns faced by black Presbyterians. She said that many black churches conduct their ministries in depreciated buildings that were vacated by white congregations moving out of the area. She noted a lack of ordained black leadership for predominately black congregations.
She also complained that it is rare to find a white church that will call a racial/ethnic minister to its staff. The assumption, she said, is that racial ethnic persons should minister to their own cultural context. Tate said racial/ethnic churches often experience “excessive efforts to control” them from white leaders. She said there is an assumption that aid-receiving churches need external controls, and this is a condition to their receiving the funds.
Following these formal presentations, conference participants heard a chorus of complaints from various individuals who felt that they had been slighted, ignored, misused or abused by dominant forces in the Presbyterian Church (USA).