Denomination staff member decries PCUSA view about Bible’s authority
Institute on Religion and Democracy,and The Layman Online, April 16, 2004
A Korean-American minister who is a member of the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has challenged the denomination’s view that Scripture is the highest authority in the church.
Unzu Lee did a drumroll to lead the procession at the controversial 1999 Women of Faith awards breakfast.Unzu Lee, who is responsible for leadership development in Women’s Ministries of the National Ministries Division, was one of the speakers at a recent feminist conference titled “Women and the Word.” The conference was held at Boston University’s School of Theology.
According to coverage by Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, the speakers challenged masculine images of God; supported abortion rights; and urged the acceptance of same-sex “marriage” and a new “omni-gender” and “polymorphous paradigm.”
Lee, Tooley reported, wondered about the effectiveness of traditional Christian spiritual practices, especially reliance upon “written text and preaching.”
“Scripture is the site of our struggle,” she said. “By giving such authority to written text, we lose our ability to intuit and listen to signs around us and be compassionate.”
“I wonder if Scripture is helpful in sexual orientation,” Lee said.
“We are not doing a good enough job in fighting those who are corrupting the language,” she added. Specifically, she was concerned about conservative church women who are using the language of “diversity” to expect inclusion of a pro-life perspective in the women’s caucus of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Lee is the second national staff member recently to publicly challenge what the denomination says about Scripture and/or church law.
Elenora Giddings Ivory, director of the PCUSA’s Washington Office, erroneously declared in a public statement that the PCUSA supports same-gender marriages. That is false, as Clifton Kirkpatrick, the denomination’s stated clerk, later said in an attempt to contain the damage. He did not publicly reprimand Giddings Ivory. Like Lee, Giddings Ivory works for the National Ministries Division, whose director is Curtis A. Kearns.
Staff members are duty-bound to carry out the mandates of the General Assembly, the denomination’s highest governing body, and the requirements of the PCUSA Constitution.
In Lee’s case, the Constitution says “Scripture alone” is the highest authority. Her opposition to a pro-life perspective in the women’s caucus conflicts with a General Assembly statement that recognizes the legitimacy of pro-life advocates – even though the Assembly sanctions the right of a woman to have an abortion, including a late-term abortion, of a viable fetus.
Lee’s speech in Boston was not the first time she has shown her disdain for denominational policy. She was a drummer in the procession to honor three recipients – including two lesbians – of Women of Faith Awards at the 1999 General Assembly in Fort Worth. The three winners – lesbians Jane Spahr and Letty Russell and Jane Dempsey Douglass, a retired professor at Princeton Seminary – have been outspoken opponents of the PCUSA’s ban on ordaining practicing homosexuals.
The selection of Spahr, in particular, produced a major controversy because of her work as an “evangelist” for That All May Freely Serve. The organization stridently opposes church law against ordaining homosexuals and same-sex marriages – and promotes defiance of those standards.
The steering committee of the National Ministries Division voted to overturn Spahr’s selection after Kearns said, “To recognize her would appear to endorse the position for which she’s been advocating.” But on the eve of the 1999 General Assembly, the General Assembly Council voted 41-40 to allow Spahr to receive her award.
Lee is a member of the Newton Presbytery and the Synod of the Northeast.