By Gradye Parsons LOUISVILLE – “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Christians, Jews, and Muslims are all commanded by God to love God and our neighbor with our whole lives. Yet in the cradle of all three of these faiths, The death toll continues to rise. Palestinian and Israeli fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and children weep…
A presbytery executive in Pennsylvania agrees with the former head of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Office of Theology and Worship that the procedures followed by the General Assembly were corrupt. Alan Adams of Beaver-Butler Presbytery is calling into question the procedure followed in the 221st General Assembly’s approval of the Authoritative Interpretation (AI) allowing ministers…
From the Office of the General Assembly LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Reverend Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, wrote a letter to the President of the United States expressing concern for the protection of unaccompanied children. The full letter is posted below. July 8, 2014 President Barack Obama The White House…
Presbyterian News Service Effective immediately, the publication Zionism Unsettled, will no longer be sold on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) website. Last week in Detroit, the 221st General Assembly passed a resolution declaring that the booklet Zionism Unsettled “does not represent the views of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).” The Israel-Palestine Mission Network, which produced the booklet,…
By Mark Tooley The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), whose General Assembly starts this week in Detroit, is a case study in oldline Protestant decline. Its latest membership stats show a loss of 89,296 in 2013, preceded by a loss of 102,791 in 2012. Its membership is now down to 1,760,200, and at the current rate it…
By Lauren Markoe (RNS) In a sign of the precarious state of Presbyterian-Jewish relations, the rabbi who heads the largest branch of Judaism in North America will appeal directly to the Presbyterian Church (USA) to step back from a series of critical resolutions aimed at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Invited to address the General Assembly of the Presbyterian…
While the decline wasn’t as big as 2012, the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s reported membership loss in 2013 is still alarming. According to the 2013 statistics for the PCUSA, the denomination lost 89,296 members in 2013 bringing the total membership to 1,760,200. That’s down 4.83 percent from 2012’s total membership of 1,849,496. The 2012 decline was…
The 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) begins in four weeks, and the Committee On Local Arrangements (COLA) from the Presbytery of Detroit has been busy making preparations for the event. The General Assembly will meet June 14-21 in Detroit, Mich., at the recently refurbished Cobo Center on the banks of the Detroit…
By Viola Larson It cannot be stated with any more forceful terms than Presbyterians For Middle East Peace have stated it. Until now the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has not been known for its ideological purges, but when the Stated Clerk, Gradye Parsons, and the Moderator of the General Assembly ousted Rev. Al Butzer from his…
By Presbyterians for Middle East Peace The Presbyterian Church, USA has always been known for its strenuous debates of controversial issues. It has never been known for ideological purges. That changed a few weeks ago. On April 1, 2014, after a thorough vetting of his abilities to be moderator of the GA committee on Middle East Issues,…