What do Susan Andrews, Currie Burris, Roger Gench, Pete James, Gareth Icenogle,
Greg Seckman, Bill Teng, and John Wimberly have in common?

Good looks, of course. But more importantly, these eight pastors are convinced that
conservatives and liberals can learn from each other, and they have been in dialogue
about whether the Peace-Unity-Purity report of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will be
able to help the denomination stay together. One of our presbytery’s most valuable
qualities is that we are a community of balance, one that seeks to listen to voices
across the conservative to liberal spectrum.

In this regard, our presbytery is fighting a trend that I see in churches across our
nation —a trend toward taking a position at one end of the spectrum or the other. I
am seeing today a shrinkage of the moderate religious middle, a change that reflects
the polarization of contemporary politics, where the most powerful voices now speak
from the far right and left.

A recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press revealed that
partisan differences over both national security and domestic issues had reached a
historic high in the Summer of 2003. The United States “remains a country that is
almost evenly divided politically,” said the center, “yet further apart than ever in its
political values.” And a 2004 poll done by Public Agenda, a nonpartisan research
organization, revealed that church-going Americans have grown increasingly
intolerant of politicians making compromises on issues such as abortion and gay
rights. These trends could indicate “more polarized political thinking,” said Ruth
Wooden, president of Public Agenda. “There do not seem to be very many voices
arguing for compromise today.”

What we've lost in this process of polarization is our belief in the importance of
meeting grounds — communities where people of diverse opinions and perspectives
may gather, talk, debate and argue. I’m convinced that our churches must be places
where such dialogue can take place, and I make a case for such communities of faith
in my new book Balancing Acts: Obligation, Liberation, and Contemporary Christian
Conflicts (CSS Publishing Company, 2006).

Church is, in my opinion, the healthiest place for people to wrestle with difficult
issues such as presidential politics, church-state relations, faith and science,
immigration, homosexuality, and war. To me as a minister, given that we live in a
world being so profoundly affected by religious extremists of all faiths, this is a loss
we cannot afford.

So I celebrate the fact that our presbytery is a community of balance, a place where
Christians who are equally committed to "one Lord, one faith, one baptism"
(Ephesians 4:5) can come together to wrestle with issues and find some common
ground in an increasingly fragmented world. We can learn from each other, as we
perform balancing acts between a number of liberal and conservative points of view.

 

 

Find this article at:NCP Monthly May 2006

web: http://www.thepresbytery.org

Author's e-mail: henry@fairfaxpresby.com

Link to Henry Brinton's USA Today & Washington Post Articles Index Page

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