Then watch out. The steadfast prayer for, the encouragement of, and the congregational ovation for the Akins last Sunday by all those reserved Presbyterians in that congregation was stunning and very moving.
With this background we shall not be surprised to find that the Presbyterians took a very prominent part in the American Revolution. Our own historian Bancroft says: "The Revolution of 1776, so far as it was affected by religion, was a Presbyterian measure. It was the natural outgrowth of the principles which the Presbyterianism of the Old World planted in her sons, the English Puritans, the Scotch Covenanters, the French Huguenots, the Dutch Calvinists, and the Presbyterians of Ulster." So intense, universal, and aggressive were the Presbyterians in their zeal for liberty that the war was spoken of in England as "The Presbyterian Rebellion." An ardent colonial supporter of King George III wrote home: "I fix all the blame for these extraordinary proceedings upon the Presbyterians. They have been the chief and principal instruments in all these flaming measures. They always do and ever will act against government from that restless and turbulent anti-monarchial spirit which has always distinguished them everywhere."2 When the news of "these extraordinary proceedings" reached England, Prime Minister Horace Walpole said in Parliament, "Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian parson" (John Witherspoon, president of Princeton, signer of Declaration of Independence)..
CALVINISM IN AMERICA
Loraine Boettner.
Cordially,
I'm guessing you're a member of Todd Akin’s church, and maybe a relative of Rep. Todd Akin or on his staff. The PCA has its problems (somebody, **PLEASE** do something about the Two Kingdoms people, for example, and Misty Irons’ pro-gay advocacy out in California) and it's not always very confessionally Reformed.
However, when it comes to political action, I don't care whether someone is a fundamentalist, a New School broad evangelical, or even a Federal Visionist. Those involve very important confessional issues and I'd argue that all three of those positions don't belong in a denomination that affirms the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. However, those theological positions are all part of the Christian conservative movement. If I can work with a fundamentalist in the Southern Baptist Convention or a charismatic in the Assemblies of God to fight abortion and gay marriage, I certainly can work with somebody in the PCA to fight abortion and gay marriage even if we're going to disagree on some issues involving particulars of the Reformed faith.
Hope things go well for you in your church. This must be very difficult to have to get armed security guards in a church service because of threats against an elder because of his US Senate campaign. Who could have expected things like this would happen just a few months ago?