Free Republic

The fight by Montreat Presbyterian Church to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) is over, with the Presbytery of Western North Carolina voting to dismiss the congregation so that it may join the smaller, more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The fight for ownership of the church's property continues, with the presbytery voting to take possession while a task force studies the issue – and the departing congregation insisting that it owns the property outright under state law. And just to muddy the waters further, the dismissal vote created a "continuing" Montreat Presbyterian Church that will keep the church name and is...

ORLANDO, FL - The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) has extended an invitation, albeit a preliminary one pending the approval of its General Assembly, to create a new presbytery within its fold for the New Wineskins Association of Churches (NWAC), a group of dissident Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations. "The Holy Spirit is drawing us toward you," said EPC Moderator Paul Heidebrecht. "We are truly impressed by the mission-driven polity" of the NWAC. Heidebrecht discussed plans to create a non-geographic presbytery named after the New Wineskins during the opening day of the NWAC winter convocation, taking place Feb.8-9 at First Presbyterian Church...

Burger King decides not to have it Kirkpatrick's way PCUSA-backed effort to increase purchase price of tomatoes fails By Patrick Jean Staff Writer The Layman Online Thursday, February 8, 2007 Burger King Corp. has decided not to follow advice from the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), on how to address wages and working conditions in the tomato fields. Nearly four weeks after Kirkpatrick issued a statement urging the fast-food giant to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Burger King said it is not willing to pay a penny more per...

Rather than post all of the individual stories, I've put up headlines and links to Presbyterian churches who have gotten involved in disputes with PCUSA or its presbyteries since about October.

The chief pastor of the Anglican community in Israel, Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, is facing mushrooming allegations of nepotism and graft which have clouded the end of his tenure in office, church officials said Wednesday. The corruption charges, the subject of a four-month internal church committee investigation, have prompted long-time opponents of the bishop to call for his immediate resignation. The internal church inquiry committee examined the allegations. It concluded that El-Assal arranged to have a tender for the insurance policy of employees of the church's two schools here issued to a company that promised to give half the commission...

Charges against Presbyterian pastor dismissed Wednesday, November 15, 2006 By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette A church trial for a Presbyterian minister ended this morning after a panel decided that the charges against her for conducting the wedding of two lesbians were filed four days too late.

Unhappy Presbyterians urged fellow members to separate from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in their attempt to counteract the leeway granted for gay ordination. Constitutional Presbyterians and other opponents of gay ordination discussed when it is proper to leave a denomination at a weekend gathering in Greenville, S.C. Some already believe that departure is necessary from the PC(USA) and have denounced it as not being a "true church." "Here in your hearing I publicly want to say that I denounce those leaders of our denomination who dare to suggest that the PC(USA) is the true church," said the Rev. J. Howard...

An audit committee has concluded that the second highest ranking financial employee of the Presbyterian Church (USA) embezzled $102,000 in denominational funds, ran up $21,912 in personal charges on her PCUSA-issued credit card and disbursed $8,925 from General Assembly bank accounts that could not be reconciled or documented. The committee's report was presented to the General Assembly Council during its meeting in Louisville last week. The audit said the former employee, Judy Golliher, who was fired in late June, had admitted that she embezzled funds from the church. The denomination has turned over the committee's report to criminal prosecutors, pending...

A state district judge has granted a preliminary injunction sought by the trustees of First Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge that bars the Presbytery of South Louisiana or any other denominational entity from taking any action against the congregation's leaders or attempting to take over its property. The preliminary injunction order was signed Sept. 14 by 19th Judicial District Judge Timothy Kelley, who previously had signed a temporary restraining order at the request of the trustees. The injunction will be in effect pending the outcome of a case in which the congregation's trustees are asking a state district court to...

Associated Press Church Trial in Presbyterian Gay Case By DAN NEPHIN , 09.13.2006, 05:03 PM A Presbyterian minister has been charged with breaking church law for performing a marriage between two women. Janet Edwards of the Community of Reconciliation Church in Pittsburgh was charged Tuesday with presiding at the June 2005 wedding in violation of church standards that marriage should be reserved to one man and one woman. Ministers are only allowed to bless same-sex unions. "For me, Scripture teaches that the message of marriage is the covenant - the love and commitment between the partners" and not their gender,...

Delegates from local Presbyterian churches decided Saturday not to accept gays -- or anyone who fails to comply with rules laid out in the denomination's constitution -- as church leaders. The decision, made by nearly 200 delegates from many of the 44 Presbyterian churches in the district, sent a clear message of protest to the denomination's national leadership. In June, a rule was passed at a national conference that gave individual districts the flexibility to ordain gay clergy. "There are a lot of upset, angry, frustrated Presbyterians watching across the country, and a lot of them are lashing out because...

Presbyterians in America aren't known for preaching fire and brimstone. "No frenzy, no fanaticism, no skirmishing," Mark Twain wrote of his mild-mannered denomination in 1866. "You never see any of us Presbyterians getting in a sweat about religion and trying to massacre the neighbors."

With the Presbyterian church re-examining its ban on the ordination of actively gay men and women, a five-week course on homosexuality and the Bible at a Danville congregation is drawing overflowing crowds. "We want to provide a safe place for people to listen," said Roberta Hestenes, teaching pastor at Community Presbyterian Church. "The issue inspires so much controversy it deserves more than slogans, clichés and sound bites." The course focuses only on the ordination of pastors, elders and deacons -- not on sexuality or the blessing of gay unions. "At this moment in history, this issue is the sharp front...

Presbyterians in America aren't known for preaching fire and brimstone. "No frenzy, no fanaticism, no skirmishing," Mark Twain wrote of his mild-mannered denomination in 1866. "You never see any of us Presbyterians getting in a sweat about religion and trying to massacre the neighbors." Now, however--five years after 9/11--the publishing arm of the Presbyterian Church has decided to heat up the brimstone a notch, releasing its very own 9/11 conspiracy theory: "Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action."Written by David Griffin and put out by Westminster John Knox Press, a division of the Presbyterian...

Sep. 5, 2006 0:51 | Updated Sep. 5, 2006 2:13 Christian Zionists Angry Over Slur By ETGAR LEFKOVITS The leaders of three Jerusalem-based Christian Evangelical organizations on Monday voiced distress over a recent proclamation by the Latin Patriarch and the heads of three other churches in Jerusalem issuing a stinging and virtually unprecedented public criticism of Christian Zionism and their unflinching support for the State of Israel. The bitter inter-Christian tiff followed an August 22 "Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism" signed by the outgoing Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, Archbishop Swerios Malki Mourad of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, Bishop Riah Abu...

The vampire's kiss -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- jon haber, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 31, 2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legend (or at least Bram Stoker) posits that a vampire can only enter someone's home if he or she is invited across the threshold. There could be no metaphor more apt for the divest-from-Israel campaigns that have proliferated among schools, unions, cities and churches in the US and Europe over the last four years. "BDS" (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) as a tactic for anti-Israel activity and propaganda galvanized during the notorious UN World Conference against Racism in Durban in 2001 - just weeks before the 9/11 attacks....

The Vatican's envoy in the Holy Land and bishops from three other churches have launched a rare joint attack on the Christian Zionist movement, accusing it of promoting "racial exclusivity and perpetual war." Christian Zionists form a growing part of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, the Jewish state's main ally. They believe the return of Jews to the Holy Land and establishment of Israel are proof of God's promises to biblical patriarchs. Churches in the Middle East often appear closer to the Palestinians, whose Christian minority makes up a substantial portion of their clergy in the region. The...

A state judge in New York's Supreme Court system has ruled that the Hudson River Presbytery has no claim to the property of the now independent Church of Ridgebury. The decision was a big, if temporary, victory for a tiny congregation – membership 29 at the end of 1995, according to PCUSA records – that voted unanimously on Jan. 10, 2005, to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA). The leaders of the congregation announced their departure by warning that any attempt by the presbytery or the denomination to claim the church's property "will be deemed slander of title, compensable by damages,...

Despite backing off its previous anti-Israel and divestment positions, the Presbyterian News Service of the PC(USA) has given space to Rev. Nuhad Tomeh, "PC(USA) regional liaison for Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the gulf," but otherwise known as Hizballah's "fixer" for travelling Christians. (See: Fallout for the PC(USA) and Criticism of Church Behavior Equals Attacking the Body of Christ?) Tomeh is the man who has arranged for traveling Presbyterian groups to have sympathetic meetings with Hizballah, and his writing shows it. This piece is about as pure a demonstration of straight propaganda as you're likely to find. God’s grace in the...

In three lawsuit cases involving churches divided over pastoral leadership, the county court upheld the PC(USA) constitutional provision that all property is held in trust for the denomination. Furthermore, the factions seeking to leave the denomination must follow the directions of the presbytery with regard to the control and ownership of church property. The churches involved were Korean Hope Christian Church, Serone Church and Bethany United Presbyterian Church. The court also ruled in favor of the denomination in a lawsuit against First Presbyterian Church of Torrance, but the decision has yet to be adjudicated. Each of the four cases reflected...