צ The Liberal Presbyterians, Like the Episcopalians, Do Crack Down on Dissent if It Costs Them Money. On August 24 I discussed the ferocity with which the episcopal church defends its property against deviant conservative congregations, and quoted Marx's aphorism that "The English Established Church, e.g., will more readily pardon an attack on 38 of its 39 articles than on 1/39 of its income. Now-a-days atheism is culpa levis, as compared with criticism of existing property relations." The liberal Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) proves his point too, it seems. Christopher S. Johnson of The Midwest Conservative Journal writes

A conservative critic of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leadership could lose his rights as a minister after calling on churches to steer their money away from certain causes in the Louisville-based denomination.
A committee of regional Presbyterian officials in North Carolina yesterday recommended removing the "validation" of the ministry of the Rev. Parker Williamson, the top executive of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and a longtime critic of denominational leaders.
If the measure is approved by the regional Presbytery of Western North Carolina on Jan. 31, Williamson would lose his right to speak or vote at presbytery meetings. And unless restored to a validated ministry within three years, Williamson would lose his credentials as an ordained minister.
...
But in a telephone interview yesterday, [Williamson] vowed to fight any move to remove his validation, saying that Presbyterian church courts have repeatedly upheld the rights of sessions -- congregational governing bodies -- to designate where their money goes.
"It's a strange position in my mind that a minister can be held culpable for advising what that highest courts of this denomination have said sessions may do," he said.
"Presbyterians who care more about institutional preservation than constitutional integrity have won a short-term skirmish in a battle that is wider than they can imagine," he added.

[ http://php.indiana.edu/~erasmuse/w/04.01.09a.htm . erasmusen@yahoo.com. ]

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