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A Moment to Decide : The Crisis in Mainstream Presbyterianism (Denominational Studies Series)

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This book is a must read for all mainstream Protestants who love their churches and oppose the rise of the far right in America. A Moment to Decide: The Crisis in Mainstream Presbyterianism takes the seemingly obscure subject of religious right groups in mainstream Presbyterianism and demonstrates that neo-theocratic forces are quietly erroding the foundations of constitutional democracy, and its keystone, separation of church and state. Mainstream Protestant support for reproductive rights is also under quiet siege from the inside.

This book is also distinctive for its general user friendliness in the face of such a complex and hair raising subject. A Moment to Decide is beautifully laid out, well indexed, and contains a glossary of unfamiliar terms. As such it provides a unique roadmap for traversing the idiosyncratic terrain of internal Presbyterian politics.

A Moment to Decide also demonstrates that the stealth politics that has marked the rise of the religious right for a generation has yet to be fully revealed. In this regard, A Moment to Decide: The Crisis in Mainstream Presbyterianism is the first in a planned series of studies of mainline churches facing similar situations. The general editor of the series is Frederick Clarkson whose book Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy stands as one of the best books on the religious right, and along with books by Sara Diamond and Robert Boston, is a logical companion volume to A Moment to Decide.

Unaddressed by this work however, is why so-called moderates and progressives in the Presbyterian Church (USA)are unable or unwilling to challenge the apparent betrayal and subversion that far right groups like the Prebyterian Lay Committee seem to represent. Perhaps they will take the opportunity presented by this work to explain themselves. A Moment to Decide reveals that many "moderate conservatives" are, perhaps unwittingly, being taken for a ride by elements of the much farther rightwing in the church as well as special interests operating from outside the church. Do they know where they are going? William Butler Yeats once wrote that "the center cannot hold." Fortunatley, Yeats was writing about something else, but Lewis C. Daly of the Institute for Democracy Studies makes a compelling case in A Moment to Decide, that that the center of the church may well collapse and that the consequence would be a church transformed into a conservative evangelical denomination.

This aptly titled work documents a trend of historic consequence and provides a primer for those who would enter and alter the course of history rather than serve as unwitting bystanders.

A Moment to Decide is a work of great consequence. So many in the vast middle of the church have accommodated the rightwing evangelical drift of the church for so long that they have had to work through the profound cognitive dissonance caused by this historic study. Fortunately the net effect has been a wake up call to the inheritors of the great social justice tradition of the PC (USA). A Moment to Decide has helped catalyze the progressive resurgence we are now seeing in the church, and lent fortitude to church moderates who had lost their voice.

I have been struck by the intellectual weakness of the arguments against A Moment to Decide. These consist mostly of unsubstantiated name-calling. Unable to challenge any important matters of fact or analysis, the very shrillness of the conservative's attacks shows that it the book found its mark. The recent failures of rightist efforts to amend the church constitution also demonstrate that the high water mark for so-called conservative renewal has past. This is an historic moment indeed, and the research of Lewis Daly, the editorial direction of Frederick Clarkson and the institutional backing of the Institute for Democracy Studies will be congratulated in the history of the PC (USA).

A Moment to Decide is a status report to the Presbyterian church. It's main point is that there are factions within the mainline churches that are well organized and have a decidedly political agenda. These factions are funded by powerful men (primarily) in industry and commerce who will stop at nothing in order to ensure that their fundamentalist views prevail. They hold that the Bible is inerrant and infallible. Anyone who doesn't agree with them they demonize. The threat, according to author Lewis C. Daly, is that the factions who are using the mainline churches to set the political agenda in America undermine the liberal democratic institutions in which we have our freedoms. They first must undermine the separtation clause in the Constitution then they will be free to set up their religious agenda.

The religious program that the conservative right wants to set up is anti-gay, anti-choice and, ultimately, anti-woman's suffrage. Lewis writes concerning Dr. Harold Brown a former professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC, "Dr. Brown is on the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, an organization the espouses 'male headship' in family life and the church, asserting in its mission statement that 'wives should forsake resistance to their husbands' authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands's leadership.'" (p.44)

This book is a wake up call. The conservative right is telling us ahead of time that they would set up a relegious theocracy in this country. This theocracy is out to undermine the liberal democratic mainline churches. The dissatisfaction and the discord that the conservative right propagates is the primary reason our churches are failing. It is time to respond.

Those who promote that the Bible is inerrant and infallible such as the Promise Keepers' movement undermine both the real authority of the Bible and our very freedoms. The Bible never makes the claim for itself that it is inerrant or infallible. The Bible was written by fallible and errant people. So to claim that it has no errors, historically or scientifically is demonstrably not true, and if not true those who make the claim that it is are not of God.

Wake up America! Wake up women of America! That is the message. I know so many women who continue to go to churches just because that is where they grew up even though that church teaches against them. If you currently support a church that propagates that women should be subserviant to men, that women should not have a choice about their own health, that gays and lesbians are evil then you are also promoting that view. According to the author we have a choice now. We may not have a choice in the future.

I had heard that someone said that A Moment to Decide was not very well researched. That obviously was put out by those who disagree with its findings. For the 107 pages of information there are 33 pages of documentation. It's not an easy book to read because it has so much information. But it is an important book for all concerned Christians to read.

Thanks for writing such an informative book. I understand the power stuggles in the PCUSA much better than before.

Thank God for the gift of a refreshing voice of reason. A Moment to Decide: The Crisis in Mainstream Presbyterianism has helped us as a denomination to come to grips with the outrageous behavior of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and their cohort. So many people of good faith who have sought common ground with them have been betrayed. Yet like the abused spouse we thought it would stop, and that their behavior somehow belied an underlying love. I am grateful to be free from this abusive relationship.

A Moment to Decide has given me the tools I needed to see how ruthlessly power would be wielded if this gang of rightists gain the constitutional authority and offices they seek. I also now recognize that there are powerful interests outside the church closely collaborating with authoritarian types inside the church and that together seek to destroy our historic social witness.

Having taken the time to read and reflect on this short and accessible work, and I am shocked by the falsehoods I have seen leveled at this book and its authors. Far from lumping all conservatives together and promoting some conspiracy theory as has been alleged, A Moment to Decide makes careful note of the theological and political range among conservatives, and never presents advocates of renewal as "fundamentalists." If anything, the authors are at pains to make reasonable distinctions. In fact they were so aware of, and sensitive to the difficulties that others may have, they went so far as to provide an excellent glossary.

Mainstream Christians of all denominations should take note of this work and the disingenuous attacks on its editorial integrity. Analogous stories abound in every member denomination in the National Council of Churches.

I fear that the publishers lost their shirts putting out this timely and important work. The prophet is rarely popular. I believe that this book is, in its way, God's messenger. Let us receive the truths that it tells us about the state of our churches. Let us seize this Christian moment to stand up to the right wing bully tactics, the hubris and the lies that have so tied us in knots. And let us also recognize and reward the Institute for Democracy Studies for their fair-minded and courageous work.

A Moment To Decide purports to be a careful and erudite study of the renewal movement within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In fact, it is neither. Its "research" is superficial, its analysis Byzantine, and its conclusions McCarthyesque. The only finding with which I agree is located on page 87 - "The Forum is a driving force behind the conservative renewal movement's growing political power at PC(USA) General Assemblies ..."

These comments from Stephen Crocco's review in the Princeton Theological Seminary Bulletin say it all:

"The book's 641 endnotes for a text of 107 pages makes a striking first impression, sugggesting substance, thoroughness, and detail. However... there is virtually no trace of original research or investigative reporting, such as interviews, archival research, or revelation of important secret documents. These are things readers expect in a book that claims to be an expose...

"A Moment to Decide gratuitously assumes that commitments to an abstract concept of the freedom of conscience and liberal social witness policies have defined the PC(USA) for most of the twentieth century... Any person or group not in agreement with... the full acceptance of feminism and homosexuality is branded 'right wing' and cast as part of a conspiracy to take over the PC(USA) and undercut the American way of life. This rhetorical move can be effective... [b]ut Daly handles this approach so clumsily that thoughtful readers on all sides of the debate are bound to be annoyed, embarrassed, or both...

"To associate the renewal movements with [fundamentalism]... is another clever but finally unconvincing move. The obvious difference is that renewal groups in the PC(USA) and most of their members are not fundamentalists. They believe in the ordination of women, they care about the poor and oppressed, and most are members of churches whose pastors are graduates of PC(USA) seminaries...

"Is it possible that A Moment to Decide is a misguided 'payback' for decades of supposed yellow journalism by the Presbyterian Lay Committee? The complete absence of an evenhanded critique vitiates the contributions [the book] could or should have made...

"A Moment to Decide was stillborn, and the credibility of the Institute for Democracy Studies lies in ruins."

In the Presbyterian Church, the Left wing of that denomination is constantly lecturing conservatives on proper behavior; we are told we must be "civil" and not "scapegoat" people. But this nasty little book is not civil, and it certainly scapegoats people, drawing tortured connections between unrelated people and entities that would have made Joe McCarthy blush. Further, the dark mutterings about how a small, wealthy minority is using deception to threaten our national way of life reminds me of the tactics used by Nazi propagandists against the German Jews. It is very revealing that the "civility police" of our church is simultaneously plugging this book. The hysterical, vindictive *positive* reviews given this book (which really says something ... it is unusual that positive reviews are so mean-spirited, but there you go ... birds of a feather flock together.) indicate that the hard left of the PCUSA is on a search and destroy mission against anyone who disagrees with them, for any reason. Animus and hatred motivate this book and the hard Left movement behind it. Any relationship between "A Moment to Decide" and the love of Christ is purely coincidental and surely unintentional.