Mountain View Presbyterian Church of Las Vegas, Nevada

Scripture-vs-Secular

The PC(USA) constitution consists of the Book of Order and the Book of Confessions. These books and the Bible are the bedrock of our belief system. However, in reviewing the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy's resolution paper: "Iraq: Our Responsibility & the Future," the 216th General Assembly appears to have ignored the Book of Confessions wherein War and the Duty of Subjects are concerned. Notably, the Second Helvetic Confession, Chapter XXX of the Magistracy (5.256 and 5.258) and the Westminster Confession, Chapter XXV of the Civil Magistrate, 6.128, both deal with how war and violence are justified in the Presbytery faith, but these confessions are not included in the paper's reasoning.

Instead, the rationale section of the resolution paper uses political and secular language to reinforce the committee's position condemning U.S. involvement in the Iraqi conflict. Statements critical of the war made by U.S. Senator Robert Byrd and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as well as a reference to France and Germany's doubts about the war, typify the committee's thought process. Nowhere in the resolution paper is scripture referenced or, as mentioned above, Presbyterian Confessional doctrine cited as part of the paper's rationale.

The use of political language in this resolution has been divisive. After the 216th General Assembly meeting some parishioners in Las Vegas reduced or stopped tithing while others left the Church altogether.

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