(RNS) Progressive factions within the Presbyterian Church (USA) need to take back their church and free it from fundamentalist dogma, the interim pastor of a leading liberal congregation said in a theological call to arms.
The Rev. David Bos, interim pastor of Downtown United Presbyterian Church in Rochester, N.Y., said progressives are due for another "Auburn Affirmation" reminiscent of a 1923 statement in which liberal parts of the church asserted their independence.
The 1923 statement was drafted in response to a churchwide decision to give the Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in New York City, a theology exam because he espoused unorthodox views on the inerrancy of Scripture and the virgin birth, among others.
Fosdick was eventually exonerated, but the statement drafted in his defense called on the church to "safeguard liberty of thought and teaching among its ministers."
Bos, whose church has long been a leader for liberal causes, said it is time for a new Auburn statement and called for a convention in Auburn, N.Y., following next summer's churchwide General Assembly.
"It is time to reclaim our church from those who would hold it captive to a certain ecclesiastical and political agenda," Bos said from the church's pulpit. "It is time to rescue the church from those who would impose an unseemly uniformity upon it. It is time to restore the liberty that is our rightful legacy of the Reformation."
The 2.5 million-member church has been torn on the issue of homosexuality. At this year's General Assembly, the church narrowly approved a ban on the blessing of same-sex unions, and next year the church will debate whether or not to ban the ordination of gays and lesbians.
A few weeks before Bos' sermon, liberal and conservative elements in the church met for an unprecedented Bible study weekend to try to find some consensus on the authority of Scripture as it affects the debate on homosexuality.
Meeting at a church in Glen Ellyn, Ill., 10 leaders from opposing sides looked to Scripture for ways to preserve unity in the fractured church. Both sides said they plan to meet again early next year.
"When I first came into this room, I felt like I could hardly breathe," said Michael Adee, an openly gay church leader from New Mexico, during one of the sessions. But over the weekend, Adee said, "the level of tension went down, and the level of trust began to grow."
