Presbyterian Panel Rejects Controversial Philosopher

A Presbyterian commission has voided on procedural grounds the admission of religious philosopher John Hick to membership in the San Gabriel Presbytery.

The Claremont Graduate School professor’s application to transfer his ministerial status from Great Britain, where he previously taught, was approved 98 to 92 on Sept. 13, 1984, but was appealed by those who objected to Hick’s liberal theology and the voting procedure.

The permanent judicial commission of the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii, based in Los Angeles, ruled that “procedural irregularities occurred” before and during the regional unit’s meeting. The commission’s statement did not specify the violations.

The Rev. Kent Lawrence, chairman of a three-member Committee on Counsel for the San Gabriel Presbytery, said his committee must decide before mid-May whether the decision should be appealed to the denominational level.

“If we do not appeal, we will start again at the beginning of the process,” said Lawrence, who is also pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pasadena. In that case, Lawrence thought that a new vote would probably not take place until the fall.

Hick said in a brief interview that he would like to keep his active status as a Presbyterian minister, which he has been since his ordination in 1953. He is now serving as chairman of Claremont Graduate School’s religion department. When he taught at Princeton Theological Seminary in the early 1960s he was received by the New Brunswick Presbytery despite a series of formal protests.

“It’s rather absurd that a theological matter has turned into a long procedural dispute,” Hick said, commenting on the current disagreement.

The Southern California objections cited Hick’s published works as evidence that he does not subscribe to traditional formulas of faith, including his contributions to the 1977 book of which he was an editor, “The Myth of God Incarnate.”

As the permanent judicial commission was handing down its decision late last week, Hick was defending a belief in a transcendent God at a University of Michigan conference on “Jesus in History and Myth.” The humanist sponsors and much of the audience took a skeptical or atheistic view of Christian origins.

Hick, a leader in an academic movement toward an interfaith global theology, told listeners he would not claim that Christianity is better than other major religions, but he said he would hope that secular humanists would embrace one of the principal world faiths.

--Presbyterians are being asked to send postcards to President Reagan before Thursday, designated the National Day of Prayer this year, urging that he meet with Carol Weir to discuss ways to secure the release of her husband, the Rev. Benjamin M. Weir, a Presbyterian mission worker who was kidnaped Beirut last May 8.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) office in New York City also has alerted churches that a one-minute videotape of Mrs. Weir’s appeal is available to them.

Meanwhile, the private committee promoting the National Day of Prayer has urged churches again to ring bells and chimes at noon Thursday and that individuals take five minutes time to pray at noon that day. Vonette Bright of San Bernardino, wife of Campus Crusade President Bill Bright, co-chairs the committee with Herbert E. Ellingwood, chairman of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.

--Crystal Cathedral Pastor Robert H. Schuller of Garden Grove has been given approval to use a 43-acre estate at Haiku on the Hawaiian island of Maui as a religious retreat.

The Maui Planning Commission approved Schuller’s request for a special-use permit for the religious retreat at a donated estate, which includes a two-story manor house and polo field.

Some neighbors objected to the minister’s plans, saying they were afraid the manor would be turned into a mini-hotel. But Planning Director Tosh Ishikawa said the permit would allow only the addition of a six-bedroom wing to the old home. Schuller has said he would spend about $500,000 on the property before its opening.