Concessions to Conservatives : Presbyterians Adopt Nuclear Arms Policy, Plan to Study Abortion

In final sessions of a nine-day convention here, Presbyterians adopted a major statement on the morality of nuclear arms and narrowly approved a task force to restudy the denomination’s pro-choice stand on abortion.

Commissioners to the 200th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which sets policy for the denomination, also approved a proposal to increase by five members a task force studying human sexuality.

All three actions reflected concessions to conservatives.

The 17-page statement on nuclear arms, called “Christian Obedience in a Nuclear Age,” is the first policy statement on the issue to be adopted by the 3-million-member church.

Condemnation Avoided

The document, approved late Tuesday by a vote of 502 to 68, had been revised to stop short of an all-out condemnation of nuclear arsenals. Instead, the statement describes a policy of nuclear deterrence as immoral when used as “an end in itself” and says such a policy should be accompanied by strong efforts to promote peace.

The document describes obedience to civil authority as normative for Christians but asks the denomination to set up a special fund to support Presbyterians who incur financial losses because of a stance of resistance.

The paper argues that withholding taxes to protest U.S. military policy is proper under certain circumstances. Such activists are entitled to emotional support from the church, the paper says. It also asks church members to avoid buying war toys and games for their children.

Before coming to the floor for a vote, the paper was toned down during many hours of discussions by committee members who rejected a section that called for all Presbyterians to question obedience to civil authorities because of the extraordinary ethical issues presented by the Nuclear Age.

“Christian Obedience” is similar to the position adopted by Roman Catholic bishops in 1983 but is more restrained than one adopted by United Methodist bishops in 1986, which condemned nuclear deterrence as immoral on the ground that it caused the spread of nuclear weapons.

The Presbyterian statement said participation in the armed forces was moral when combined with support of policies intended to reduce the threat of nuclear war.

Conservative groups within the denomination have sought a new study on abortion since 1985 when the denomination adopted a statement condemning abortion as a method of birth control but concluding that the decision remains a private one.

The Rev. Matthew Welde, executive director of the conservative group Presbyterians for Biblical Concerns, said the new study, approved by a vote of 250 to 244, would “reopen the question.”

Welde said evangelicals are confident the denomination’s newly elected moderator, the Rev. C. Kenneth Hall, will appoint a task force acceptable to conservatives. Welde said he had a similar confidence about the five new members to be named to a task force on human sexuality.

Hall, a 63-year-old minister from Butler, Pa., will serve a one-year term as the presiding officer of the church’s annual assembly and its ceremonies.

Conservatives have charged that a task force appointed last year by former moderator Isabel Rogers was stacked with liberals.

Earlier in the convention, the Rev. James E. Andrews was elected the top denominational officer, overturning a committee’s recommendation that favored a woman lay leader.

Andrews, 59, defeated Harriett Nelson, 323-298, in tense balloting for a four-year term as stated clerk, the official denominational representative among the world’s churches.

Conservatives within the denomination have blamed declining membership on what they perceive to be increasingly liberal stances by the church’s bureaucracy under Andrews. There have also been complaints that the church was not attentive enough to evangelism.

Andrews has been interim co-stated clerk or stated clerk since the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was formed five years ago by the reunion of the United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.) that ended a century-old split.

The stated clerk is also responsible for the constitutional affairs of the denomination, overseeing the annual assembly and running a staff of 65 with a budget of about $7 million.

The denomination concluded its annual meeting after approving a $108.7-million budget that includes a $5.1-million deficit and challenging its 11,600 congregations to make up the shortfall.

In other actions, the assembly:

* Condemned Israel’s “repressive” handling of Palestinian uprisings in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, calling for the nation to end its occupation of the territories and for the United States and Israel to participate in a United Nations-sponsored international peace conference.

* Adopted a wide-ranging statement on religious liberty, saying government increasingly is intruding on church affairs.

* Declared that “every person should have affordable, quality health services” and supported the adoption of a national health standard of adequate health care by 1990.

* Approved the consolidation of the church pension board’s headquarters in Philadelphia.

* Recommended a higher federal minimum wage and called for a national dialogue on the status of American Indians.