The Presbyterian Church in America has voted resoundingly to condemn racial supremacy and commit to study Christian nationalism as it relates to the denomination’s adopted confession of faith.
The assembly, gathered in Chattanooga for its annual meeting, passed an item creating a committee to study the ideology and advise the denomination on whether the teachings and ideas invoked by Christian nationalism are in opposition to the denomination’s theology.
The findings of the study committee established by the first item will not become law of the church but will act as an informational document for the denomination.
There were two elders who rose to speak against forming the committee. The first debated that the issue had already been addressed and clarified in the Westminster Confession of Faith when Presbyterians in America amended the confession’s chapter on the civil magistrate in 1788.
The confession, in its original form, gave the head of state, or civil magistrate, as referred to in the convention, the responsibility to preserve unity and peace in the church, keep the truth of God “pure and entire,” and suppress blasphemies. The revised version instead says the head of state has the duty to protect all its people, regardless of religion, that no person should suffer on the pretense of religion and that all religious assemblies should be able to be held without disturbance.