Overture 04-54. On Forming a Task Force to Draft a Denominational Policy Consistent with the Religious Pluralism Reality in the U.S.A.—From the Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma.

The Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma overtures the 216th General Assembly (2004) to instruct the Stated Clerk to convene the presidents of seminaries associated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to designate scholars in the field of religious pluralism to form a task force to draft a denominational policy consistent with the religious pluralism reality in the United States of American and in the world that does the following:

• Informs our religious educational systems.
  
• Enlightens our liturgical practices.
  
• Enlarges our ecumenical efforts.

All this with the purpose in mind that our leadership and membership have a better appreciation of what neighbor love really means when our neighbors and work colleagues so often are people of another religion, which reality instructs us that our faith and its practice are not threatened by the acknowledgment and respect of religions other than Christianity nor by denominational instrumentalities other than Presbyterianism. And as a part of this process it is requested that General Assembly urge the Stated Clerk to do the following:

• Engage the staff of the Worldwide Ministries Division and the office of the Coordinator of Inter-faith Relations to aid and assist the Stated Clerk in this effort.
  
• Seek the necessary funding from the Office of the General Assembly.

Organize this task force so that they can be prepared to come to the 217th General Assembly (2006) with a recommended policy statement that is sufficiently credible and judicious that it will not only serve the mission and ministry of this church, but serve as a model for other Christian denominations to emulate in their own fashion.

Rationale

Contending religious forces are certainly not the only source of hatred and war in this world and at this time, but it is a self-evident truth that: there will be no peace between nations until there is peace between religions.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a reputation known worldwide as a faith community that not only seeks peace as a program goal, but diligently works under the mandate of reconciliation to make peace between the alienated.

Presbyterians have long acknowledged and deplored our own failure to find reconciliation within our own communion that too often immobilizes good decision-making capabilities.

To our detriment, we have failed to employ our most learned thinkers often associated with seminaries and in-stitutions of higher education to help our denomination find workable solutions to chronic but crucial religious and ideological problems that have confounded past General Assemblies.

We freely confess that our culture and our discords tempt us to be impatient when healthy outcomes actually require very long-term planning and very hard work.