Statement of faith divides members

By Tom McLean

At least 400 members of the United Church of Canada have signed their names to a confession of faith proclaiming “Jesus is God.”

But, rather than quell controversy over moderator Bill Phipps’ remarks concerning the divinity of Christ, the document has prompted objections from other church members — including a former moderator.

In October, Phipps sparked a controversy when he told the Ottawa Citizen Jesus was not God, only the best human expression of God.

In response, Rev. Brian Wilkie, of Dominion-Chalmers United Church on Cooper Street, helped draft the short confession statement along with 11 other church leaders.

He says he personally receives about 25 new names from across Canada each day, and he expects the number to increase dramatically as word begins to spread.

But Anne Squire, an Ottawa resident who was moderator of the United Church from 1986 to 1988, says she refuses to sign the document.

“I would not sign that particular (statement) because if you’re already a member of the United Church you’ve already made your profession of faith,” says Squire.

All those who join the United Church must make the same verbal declaration of their faith in Christ, but it does not include a literal affirmation of Christ as God, instead referring to Jesus as “Savior and Lord.”

Wilkie says Phipps’ comments have produced a great deal of confusion and uncertainty within the church.
He adds that he hopes the confession will lessen the confusion.

“Rather than get into some kind of fight, which we don’t want, we just thought that we needed ourselves to say, ‘Well, this is what we believe,’ “ says Wilkie. “And we recognized that a good number of people throughout our church wanted to be able to say the same thing.”

Wilkie stresses that the confession was meant solely as a positive statement, and that it adds nothing new to Christian belief.

“If any of this sounds unfamiliar to people it’s because these are many of the things that have been assumed in the theology of Christianity for so long that people may not have been taught them explicitly, and yet they are the foundation of the Christian church from the beginning,” says Wilkie.

But Squire says the only limitation in the church with regard to belief should be that members remain true to the statement of faith they make during confirmation.

“I think Jesus is the son of God, I think Jesus is the way to God for Christians, I think Jesus is the head of our church,” says Squire, “but I do not think Jesus is God because, when we say that, we automatically eliminate God for Muslims and Jews!

“I sincerely regret that there are people in the church who are drawing lines in the sand . . . because the United Church has always been a very inclusive church, and has included a very wide range of theological beliefs, and I think it should continue that way.”

Rev. Allen Churchill, also of Dominion-Chalmers and one of the confession’s authors, says he can’t apologize for his beliefs even if they offend others.

“There are things that exist that are true and we can’t change that,” says Churchill. “I’ve taken the point of view that Jesus is the way, the truth, the light. My experience is that His claim is authentic and on the basis of that I became a Christian, and I can’t fiddle with that truth just to suit myself.”

Antonio Gualtieri, a retired professor of religion at Carleton University and non-practicing United Church minister, puts a different spin on the debate. He says the argument isn’t about truth, but about doctrine.

Post-modern theory, widely supported by academic theologians, rejects the notion of an absolute truth — truth exists only as far as the individual’s personal beliefs.

“The extreme condemnation of Phipps and the movement he represents is that it really is apostasy,” says Gualtieri.

“What people are arguing is that Christians have an obligation to remain faithful to a body of truth that was revealed once upon a time in the historical process, and that to be a Christian means to remain always loyal to that revelation,” says Gualtieri.

“My position is that the argument is off-base because it makes a fundamental mistake in equating Christian faith, Christian selfhood, Christian identity, with adherence to doctrines — intellectual statements.”

Gualtieri adds that doctrines have always changed over time, and that the Phipps movement could be considered just another example of this natural process.

Churchill’s response is simple.

“There’s no doubt about that — the question is how far does that history go back? (Gualtieri) is not prepared to say it goes back to Jesus himself, and I would say it does and, if it does, then if you are going to be a Christian the logical thing is to accept what Jesus says about himself.”

And we’re back to square one.

In the end, Wilkie says there are going to be areas where the various sides of this debate can never occupy common ground.