Confession of Belhar (September 1986): https://www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/theologyandworship/pdfs/belhar.pdf.
We believe:
that this unity must become visible so that the world may believe that separation, enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered, and accordingly that anything which threatens this unity may have no place in the church and must be resisted.
Reflection (conclusion) by Ina Jones Hughes on the Purple Church, from the Presbyterian Outlook
https://pres-outlook.org/2013/12/purple-church/.
Barbara G. Wheeler of Auburn Seminary in New York and Richard J. Mouw of Fuller Theological Seminary in California — two recently retired seminary presidents from very different theological places — explained that though they have serious differences about serious matters, they count themselves blessed by the collegiality and mutual respect through which the Holy Spirit moves, enabling them to become better people and better Christians because of what each has learned from the other.
Mouw, an iconic voice among reform-oriented evangelicals, began his comments by emphasizing that Christians are firstly called to be part of a community. A chosen race. A royal nation. It is not a matter of going off on one’s own. Furthermore, Christians are to be known as people who honor everyone. He said that in an atmosphere where the arguments are over racial justice, gender equality and care of the earth, evangelicals sometimes feel a deep loneliness. They also feel very misunderstood. And just like their liberal brothers and sisters in this family of faith, evangelicals, too, have a tendency to divide Christians between “them” and “us,” and even to boast that the evangelical arguments are made under the authority of Scripture and therefore on a higher plane. But liberals, he is quick to say, do the same thing. Which means both sides end up distrusting each other: “Here, I think is the solution to that kind of disconnect. Only through dialogue can you put yourself within the perspective of the person on the other side of an issue. You must be careful to put your understanding of who that person is and what they are thinking in their words — not your own words. What you think or presume they believe is not the way to go.”
Wheeler holds Mouw in high esteem and compliments him for his courage in taking unpopular stands. She finds it a privilege to learn from him and other conservative Christians: “Our friendship and our work together has dispelled and confounded any inclination for stereotyping or preconceived notions,” said Wheeler before giving two examples. Evangelicals are often accused of proof-texting or holding up certain parts of the Bible, ignoring others. But progressives and liberals do the same thing. Both sides sometimes dispense with or re-write Scripture in order to back their conclusions. Both sides “rough up the Scriptures.” “Evangelicals have a canon within a canon. There’s relatively little attention to Luke or the Prophets and wisdom literature, but we do the same thing on our side of the theological debate. We both choose books of the Bible that fit our ethos. Liberals, for instance, have preached the ‘justice rolls down’ passages and Acts 10 into the ground.”
Wheeler is also indebted to her evangelical friends for being such good preachers: “I heard the Gospel Truth from them, whereas our liberal sermons are often either pep talks or political diatribes in theological clothing. “Liberals like to think we are the educated ones, the critical thinkers. We can deconstruct things like biblical patriarchy, for example. But I learned that evangelicals are excellent scholars.” She gave this example: “Lord is a word I have learned to understand better in its depth and implications from the conservatives. Liberals often overlook central tenets of the reformed faith … We brush it aside in our fights and arguments and passion for issues of abortion and homosexuality, but we should know and be accountable to basic reformed Christian doctrine. “Endless polemics and grandstanding on these issues is detrimental to true understanding.”
Wheeler summed up her remarks with a hopeful picture of what will happen when we stop bickering, stop discounting each other and start listening to and learning from each other: “This, friends, is freedom in Christ: to be our best selves with each other, to tease each other gently across all kinds of divides, including theological ones, and to make fun of ourselves in one another’s presence. This is what it will be like, someday, in the church he came to build and the world he came to save: We will not hurt or destroy in all God’s holy mountain. Instead, we will heal and repair, in our pluralistic societies, in the worldwide Christian communion … and in our churches.”