Presbyterians Delete

The Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (South) is a conservative denomination with 500,000 members and some hard doctrines. One such hard saying is: "By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life and others foreordained to everlasting death. And their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished." Last week, at the annual Southern Presbyterian General Assembly in Meridian, Miss., this statement came up for discussion. Many a minister defended it, others found it an overstatement which "keeps our ministers constantly on the defensive." The Assembly voted, 151-to-130, to delete the two hard sentences from the confession of faith.

Before the Assembly this week were proposals to liberalize the confession of faith even further, by deleting or toning down uncomplimentary references to "Papists," "The Pope of Rome," "that antiChrist, that man of sin."

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