Some have hailed the outcome of the just-concluded 2003 General Assembly as a step toward peace in our denomination. Certainly we are grateful (or at least relieved) that another horribly divisive, potentially fatal battle over yet another "Amendment A" will not need to be fought in the next 12 months. But beneath that surface calm, the simmering conflicts within our fragile union of the PC(USA) are more alarming than ever.

How can there be real peace when our constitution is being repeatedly defied by those who will not obey their ordination vows to "abide by the discipline" of the church? How can there be real peace when many in positions of responsibility to defend our constitution (particularly those on Permanent Judicial Commissions and Committees on Ministry) refuse to do so?

The search for true peace continually eludes our grasp. The recently elected GA Moderator says that she wants the two opposing parties of the church to "keep talking, and talking, and talking…" Talk is nice, and forming personal friendships is commendable, but all the talk of years past has failed to show any common ground between two fundamentally opposite world-views and understanding of truth. The overburdened Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity has the seemingly impossible job of drafting a path to peace. If President Bush’s new "road map" for resolution of the generations-long Middle East conflict faces long odds, how much longer are the odds that this group of men and women can draw a road map to reconcile "evangelicals" and "progressives" who have profoundly different concepts of the Gospel?

We as the Presbyterian Coalition long for true peace within our church, as all Christians do. No one enjoys conflict. And the disastrous results of 40 years of our internal lack of consensus are statistically verifiable. We lament the loss of over a million Presbyterians, including some 41,000 more in net decline in the past year. All of the time, the money, the leadership and the energy focused on competing with one another for bureaucratic control could surely produce greater results for the kingdom if those resources were directed toward reaching the unreached and growing our churches!

And yet, as much as we long for peace, we of the Coalition will not settle for a false or artificial peace based on anything less than the true unity of faith and the Spirit that alone can make us one. We will not grow weary of the struggle to defend the orthodox faith and our biblical and confessional heritage. We will not compromise on our moral standards for ordination. And we will not listen to the false prophets to try to proclaim "Peace, Peace" when there is no true peace that honors Christ as Lord.