The Presbyterian Church gets into the 9/11 conspiracy theory business.

Interesting. Very, very interesting. I think I'll withold comment for now.

Anything Goes
The Presbyterian Church gets into the 9/11 conspiracy theory business.

BY HEATHER WILHELM
Friday, September 8, 2006 12:01 a.m.

Presbyterians in America aren't known for preaching fire and brimstone. "No frenzy, no fanaticism, no skirmishing," Mark Twain wrote of his mild-mannered denomination in 1866. "You never see any of us Presbyterians getting in a sweat about religion and trying to massacre the neighbors."

Now, however--five years after 9/11--the publishing arm of the Presbyterian Church has decided to heat up the brimstone a notch, releasing its very own 9/11 conspiracy theory: "Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action."

Written by David Griffin and put out by Westminster John Knox Press, a division of the Presbyterian Publishing Corp., the book argues that 9/11 was a highly orchestrated Bush administration sham. The collapse of the World Trade Center--which, the book says, was brought on by controlled demolitions, not Islamic hijackers--was merely a "false flag" operation, designed to spur wars in the Middle East. The goal: an all-powerful American global empire.

Later sections in the book claim that the U.S. is "demonic" and that, as the leader of the global economy, the U.S. is responsible for the starvation deaths of millions each year. Mr. Griffin believes that the answer to these problems lies in a one-world democratic government. "It would bring the kingdom of God to earth," Mr. Griffin told me in an interview. "It's not some pie-in-the-sky, airy-fairy idea."

What, one might wonder, has all this to do with the Christian faith? Mr. Griffin argues that we should imitate Jesus, who he believes was a political activist who wanted to overthrow the Roman Empire. Of course, that would make Jesus' statement that "my kingdom is not of this world" the original "false flag" operation.

Mr. Griffin is not a Presbyterian, nor, as representatives of the publishing company and the church are quick to point out, does he speak for the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). But is Mr. Griffin, best known for his academic work describing an evolving, nonomnipotent, nonomniscient God, a "well regarded theologian" whose "ideas are worth exploring," as the Presbyterian publishing corporation insists? Or is he, as I heard from Presbyterian laypeople across the country in response to his book, "irresponsible" and "a total wingnut."

"Every single Presbyterian I have talked to is offended with the premise of this book," Toby Brown, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Cuero, Texas, and a vocal dissenter within PCUSA, told me. "And while the publishing company may not officially speak for everyone in the church," Mr. Brown warns, "they're certainly affiliated with it--their board of directors is nominated by our church's General Assembly, which sets policy for the PCUSA. This is outrageous."

"The people who disagree with me," Mr. Griffin responds serenely, "are usually people who haven't read the book. And if they did, they'd change their minds." Indeed, there are a surprising number of people who share Mr. Griffin's ideas. "Inside job" Web sites have mushroomed across the Internet, with an apparent growing fan base: According to an August Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll, 36% of American respondents said it was likely that "federal officials either participated in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or took no action to stop them."

Davis Perkins, president of the Presbyterian Publishing Corp., told me that Mr. Griffin's book "advances religious scholarship, stimulates conversation about moral values and inspires faithful living," fulfilling Presbyterian Publishing's mission statement--particularly, he notes, the book's sections on America's imperial ambitions. With its grim certainty, however, "Christian Faith and the Truth about 9/11" stands out in the Presbyterian publishing catalog, which tends to lean toward "I'm OK, you're OK" humanism: "Engaging the Bible in a Gendered World," "Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality," "The Gospel According to Oprah." There are zero titles on, say, the impact of radical Islam in a post-9/11 world. "That would be a bit outside of our scope," Mr. Perkins says.

He refuses to comment on whether the book's arguments on 9/11 are offensive; other members of the Presbyterian hierarchy are similarly tight-lipped. The exception is the Rev. Joan Gray, the church's moderator, who oversees the general assembly. "To me personally, and I am sure for the great majority of Presbyterians," she says, "the idea that the United States government engineered the 9/11 attacks is too over the top to be taken seriously."

In the foggy world of the PCUSA, clarity like Ms. Gray's is becoming difficult to find. The church, which has yet to come up with a discernible position on abortion, is plagued with local skirmishes over basic issues like the authority of the Bible and the admission of atheists into the church. Meanwhile, redistributive economic theories, akin to Mr. Griffin's, make startling appearances on the church's Web site.

The old adage that "if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything" seems to apply to the Presbyterian leadership. Whether the parishioners will put up with this sort of moral confusion in the long term remains to be seen. Talks of splits in the PCUSA have circulated for years. According to the Presbyterian Layman, a publication unaffiliated with the church, PCUSA has been losing, on average, about 49,000 members a year. If such a rate continues, "the PCUSA will have zero members by the year 2053." Mr. Griffin, and the leadership's "open-mindedness," may be hastening its demise.

Ms. Wilhelm is the director of communications for Americans for Limited Government.