Radical Presbyterian ‘has place in Church'

Press, 2 November 1984, Page 37

Radical Presbyterian ‘has place in Church'

PA Auckland The controversial Presbyterian, Mr Rinny Westra, will not be asked to leave the Church in spite of the radical, unorthodox views contained in his book, say Church leaders.

The Presbyterian Church accepted recently his resignation as a fully ordained minister, but since then the moderator of the North Shore Presbytery, the Rev. Allan Jones, said Mr Westra’s radical views did have a place within the Church. Mr Westra made the headlines in April when angry war veterans walked off in disgust from the Auckland Anzac Day service because of his antinuclear address.

His newly published book, “The Faith of a Radical,” disclaims orthodox Christianity, the deity of Jesus and his miracles and Resurrection, condones homosexuality and lesbianism and advocates the struggles of feminists, Marxists, homosexuals, trade unions and the peace movement. Mr Jones ' said most people would be aghast to think that this was the view of Presbyterians, but then “uninformed people are often aghast at what goes oh in thinking circles.” While they were “not compatible with traditional Christians’ views” and would probably shock about 10 per cent of Presbyterians, “it is important that

people think about what he says and make up their own minds.”

Mr Jones said it was a “quibble on words” to question whether Mr Westra was still a Christian.

The Moderator of the Auckland Presbytery, the Rev. Jim Gunn, said, “Rinny Westra has no more impact on our Church than Felix Donnelly has on the Catholics.”

Mr Westra said the reason he stayed on in the Church was because he was “religious.” “I do not reject the Christian tradition. I just want to make it more inclusive somehow,” he said.