PCA Endorses Principle Pluralism … Speaks out Against Theonomy

According to the PCA’s Christian Nationalism Report…

(1) Religious pluralism is “entirely consistent” with the 1788 Westminster Standards: The document states,

“Some…mean…that Christian piety (per WCF 23.2) is best promoted and protected when the civil magistrate promotes and protects the free exercise of all religions. This position is entirely consistent with the PCA’s constitutional standards.” (p. 2721)

Compare this statement by the PCA to Article 36 of the Belgic Confession of Faith,

… “The government’s task is not limited
to caring for and watching over the public domain
but extends also to upholding the sacred ministry,
with a view to removing and destroying
all idolatry and false worship of the Antichrist;
to promoting the kingdom of Jesus Christ;
and to furthering the preaching of the gospel everywhere;
to the end that God may be honored and served by everyone,
as he requires in his Word.

Bret responds to the PCA blather,

It is impossible to embrace religious pluralism without embracing religious polytheism. Religious pluralism allows all the gods into the public square which, in turn, yields a public square that is, by definition, polytheistic.

Keep in mind also that a genuine “free exercise of all religions,” must include the free exercise of the religion that put the Satanist statue of Molech in the Iowa state house last year. The free exercise of all religion means the mushrooming of Sharia law, Mosques, and cows strutting around as holy in your community. The free exercise of all religion means Burqas (Muslims), turbans with blades in them (Sikh), and  tiny hats.

Per the PCA report Christian piety is best promoted and protected when the piety of false religions and false gods is unleashed.

(2) But views held by the Reformed Orthodox and even some American Presbyterians are “out of accord with the Standards.” The PCA document states,

“An officer who believes that the civil magistrate has the duty to suppress heresies… holds a view that is directly contrary to the text of WCF 23.3 as adopted by the PCA…. In the judgment of the Ad Interim Committee, such an officer is out of accord with the Standards on this point.” (p. 2721)

Bret responds,

Here we are told that a Church officer in the PCA who believes that a civil magistrate should put down the heresy of Mormon polygamy holds a view contrary to the WCF. Here we are told that a Church officer in the PCA who believes that the civil magistrate should put down the heresy of Muslim incestuous breeding holds a view contrary to the WCF. Here we are told that a Church officer in the PCA who holds to the Establishment principle is out of accord with the WCF.

And,

“A candidate who argues that the state should enforce the specific penal sanctions of the Mosaic judicial code (like capital punishment for idolatry, blasphemy, or heresy) has, in our judgment, crossed a boundary that the General Assembly has already established.” (p. 2724)

Bret responds,

This is a direct attack on theonomy.

I wonder … can a candidate say in an ordination exam,

“Well, since God’s word requires capital punishment for murder and kidnapping I believe those convicted of murder and kidnapping should be visited with capital punishment.”

Or

Must he say instead,

“Well, since principled pluralism hints at capital punishment for murder and kidnapping I believe those convicted of murder and kidnapping should be visited with capital punishment.”

Ghost Citations & Footnotes Keep Popping Up … Glaser & Friend Discuss

On 28 May I wrote this mocking Rev. Ben Glaser for completely creating both a citation and a footnote in his ARP moderator’s report on Kinism;

“Rev. Benjamin Glaser, in a recent article, reported that his wife agreed to his marriage to three other women while conceding that she would be glad to be a mother to all his children from various wives. 1

(1) Benjamin Glaser, “Happiness in a Household of Many Wives,” Westminster Theological Journal, accessed March 17, 2026, https://WestminsterTheologicalJournal.com/…/happiness…/.”
—

A friend put a laugh emoji on this and was messaged by the right honorable Benjamin Glaser asking why this was post was so funny.

The following exchange occurred between Glaser and my friend;

Glaser — Why is McAtee’s post so funny?

Friend — It’s a hallucinated citation just like what you posted in your ARP report. Do you have no sense of irony?

Glaser — “You think its funny to mock my wife? Do you have no shame? Disagree with me all you want, don’t bring my family or wife into this.

Friend – “Em, it’s not mocking your wife. It’s mocking you”

Glaser – “Tell my wife that who is balling (sic) her eyes out right now, and my youngest son who doesn’t understand the humor. You own that.”

Friend – “Yeah. McAtee’s story has all the credibility of your ARP study report on Kinism with its hallucinated citations.”

Glaser – “”I know what kind of man you are, and you have to live with that.”

Friend – “That’s a line from the Walking Dead, you hack. LOL”

ARP Report on Kinism Once Again Called Out on Inaccuracies – Girardeau Testifies

“No, my countrymen; let us prefer to suffer present affiction for righteousness’ sake rather than to incur the future punishment of national guilt. Let us keep our skirts clear. We can only do this by maintaining our identity as a people. And is this impossible? There is a race, which, coming down through the centuries enveloped with antagonistic influences and hostile nationalities, has stood out in perpetual protest against amalgamation with other peoples, and today preserves its characteristics, as the current of the great Western River flows into, without blending with, the multitudinous waters of the Gulf. Even so must we hold to our identity, or, as a people, we are undone. We may perish if we attempt it; perish we must, as a Southern race, if we do not. It is now almost the only hope that is left us.”

-John L. Girardeau, College of Charleston Special Collections Pamphlets, “Confederate Memorial Day at Charleston, S.C.: Re-Interment of the Carolina Dead From Gettysburg” (Charleston, SC: W.G. Mazyck, printer, 1871). Pg. 19

I post this because in the ARP Moderator’s report on Kinism they try to suggest that Girardeau would have agreed with the Benjamin Glasers of the world. In the ARP Moderators report they have the following to say about Girardeau,

We do not need to be on a side in the unrelated theological debates of the late Nineteenth century to see the point being made; that every Presbyterian, in fact, did not agree on racial issues before 1950, or even 1900. Similarly, John Girardeau dealt critically with Dabney’s view of black men and women in the South.23

All because Girardeau disagree with Dabney on how the issue of the freed slaves should be handled does not mean that Girardeau was an Alienist or would be on the side of the idiots like Glaser, Webbon, Poplin, et. al. when it comes to the Kinist issue. Indeed, a cursory reading of Girardeau makes it clear that Girardeau’s views were Kinist. The ARP cannot claim Girardeau as somehow supporting their idiotic ramblings on race and Kinsim.

Clearly the ARP not only created fake citations and footnotes they also clearly did not do their research.

Observations on the Ecclesiastical Regnant Follies

I’ve been out of town visiting family and so haven’t been able to write on the whole Rev. Zach Garris imbroglio. However, I wanted to add my two cents worth. Jon Harris, on his substack page, has done a fine job giving the timeline of the whole Garris travesty. I’d recommend reading that to get the context of the whole injustice leading up to yet another NAPARC Kangaroo court.

1.) Denominationalism

Denominations are akin to political parties. As such a denomination – any denomination – is only as good as the faction running the political party/ denomination. This already teaches us that there is nothing automatically sacrosanct about a denomination or any denomination’s “decisions.” A denomination is only as good as the faction successfully whipping the vote.

Keeping the above in mind we must remember that most political machines from Tammany Hall, to Daley’s Chicago, to the Kansas City Pendergrass machine are thoroughly corrupt and exist to serve the interest of the political machine. Denominations are no different. I’ve been around them whether Wesleyan, Baptist, Presbyterian, Christian Reformed my whole life and I can tell you that the best of men who run them are at best men. At best. At worst, which is more common, they are oft times absolutely clueless. (This is itself an improvement on the many times I’ve seen and experienced the absolutely wicked.)

Denominations exist, like political machines, first and foremost, to continue to exist. Anything that threatens the political faction that is operating the controls of the denomination is going to be squelched. These people, one had to understand, are not about truth. They are about power and control.

Dr. J. Gresham Machen discovered this in 1936 when he (like Garris) was suspended and deposed from the ministry of the PCUSA. Machen’s sin was touching the denominational money source by starting his own Mission agency. Another Machen sin was his constant harping on how Liberalism (actually neo-orthodoxy) had entered into the denominational. Machen was challenging the political faction in control of the denomination and they bounced him for doing so.

Much the same is true of the whole Rev. Zach Garris case. This isn’t about truth. This isn’t about unwholesome speech. This is about a particular political faction (Kellerites?) exercising raw power.

Lyndon B. Johnson, while Majority leader of the US House once told someone lobbying him that the person could get anything he wanted in the US House of Representatives as long as he had the votes. The question was only whether or not he had the votes. Garris didn’t have the votes. The issue was irrelevant. Garris was found guilty for being Garris and not belonging to the political faction in control of the Rio Grande Presbytery.

2.) Political Correctness 

Rev. Garris had the courage and misfortune to lay his metaphorical hand upon one of the PCA’s “magic negros,” who can do no wrong precisely because they are black. Rev. Garris dared to suggest that Dr. Anthony Bradley could not only be in error but danced with disaster by telling Dr. Bradley that “sometimes thing are too complex for a PhD  to understand,” and “arrogance can’t stand banter.” These two quotes are why Garris was indefinitely suspended by the Rio Grande Presbytery. Together these two comments constituted “unwholesome speech.” Imagine all the smelling salts that would have been needed for these lady Presbyters if they had been alive when Luther and Calvin were alive. The speech those men sometimes used could fry bacon to a crisp.

But Bradley is black. If Garris had said the above to a white man everybody would have yawned and moved on. The facts have it that Bradley himself has spoken in rather low and base ways to Meg Basham but has anyone brought Dr. Bradley up on charges? Certainly not and that is because in politically correct PCA poker a black Marxist male (Bradley) trumps a mildly conservative white female (Basham). However, a white male (Garris) is always trumped by a black man (Bradley).

The PCA is full on in the WOKE stream. Sure, it’s not as WOKE as the Methodists but it is in the stream and is being carried by the current. This was seen in the support of many of the members of the machine in control giving full throated support to the revoice conference combined with their inability to discipline Rev. Greg Johnson.

Keep in mind though that the PCA is not unique in its being in the WOKE stream. In the last few years the CREC, CRC, OPC, RPCNA, ARP, have all demonstrated that they have been infected by the spirit of the age.

3.) The Harvie Conn & Tim Keller Effect 

Both of these men were influenced by cultural Marxism as a world and live view. Keller was to Conn what Elisha was to Elijah.

Keller became a giant straddling over the PCA. His book “Generous Justice” was a primer teaching the social justice of cultural Marxism. Keller once famously said that,

“You don’t go to hell for being homosexual.”

This is just one example of Keller’s egregious tap dancing.

Conn and Keller come up here because it is the Kellerites who are the political faction who have the muscle in the PCA. To be sure there are those who oppose them in the PCA but at this point their numbers are vastly insufficient to stop the Keller political faction that controls the denomination. Keller’s followers are now to the PCA what the followers of Boss Tweed once were to Tammany Hall.

4.) The Loss of the Seminaries

All these votes in the PCA as coming from ordained men find their genesis in their Seminary training. Men like Sean Michael Lucas stalk the halls of the Seminaries. Men like J. Ligon Duncan say stupid things like,

“In conservative evangelical circles, oftentimes there’ll be a real concern about immigration, and especially, what? Illegal immigration…But here’s the thing. What if that is God’s plan to reverse secularization in the United States?”

 

Ligon Duncan
Chancellor & CEO — Reformed Theological Seminary 

Recently the President of Mid-America Reformed Seminary said, 

“My overall assessment — well let me just say this — I’d say it (Christian Nationalism) is a wrong-headed response to many of the cultural currents.”

Dr. Alan Strange
Mid-America Podcast

Recently it was reported to me that a chap, just graduated from Seminary, admitted he was a socialist during his ordination exam and when that matter began to draw attention the moderator made known that the issue of socialism was “adiaphora.” The chap was ordained as a socialist. My money is that this chap learned his socialism in Seminary. Maybe we should ask Dr. Carl Trueman about that?

Near the end of Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield’s life, Warfield was having a conversation with Dr. J. Gresham Machen. Machen expressed the conviction that “there might be a split in the denomination,” Warfield replied, “No. You can’t split rotten wood,”

The NAPARC denominations have become rotten wood. The Garris expulsion demonstrates that once again. Even if Rev. Garris wins on appeal the die is cast.