The PCA BCO is Anti-Establishment, Pro-Church
By Brad Isbell
Christian Nationalism (so-called) first became apparent several years ago when usually anonymous online accounts began contending that the American revisions to the Westminster Confession of Faith rendered the entire document and the denominations that adopted it invalid. Almost all of the changes concern church-state relations (see them here).
Now, some would like to read the American revisions as allowing for arrangements that would see a “Christian Prince” (or government/magistrate) disciplining pastors, paying (or docking the pay of) pastors, funding seminaries, building churches, calling church councils and being able to approve their judgments, thus making them “the settled doctrine of the land,” all the while claiming such things do not constitute establishment—to quote/summarize a popular book on Christian Nationalism.
It seems to me that an “approved” or favored church is a de facto established church…at least. Some Christian Nationalists explicitly favor establishment, some don’t.
For PCA church officers and ministers, there is another document to consider—the Book of Church Order. The preface to the BCO wonderfully extols Christ as King and Head of the Church on page one. The second page, in the first Preliminary Principle, says this:
God alone is Lord of the conscience and has left it free from any doctrines or commandments of men (a) which are in any respect contrary to the Word of God, or (b) which, in regard to matters of faith and worship, are not governed by the Word of God. Therefore, the rights of private judgment in all matters that respect religion are universal and inalienable. No religious constitution should be supported by the civil power further than may be necessary for protection and security equal and common to all others.
The PCA founders seem not to have been confused about establishment and church-state relations; the same cannot be said for many people (if there are people behind the online avatars) and (again) mostly-online movements crying for “reform” and for the retrieval of a medieval/early modern understanding of church-state relations.
BONUS - Here’s a visual analogy that seems rather fitting for those who want to “RETVRN,” a 1970s house with a faux medieval accessory—a sort of architectural cosplay:
So the BCO trumps the WCF???
I found that many of those in the PCA who oppose applying God's Word to the operation of civil government like to cherry pick some of the most outlandish statements on this issue and then lump all those they disagree with under the Christian nationalist label. This allows them to avoid the serious, studied arguments they disagree with. And perhaps don't have a serious, studied response for.