c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ The moral dimensions of President Clinton’s relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky _ a relationship that has thrown the country into a crisis that could lead to Clinton’s impeachment _ continues to provoke a variety of responses from the nation’s religious community, ranging from calls for resignation to the need for national repentance.”I can understand why there have been many calls for President Clinton to resign,”said the Rev. A.L. Barry, president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.”With his resignation, the nation could lay this matter behind it and proceed in addressing the many important national issues which will be made considerably more difficult to address should he remain in office,”Barry said in a statement Friday (Sept. 18).

Barry, however, stopped short of specifically saying Clinton should resign.

But United Methodist Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, spiritual leader of the 140,000 United Methodists in northern Illinois, however, was blunt in calling for a presidential resignation.”I recommend either resignation or the open embrace of congressional censure,”Sprague said in a column that will appear in the Sept. 25 edition of the Northern Illinois Conference United Methodist Reporter.”The seat of the presidency has been soiled; trust has been broken,”Sprague said.”Thus, for the good of his office, the nation he serves, the world which needs the … leadership of the United States, and himself and his family, I ask Mr. Clinton to do what any United Methodist pastor would be forced to do: Face the consequences of inappropriate behavior and make the necessary and quite tangible amends.” Other responses, however, focused more on the nation than on Clinton.

The Executive Presbytery of the Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal denomination headquartered in Springfield, Mo., warned in a statement that did not mention Clinton by name that”America and its people”are sliding”towards moral bankruptcy”by embracing a number of sins, including abortion, pornography, homosexuality and adultery.

The presbytery, the denomination’s top officials, called on the church’s congregations to set Sunday, Sept. 27, as a day of prayer and fasting.”We call upon all Americans to return to biblical standards upon which this nation was founded,”the Sept. 16 statement said. “We call upon the leaders of America to repent and seek God’s favor so we might become again a nation exalted by righteousness that has God’s blessing upon it.” The three top leaders of the mainline Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) have also issued what they call”a word to the church on the crisis in our nation.” In the statement, the three say Clinton’s conduct has brought the nation to a state of crisis.”The admitted infidelity and lying by President Clinton are not only a violation of his marriage vows and the confidence of friends and colleagues,”they said.”They are also a violation of that sacred trust with which the nation’s highest office is endowed, and he must be held accountable for his actions.” At the same time, the three leaders _ the Rev. Douglas Oldenburg, moderator of the General Assembly; John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly, and the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, General Assembly stated clerk _ said it is”critical”that”this very important case of personal immorality”be kept in perspective.”Our particular faith tradition suggests that public officials who fail to tend the `widows and orphans’ under their care are under at least as great a condemnation as any who err in their personal behavior.”Let us not forget to hold all our legislators to God’s standard of corporate morality, even as we hold the president to God’s standards of personal morality,”they said.

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