c. 1999 Religion News Service
YORK, Ala. _ The click of a tape recorder in the fourth pew on the left turns heads. Aubrey Green flips the tape and hits the record button, a mid-sermon ritual for someone collecting evidence against his preacher.
The old guard, led by Green, is losing its grip on the 120-year-old Sumter County church to a pastor backed by an influx of Southern secessionists, but the fight rages on.
Green and a handful of elders have launched religious and legal quests to remove the Rev. Martin Murphy from the pulpit of York Presbyterian Church. Murphy, an Associate Reformed Presbyterian who easily intertwines theology and politics, defends his power base as nothing more than fellow conservatives.
Meanwhile, most of the flock has scattered. A church gutter dangles and other maintenance goes undone because the church’s bank accounts are frozen by a court. Even the monthly Communion was put on a brief hiatus.
“It’s a pathetic situation, but that’s what sin does,” said Kimett Geist, who, like three others he knows of, has pulled his family from the church and supports neither side of the feud.
Any remaining fellowship at Sunday services emanates from the middle and right-side pews, where the bulk of the congregation _ which has dwindled from about 50 to about 20 regulars _ sits. Most are related to Murphy, or they are members of the secessionist League of the South, or they are both.
To the left is Green, in his favorite pew a few feet from where he and his wife, Ellen, a boycotter of the 11 a.m. worship hour, were married 40 years ago. Two rows back is Everette Cobb, a third-generation church member and Green’s ally against Murphy’s teachings.
“Look, I’m a combat veteran of World War II,” Green said. “I was horrified that my minister wanted me to participate in an organization advocating secession from the U.S.A. by the Southern states. It’s one nation under God, and we take an oath to that nation.”
The League of the South is a national organization based in Tuscaloosa that promotes Southern independence and culture, and Christian values. With its philosophical and scholarly position papers, it has gained national visibility and members from a variety of states.
The league’s national president is one of the newer members of York Presbyterian Church, as is the state president and the Sumter County chapter officers.
Green calls them “invaders.”
He and Cobb skip the pre-service Sunday school, and they are the first to leave the sanctuary at noon. No one speaks to them.
Murphy’s followers are chatty and cordial as they pass his young grandchildren around and plan lunch. Some have driven the two hours from Birmingham or the hour from Tuscaloosa. Murphy looks fondly at his small but loyal brood and laments that so many others have left.
“We’re a conservative church, that’s all,” Murphy said, shaking his head.
York Presbyterian Church is one of four predominantly white churches in this small but economically healthy rural town less than 10 miles from the Mississippi line. The downtown storefronts are full, and there is plenty of midday traffic.
Rebuilt after a Depression-era fire, the brick church is showing its age. A gutter sags perilously; there are cracks in the porch foundation and water damage on the lower level. The sanctuary, however, is in pristine condition, with darkly stained wooden pews, rich red carpeting and thick stained glass windows. But membership these days is barely enough to fill one-third of the pews.
Murphy, 52, arrived at York Presbyterian in 1992, after the previous pastor recommended him for the job. He did undergraduate work at Columbia International University in South Carolina and received a master’s degree in divinity from the Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Fla. He is a candidate for a master of theology degree from Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
A dark-suited Murphy preaches without a public address system. His graying beard is closely trimmed and his hair is perfectly combed. He shifts his weight and raises his hands to stress a point, such as on a recent Sunday when he challenged the public pledge of indivisibility. During songs, one foot taps lightly, keeping the beat.
Even before Murphy ever mentioned the league, Green and some other older members said they had grown tired of his sermons. He was dwelling on the Old Testament and “on all that dismal stuff” from the Book of Judges, they complained.
“He’s very puritanical in his views. I think he would be delighted to turn the clock back to the 1700s,” Green said. “But it was the League of the South stuff that drove most of us over the edge.”
Murphy joined the league in late 1997, and Green said Murphy tried to recruit him soon after. Murphy explained that he joined because he “was particularly impressed with their pledge to defend the historic Christian faith of the South and return the regulation of religion and morals to the jurisdiction of states and local communities.”
He wasn’t preaching secession from the pulpit, but his Sunday morning messages were sprinkled with references to government, confederacy and returning to simpler times, worshippers said. Green said he was shocked at the new decor in the pastor’s study: a portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee and “little miniature Confederate flags flying all around his desk.”
Cobb’s parents and grandparents grew up in the church. He is a deacon and, now, a plaintiff. Murphy asked him to join the league about the same time as Green, he said.
“I told him we fought the war once and that I didn’t think we ought to fight it again. That ended that conversation,” Cobb said.
Cobb and Green confronted their minister, and Murphy resigned from the league. “I hope this settles any question in anyone’s mind about my seriousness in keeping my vows to maintain peace and purity in the church,” he told them.
The resignation, effective a year ago, did not keep the peace. Murphy was still attending league conferences to hear scholars speak, league members continued to join the congregation, and church members _ including the men who married Murphy’s two daughters _ were joining the league.
By the end of the year, church officers ordered him to vacate the pulpit and the church-owned pastor’s home. In a controversial meeting a few days later, Murphy called for a vote and the group agreed _ in a lopsided vote _ to keep the pastor. Green claims the meeting was stacked with Murphy’s followers and not a true representation of the congregation.
Then the officers tried another route. They pled their case to the church’s governing bodies, the Tennessee-Alabama Associate Reformed Presbytery and the General Synod. A committee investigated and the Presbytery decided against removing Murphy. An appeal to the General Synod sent the issue back to the Presbytery, where it is pending.
After the two failures, the men took their case to state court in January. They contend Murphy is trying to use the property and resources of York Presbyterian to propagate the doctrines of the League of the South, a violation of the church’s corporate charter.
Murphy’s lawyer, Bill Poole, wouldn’t allow his client to be interviewed. Poole said the allegations about a takeover by the League of the South are “irrelevant and baseless.”
“Those older members are outvoted and they don’t like it,” Poole said. “All this is is that those guys don’t like the preacher. And they are not in the majority. If Mr. Green had the votes, we wouldn’t be in court.”
Murphy, according to his lawyer, has done what any small-town preacher should do _ recruit new members. Whether those new members are active in the League of the South is not the issue, Poole said. “He preaches a very conservative brand of Presbyterianism and they like that.”
There was a chance for reconciliation in the fall of 1998. “But Mr. Green snubbed his nose and puffed in some air and said there was no possibility for reconciliation,” said Israel Contreras, a student at the academy Murphy runs.
Green confirms the statement. It’s a serious one in religious circles and Murphy’s followers are pursuing charges against him through the presbytery.
The church elders are pressing on. They’ve issued another order for Murphy to step down. In a more creative move, their wives incorporated the new York Independent Presbyterian Church and are trying to lease the facilities away from Murphy.
Neither side claims the other is being financially greedy. There’s only $20,000 in a church checking account and another $20,000 in certificates of deposit, according to court records. Trial is set for Sept. 30.
DEA END ORNDORFF
