The Rev. Rus Howard, a Washington County pastor known for quixotic stands against what he sees as erosion of biblical faith within the leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA), has declared his candidacy for a top post in the denomination.

Name: The Rev. Rus Howard Age: 50 In the news: The pastor of Peters Creek United Presbyterian Church in Peters is running for stated clerk, a top post in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Quote: "We have to get [Clifton Kirkpatrick] out of leadership if the church is going to return to its Reformed, biblical roots. If he is re-elected it will be four more years of getting less Christian and more liberal." Education: Master's from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. Doctorate from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois. Family: Wife Rori, two sons Jeffrey and Matthew.

Howard is running for stated clerk, the officer charged with overseeing adherence to the constitution of the 2.4 million-member church. The denomination is embroiled in multiple challenges to its ban on gay ordination, and Howard does not believe that the current stated clerk has done enough to confront congregations, pastors and presbyteries that ignore that ban.

"Each time a clergyperson, an elder, a congregation, a presbytery, an officer, or any other governing body in the PCUSA is allowed to defy our constitution without discipline, the PCUSA inches closer to total anarchy," he said in his declaration.

Howard, 50, pastor of Peters Creek United Presbyterian Church for seven years, said the church court system is out of control.

His chief complaint is that the current stated clerk, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, "has effectively declared that no one is empowered to enforce the decisions" of the denomination's highest court.

Howard admits he does not expect to win, but says the race allows him to express his concerns about the state of the church. "Since I've been speaking up for a couple of years, I think I need to stand up and put myself on the front line," he said.

Early this year, Howard sponsored a proposal in Washington Presbytery that would have allowed theologically conservative congregations to form a new denomination while keeping their property and clergy pensions. The proposal was defeated 76-28.

But Howard is best known for his 2002 involvement in taping "A Call to Confession and Repentance" to the door of denominational headquarters in Louisville, Ky. Howard and four companions had intended to nail the document to the door in imitation of Martin Luther at Wittenberg Cathedral -- until they realized the Louisville door was glass.

Kirkpatrick prayed with the protesters and told other church officials to let them post their complaints. "But by the time we left, everything was in the trash can out front," Howard said.

Although Kirkpatrick is gracious and personable, "we have to get him out of leadership if the church is going to return to its Reformed roots," Howard said. As an example, he cited Kirkpatrick's recent statement backing a church official in Washington, D.C., who had issued a statement opposing a proposed federal marriage amendment.

Kirkpatrick said that, while the Presbyterian Church (USA) says marriage is only between a man and a woman, it has voted to support "equal civil liberties in a contractual relationship with all the civil rights of married couples."

Howard believes Kirkpatrick should have stressed the church's commitment to marriage between a man and a woman. The statement that he taped to church headquarters called for Kirkpatrick "to make certain that all clergy, elders, deacons and governing bodies who defy our constitution are removed from office"

The Witherspoon Society, a liberal reform group in the denomination, said that for the stated clerk to do so "would constitute an abuse of power, making the stated clerk a pope and grand inquisitor."

But Howard says the church's constitution empowers any pastor to file church charges against those who defy church law. "The primary duty of the office is to uphold and defend church law," he said.

Howard is raising an issue that has never been addressed by the church courts, said Jerry Van Marter, director of news and information for the Presbyterian Church (USA). Historically, stated clerks have considered it their job to make sure that the church court system runs properly, but have never directly intervened in cases, Van Marter said.

"There are those who would like the stated clerk to function as an attorney general and bring charges and prosecute cases," he said. "But we have never had a clerk who has tried to do that, so the [church's high court] has never had to rule on the appropriateness of doing so."

There is another theologically conservative candidate, the Rev. Bob Davis of Escondido, Calif., executive director of The Presbyterian Forum, a conservative reform group. Howard calls Davis "a very good candidate who would do a good job of bringing us back to our biblical roots" but says Davis is too polite a campaigner to criticize Kirkpatrick as bluntly as Howard believes is necessary.