Posted on 05/22/2004 12:14:10 PM PDT by Joel C
Jewish council cuts ties with Church of Sweden
The Jewish Central Council in Sweden has decided to break off all contacts with the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden due to a consumer boycott of goods from territories under Israeli occupation, advocated by Archbishop K.G. Hammar.
The campaign by Hammar, the Lutheran church's senior bishop, is called "Hopp" (hope) and has the backing of 12 organizations that want the European Union to re-negotiate its trade agreement with Israel.
In a letter to the archbishop, the Jewish Central Council stated their indignation at the "one-sided standpoint" expressed by the "Hopp" campaign. The letter noted, "A boycott of Israeli products is not the right way if you want to build bridges between the parties in the conflict. Placing all the blame on Israel does not promote dialogue with us."
The letter said the campaign showed a lack of empathy with Jews in Sweden and that all the council's contacts with the Church of Sweden would be terminated.
Archbishop Hammar replied to the Jewish council in a letter on 17 May: "The conflict cannot be solved with violence. The campaign's demand for stopping the violence, of course applies to both parties in the conflict. The higher demands on Israel hinge on the fact that it is much stronger and that they [the Israelis] occupy land meant for the Palestinians."
Hammar's reply came with the backdrop of Israeli media on Wednesday reporting that at least 22 Palestinians had been killed in what witnesses said was an Israeli strike on a demonstration in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Israel has defended the operation, the largest carried out in the Gaza Strip, as necessary to halt arms smuggling from Egypt.
The Swedish bishop noted in his reply to the Jewish council that being critical about the current policy of Israel was not the same as being against Jews. In a comment made to the media, Hammar also stated: "We don't believe in the right of the strongest to dominate the weaker."
The Hopp campaign includes among others the Christian Peace Movement, the Student Christian Movement, the Baptist Union of Sweden and the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, and aims at an end to Israeli occupation and to violence from both sides.
The campaign also gives backing to forces on both sides wanting to promote peace and reconciliation.
The decision of the Jewish Central Council has led to the cancellation of an international peace conference that was to have taken place in Stockholm towards the end of this year and was being jointly organized by the Jewish council, the Swedish Christian Council, and the Swedish Muslim Council
"Wednesday reporting that at least 22 Palestinians had been killed in what witnesses said was an Israeli strike on a demonstration in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip"
All women and children, no doubt.
In the interest of full disclosure shouldn't the author specify that the "witnesses" in question were Pali's?
The less church members and churchgoers they have the louder their noise for peaceful coexistence.
Give in, go along, once your oppressed you no longer have a need to fight for living without terror, since you have to obey or else.
Can't touch this...
btt
Well, not exactly anymore. Den svenska kyrkan was disestablished in the year 2000. However, there is still a fairly close relationship between church and state and society there, in terms of nominal membership, the church tax, a liberal social-political secularized church, etc.
Looks like this tax-supported Swedish outfit has gone and pulled an "ELCA" on us!
Hard to believe, but the Church of Sweden makes the ELCA look almost conservative by comparison.
Fortunately, there are some good confessional Lutheran pastors left in Sweden, but they are a distinct minority.
Ha ha! Stupid Swedes don't understand that this ONLY hurts the "Palestinian" Arabs in the "territories". I have heard as such from Israeli friends. Companies who have lost sufficient business simply fire their Arab workers and go elsewhere, within the "green line". Yet more evidence that the Left is governed not by reason, but by emotion alone.
Ten thousand Swedes,
Ran through the weeds,
Chased by one propagandist...
Now they've jumped on the "Palestinian" bandwagon, which is of course a sneaky way to set up another islamoNazi state. Liberal mis-leaders of European state churches and US "mainline" denominations fall for (or perhaps even exploit) these schemes every single time, along with other "human rightsers".
Intesting since I read somewhere last night that Scandanavia has pretty much become openly pagan. Gay marriage, sex with animals, minor, ect.
Sounds like the Archbishop is part of the problem, not the solution.
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