Posted on 11/13/2004 11:25:28 AM PST by Presby Conservative
Presbyterians, divestment, and anti-Semitism
The Presbyterian Church (USA) continues its campaign against Israel....
What we still have is an example of what Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, has forthrightly labeled anti-Semitism....
And that is why I chose the words anti-Semitic to address proposals for the large-scale divestiture of companies doing business in Israel, to address the movement in England to remove Israeli scholars from the editorial boards of scholarly journals, to address the move of Presbyterian churches last summer to divest the stocks of companies that were doing business in Israel with no action whatsoever with respect to the Palestinians.
....a petition that is available on the Internet (look here, PCUSAers) calling for a special meeting of the General Assembly to repeal the divestment resolution passed at the last Assembly. http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?pcusa4&1
The Presbyterian Church (USA) continues its campaign against Israel. At a meeting this week characterized by the PCUSA news service as "tense and not always polite," the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment set criteria for deciding which companies to target. The criteria seek to identify multinational corporations that:
*provide services to or for use by the Israeli police or military to support and maintain the occupation;
*provide products, services or technology of particular strategic importance to the support and maintenance of the occupation;
*have established facilities or operations on occupied land;
*provide products and services, including financial services, for the establishment, expansion or maintenance of Israeli settlements on occupied land;
*provide products, services or financial backing to Israeli or Palestinian groups that commit violence against innocent civilians; and
*finance or assist in the construction of Israel’s enormous separation barrier.
While I appreciate the inclusion of "Palestinian groups that commit violence against innocent civilians," it really misses the point. The primary providers of "products, services or financial backing" to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terrorist groups aren't companies, but governments. Unless the PCUSA is going to divest itself of holdings in Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, or companies that do business with them, this phrase is meaningless. What we still have is an example of what Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, has forthrightly labeled anti-Semitism:
I was powerfully struck two years ago, and am not less struck today, by the tendency to cross a line in discussions of Israel. It should be the right of any person to express any opinion he wishes with respect to Israeli foreign policy. And there is much in Israeli policy that surely should be debated, even legitimately criticized and questioned. But there are lines that need to be drawn.
When Israel is singled out for moral opprobrium, something wrong is happening. When the conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians is approached in an entirely asymmetric fashion, with criticism or sanction directed only at Israel, something wrong is happening. When comparisons are drawn with Nazis or Hitler or the SS or apartheid in South Africa, something wrong is happening.
And that is why I chose the words anti-Semitic to address proposals for the large-scale divestiture of companies doing business in Israel, to address the movement in England to remove Israeli scholars from the editorial boards of scholarly journals, to address the move of Presbyterian churches last summer to divest the stocks of companies that were doing business in Israel with no action whatsoever with respect to the Palestinians.
Yesterday, I got an e-mail from Larry Rued, an Elder at First Presbyterian Church in Bradenton, Florida, who alerted me to a petition that is available on the Internet (look here, PCUSAers) calling for a special meeting of the General Assembly to repeal the divestment resolution passed at the last Assembly. Larry also included a document entitled "Why I Signed the Petition Calling for a Special GA Session" that says in part:
Our PCUSA denominational leaders may believe they can ignore, turn-off, or argue with Jewish leaders, Congressional leaders, editorialists, or bloggers regarding the Israel divestment resolution. There is one group that cannot be dissuaded. That group is the 2.4 million members of the Presbyterian Church USA. I signed the petition calling for a special GA session so as to end the delaying that is severely damaging our church's reputation.
I'll be happy to send a copy of the entire document to anyone who asks for it. I'd sign the petition myself, but I'm not a PCUSA member. So I'll endorse it in spirit, and urge members of PCUSA churches to do so electronically. Athanasius on 11.11.04 @ 11:45 AM EST [link] [No Comments
The PC USA long-ago embraced Marxist/liberation theology and the entire sewer-flow of liberalism. How to reform it? Stop giving them money. Leave. Join a group of Christians faithful to the Bible and sound doctrine.
Hey Presbos - soon you will have a Jew in your crosshairs and a fag on your pulpit! START RESISTING COMMUNISM NOW OR PERISH.
"back from Faith to lawlessness."
Addendum:
Also referred to as "Diversity".
There are a growing number of conservative "confessing" churches in the PCUSA, and it is my prayer that they will be successful in becoming the mainline of the PCUSA. Until then the PCA and the confessing churches of the PCUSA represent the largest bodies of conservative Presbyterians in the United States.
I believe that the PCA is the fastest growing protestant denomination in the country, eclipsing even the Southern Baptists which, in my opinion, are becoming more liberal in their interpretation of scripture.
Fortunely = Fortunately
I work at PCUSA HQ in Louisville and they have had to deal with the fallout of this decision for months now. Every few weeks we more statements about it on our intranet homepage. I heard on a local radio news segment that two employees were fired for having some sort of meeting with Hezbula. Supposedly, we also received an arson threat that was postmarked from Queens.
On a brighter note, I never had more fun at work than I did on Nov. 3. God bless President Bush.
Could you post the url or send me an email?
I live near P'ton and can tell you much of the rot is coming from the seminary here. I was surprised to learn that this outrage started in Virginia, not New Jersey.
here is the url for the petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?pcusa4&1
We keep waiting for mainline protestant theologians and ministers of a liberal stripe to apologize for having done everything that they could to support some of the most wretched, bloodstained regimes in history, such as the Mengistu tyranny in Ethiopia. Having such bloody hands they still go on TV and act like they know something about Jesus Christ.
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