Methodists to Weigh Divestment as Tool to Shift Israel

The Washington Post ^ | February 16, 2008 | Rachel Pomerance

[forkinsocket]

The United Methodist Church is poised to become the next U.S. church to consider divestment from a company or companies operating in Israel, a strategy that has embroiled the Presbyterian Church (USA) and other denominations in controversy.

At the church's quadrennial General Conference in April in Fort Worth, the Methodists, with more than 8 million U.S. members, will debate whether to pull church holdings in Caterpillar, which provides the Israel Defense Forces with bulldozers.

The proposal from the Methodists' General Board of Church and Society comes as the church's women's division offers a 224-page study guide on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that Jewish groups have slammed as "inflammatory, inaccurate and polemical."

Citing references that compare Israelis to Nazis and characterizing the creation of Israel as "original sin," four U.S. Jewish women's groups told Methodist leaders the guide "would simply take anyone who turns to it . . . on the wrong path."

The guide is "anti-Israel and anti-Jewish from cover to cover," said Ethan Felson, assistant executive director for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

The author of the report, the Rev. Stephen Goldstein, who works for the church's General Board of Global Ministries, was unable to be reached for comment.

James Winkler, general secretary of the General Board of Church and Society, said he had just received the study report and had not read the "troubling quotes." However, he explained the rationale for divestment.

"The board felt that after 40 years of statements and resolutions from our denomination, as well as from many other churches and other organizations, urging Israel's withdrawal from occupied lands in the West Bank, that something more needed to be done," he said.

[forkinsocket]

.

[Balding_Eagle]

Spitting on Israel is a good plan for this church.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

I knew there was a reason I am a lapsed Methodist.

[informavoracious]

I hear their women’s group had a convention in Berkekey with reserved parking.

[informavoracious]

Berkeley, not Berkekey. I lovd twping on u crackberry

[Dr. Scarpetta]

The United Methodist Church is poised to become the next U.S. church to consider divestment from a company or companies operating in Israel, a strategy that has embroiled the Presbyterian Church (USA) and other denominations in controversy.

I am now a member of the conservative Wesleyan denomination after growing up as a Presbyterian (USA.) The mainline Protestant churches are losing a lot of members, and this is why.

[bpjam]

Apparently, divesting from countries who sponsor terrorism wasn’t nearly as important as trying to crush the only place in the world where Jews have to fend off the constant threat of extermination from their neighbors.

Yeah, that totally makes me want to go out and do something nice for a Methodist someday.

[rbg81]

Why don’t they send some Christian missionaries to their good friends in Gaza?

[A_Former_Democrat]

With each passing day, I become more ashamed to be a United Methodist.

My church will hear about this tomorrow, rest assured.

[NativeNewYorker]

FWIW, Hillary is a member of the United Methodist Church, according to her wikipedia entry.

[We Dare Defend Our Rights]

Could the pious Methodist divest from those companies which are still doing business with the Yankee government which is still occupying the South after 143 years.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Rick Ufford-Chase who served in the high-ranking role of a moderator of the Louisville-based Presbyterian Church (USA) from mid-2004 to mid-2006, was arrested at an anti-war rallies in Washington marking the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war.

He is now executive director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, a private group advocating for non-violence.

"This is a witness to speak to those folks who can no longer remain silent while war is lifted up as a path to an illusory security that can never be achieved," Ufford-Chase wrote on the group's Web site before the rally.

"This is a witness for those who believe that there was nothing naive or pollyanna about the Jesus who insisted that the only way to overcome evil was to love the enemy."

[Dr. Scarpetta]

With each passing day, I become more ashamed to be a United Methodist.

The Methodists, Presbyterians USA, United Church of Christ, Lutherans, etc. have been taken over by Democrats at the highest levels. They're all pro-choice.

[2111USMC]

Weird. A guy with a hyphenated last name.

[Bommer]

"This is a witness for those who believe that there was nothing naive or pollyanna about the Jesus who insisted that the only way to overcome evil was to love the enemy."

Hug a suicide bomber then @sshole!

[Dr. Scarpetta]

It’s a shame that a once proud denomination like the Presbyterians USA is run by peace-activist democrats. Some of the elderly people sitting the pews are unaware that their pastors are given abortion coverage in their medical plan.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Weird. A guy with a hyphenated last name.

My thought exactly. Which one is his maiden name?

[Dr. Scarpetta]

http://www.rickuffordchase.com/

“Rick has worked on the US/Mexico border for twenty years where he founded and directed BorderLinks and worked in a variety of efforts to support migrants and refugees in the borderlands.”

[crazyhorse691]

The United Methodist Church is being run into the ground by the socialists that dominate the leadership...Bush and the Jews are responsible for aids, poverty, and the weather. The best illustration of how much the denomination has invested in their own destruction is that there are elements in the church that want to remove the American Flag from inside of all methodist churches.

[Bob]

Minor headline correction:

Methodists to Weigh Divestment as Tool to Shift Shaft Israel