Pointless Church Debates Worthless Resolutions

GenCon 2006 is not going to be all homosexuals, all the time. ECUSA will also take on international issues, among them, the Middle East. About which, something called the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns has a backround report up on five resolutions on which GenCon will vote. Their report is entitled "Report on Palestine/Israel" and says things like this:

"A group of American Episcopalians stands in enclosed Bethlehem looking out at the Wall between it and growing Israeli settlements. In some places it is a fence topped with barbed wire and ground cleared on either side. Elsewhere it is a real wall, 26-feet high or more, made of solid concrete, with heavily secured gates and permanent checkpoints. Wherever the Wall exists, it fragments neighborhoods, divides students from schools, the sick from medical care, and people from their jobs.

The Wall grows daily as a visible sign of oppression and division between Israelis and Palestinians, strangling life from people on both sides and giving no mercy or openness to new life beyond the conflict. At its completion, the Wall is expected to be 450 miles in length."

I have no idea what "giving no mercy or openness to new life beyond the conflict" means. I do know that the wall has sharply reduced the number of dead and maimed Israelis, a goal the Palestinians showed no particular enthusiasm for. Which I think makes the wall a good thing but that's just me.

"The Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories, which are illegal under international law, continue to expand. Israeli settlements, combined with the Wall and the settler roads, access to which is denied to Palestinians, threaten the possibility of a two-state solution because they carve up the West Bank into small, noncontiguous sections."

"Israel receives more U.S. foreign aid, both military and development, than any other country. It has received $3.5 billion per year since 1985. The next highest is Egypt; together they account for one-third of all U.S. foreign aid. The Wall, settlement expansion, and military support are all assisted indirectly by U.S. taxpayers. From a Christian perspective, funding oppression is unacceptable. The Church, therefore, must work to influence foreign policy priorities in the government and national life so that freedom, peace and justice are a reality for all of God’s people."

There you have it. To the Piskies, Israel trying to protect its citizens from nations, people and pseudo-people who would love nothing better than to murder every single one of them constitutes "oppression." And even when Israel does something right, they're still wrong.

"The unilateral "disengagement" from Gaza and four small Israeli settlements in the West Bank during the summer 2005 removed some Israeli settlers from some Palestinian lands. As of this writing, the "disengagement" has not removed Israeli troops surrounding Gaza nor loosened the travel restrictions for most Palestinians."

The deliberate ignorance of history, politics, current affairs and Palestinian words and actions over the last few years is even more breathtaking than usual.

"Israeli society is heavily militarized with particular impact on children. Israel is squarely in the middle of the U.S. military and industrial enterprise, training each others’ military, police and security forces regularly. The impact of violence on both Israelis and Palestinians is enormous. It is not only the traumatic effects of Palestinian suicide bombers or Israeli Defense Force-led evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes or assassinations of Palestinian leaders or the battle of violent language. It is also the daily violence of arbitrary closures, constant suspicion, the Wall, the uprooting of olive trees and destruction of other crops, the attacks on innocent people on both sides. Both societies suffer, both are victims of what has been called chronic traumatic stress syndrome."

Notice what's not here. There is nothing about why "Israeli society is heavily militarized." There is no mention of the 60-year-long attempt by the Muslim world to wipe Israel off the map. There is no discussion of the election of Hamas, a group dedicated to Israel's destruction, to power in the Palestinian entity. Anyway, here are the resolutions GenCon will be voting on.

Resolved, the House of _____ concurring, That the 75th General Convention reaffirm the Episcopal Church’s commitment to:

the rightful existence of the State of Israel as a nation among nations;the rightful existence of a State of Palestine as a nation among nations;the recognition of Jerusalem as the shared capital of the two states;the end of all violence and its crippling impact on Israeli and Palestinian societies; the withdrawal by Israel from its settlements in the West Bank;the return of all parties to the negotiating table rather than unilateral action by any party;the eradication of the sin of anti-Semitism."

Resolved, the House of _____ concurring, That the 75th General Convention declare that the following positions constitute policies of the Episcopal Church and direct the Episcopal Church’s Office of Peace and Justice Ministries to advocate:

an end to the isolation of East Jerusalem and Bethlehem from the West Bank created by the continued construction of Israeli settlements, settler roads and the Wall;removal of the Wall; assurance of human rights for Palestinians;support for the return of sovereign control of Gaza’s airspace, coastline and borders to the Palestinian people; andassurance that no U.S. tax dollars are used to finance the Occupation, directly or indirectly."

Otherwise known as the Give Hamas and Islamic Jihad Better Aim Resolution. If you're scoring at home, that makes two Palestine/Israels to one Israel/Palestine.

Resolved, the House of _____concurring, That the 75th General Convention request Executive Council to consider investments in support of an economically viable Palestine."

So Hamas can buy more and better guns and get a bulk deal on Semtex for their ambulatory ordnance.

Resolved, the House of _____concurring, That the 75th General Convention request the Ecumenical and Interfaith Officer to continue in dialogue with Jewish, Muslim and Christian partners, working for support of nonviolent resolution of conflict; and to keep these matters before the Church.

Resolved, the House of ______concurring, That the 75th General Convention encourage the dioceses of the Episcopal Church to urge their congregations and institutions to pray for our sisters and brothers in the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East; to visit the Christian congregations in the Holy Land; to work for justice, peace, and reconciliation in the Holy Land; and to urge elected officials and policy makers to seek solutions that will realize these goals for both peoples."

I guess complete and total irrelevance does have an upside. When nobody anywhere cares what you say or think about anything anymore, you can be just as stupid and irresponsible as you care to be.

The Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories, which are illegal under international law, continue to expand.

And are terrorists attacks against innocent civiliams illegal under international law???

It is not only the traumatic effects of Palestinian suicide bombers or Israeli Defense Force-led evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes or assassinations of Palestinian leaders or the battle of violent language.

Wow. Making a moral equivalence between suicide bombers and Israeli evictions. Ignores that Palestinians assassinate Israeli leaders. Ignores that the 'Palestinian leaders' who were assassinated were terrorists.

Do these Leftist "Christians" support the Road Map to Peace? A two state solution? Or do they support Palestinian rejection of the Road Map, Hamas, and Islamic state that drives Israel and the Jews into the sea? As Orwell said of '30s European pacifists, they're not anti-war, they're pro the other side...

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There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
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"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
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"A group of American Episcopalians stands in enclosed Bethlehem looking out at the Wall between it and growing Israeli settlements.

I knew this article was in trouble upon reading this inanity right up front.

Israel is squarely in the middle of the U.S. military and industrial enterprise, training each others’ military, police and security forces regularly.

Horrors!

These "resolutions" by the Episcopagan "church" of the USA are yet another reason why I left almost three years ago (though my discontent with the EUSA had been building for quite a long time).

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