A Church Divided

Commentary magazne ^ | July 8, 2008 | Roberta P. Seid

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The 218th Presbyterian General Assembly, held from June 21-28 in San Jose, offered both good and bad news for opponents of the anti-Israel campaigns that have roiled mainline churches and disrupted Jewish-Christian relations.

First, the good news. The Assembly soundly defeated a divestment resolution (called Overtures), reinforcing its 2006 decision to move away from the anti-Israel positions that had characterized the divestment measure it passed at its 2004 Assembly. The Presbyterians had been the first mainline American church to get on the divestment bandwagon, and its second step away from extremism is hopefully a bellwether for the path other denominations will take.

Even better news is that the Assembly overwhelmingly passed an Overture -- what other organizations would call a “resolution” -- that directly rebuked the anti-Israel approach the Church had been taking. It called on Presbyterians to recognize the “complexity” of the conflict, to be a voice for both Palestinian and Israeli victims, and to “avoid taking broad stands that simplify a very complex situation into a caricature of reality where one side is clearly at fault and the other side is clearly the victim.”

Now for the bad news. By a vote of 504 to 171 (with 7 abstentions), the Assembly approved the anti-Israel Overture 11-01, whose multiple clauses seem to stand in opposition to Overture 11-06.