Posted on 02/18/2011 8:32:41 PM PST by lightman
ELCA Presiding Bishop Responds to Veto of Resolution on Israeli Settlements
11-019-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said he is "dismayed" the U.S. government today vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that called on Israel to stop illegal construction of settlements on Palestinian land.
The U.S. veto stopped the resolution, which had the backing of 14 other members of the U.N. Security Council.
"I now am concerned that this action will increase a despondent mood about the future of such talks and will possibly strengthen extremist voices in the region who call for a less peaceful resolution of these issues," Hanson said in a statement issued shortly after today's vote.
He called on the international community, including the United States, "to work diligently toward commencing negotiations with the aim of reaching a final status agreement," he said.
Earlier this month, Hanson and 12 leaders of Christian churches and organizations wrote to President Barack Obama, urging his administration to support the U.N. Security Council resolution.
"As I and several other Christian leaders pointed out earlier this month in a letter to the president, the resolution used language regarding the settlements employed by the United States in the past and referred to undertakings on settlement construction agreed to in the past by Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the United States," Hanson said today.
The ELCA presiding bishop said Israeli settlements continue to expand in the West Bank despite the objections of the United States and the international community. He pointed out that the Obama administration has repeatedly characterized such expansions as "an obstacle to peace."
The U.N. Security Council resolution would have "powerfully underscored" the international position on Israeli settlements, he said. It also provided an opportunity to demonstrate the resolve of the international community that the Israelis and Palestinians reach a final status agreement as soon as feasible, Hanson added.
--- The full text of Presiding Bishop Hanson's statement is at http://www.ELCA.org/bishopstatement on the ELCA website.
--- About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with approximately 4.5 million members in more than 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Christ is in our midst!
Ping
There are Christians being butchered throughout the middle east. In Iraq, Eqypt, Pakistan it has taken on a genocidal tone of late. Your brothers are dyinig Mark and all you can find to get outraged about is Israel building some houses?
May Rev. Mark S. Hanson seek forgiveness before he faces God. Endorses homos, lesbians, and mooselimbs. What a loser he is.
Aye, he has lost about 5% of his denomination's congregations in the past 18 months, and conservative estimates are that another 10 - 15% are poised to depart.
Well, that’s ONE thing the Obama administration has done right! I’m sorry to see a “Christian” church dump on Israel like that. They will answer to the Lord, no question about it.
Well, I am “dismayed” that the ELCA doesn’t veto Bishop Hanson. Better yet, rather than go to seminary years ago, why couldn’t he just have gotten a clerk job at the local DMV or been a high school counselor. He would have done far less damage.
...or gotten a job tending bar in Frisco’s Tenderloin.
"Separation of Church and Staaaate, separation of Church and Staaaate!!" (in the gayest, whiniest liberal voice I can imitate.)
Hanson has made the statement that says those who support Israel are Christian Zionist terrorists. QAnd to think I actually took communion from this guy.
If this jerk shows up to my church since he is local I am going to rip him a new one, oops probably not the right language since he is so pro homo. Umm, regardless this guy is an outright jew hater and if he considers me a Christian terrorist, I consider him a Gestappo agent of Hitler!
So did I, three years ago.
Thankfully the Donatist controversy was resolved 1400 years ago and the universal church decided that the efficacy of a Sacrament does NOT depend on the fitness of the celebrant.
Obama’s State Dept. was virtually compelled to shift from what it had intended by a resolution from the House of Representatives urging that veto. But that by no means portends a fundamental change of its anti-Israel mindset. Pubbies in the Congress will have to stand guard over The One and SecState.
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