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LOUISVILLE-BASED DENOMINATION COULD VOTE TO DIVEST STOCK The Presbyterian Church USA announced yesterday that it would press four American corporations to stop providing military equipment and technology to Israel for use in the occupation of the Palestinian territories, and said that if the companies do not comply the church will take a vote on divesting its stock in them. The companies -- Caterpillar, Motorola, ITT Industries and United Technologies -- were selected from a list of several dozen possibilities by a church investment committee that met yesterday in Seattle. The Presbyterians accused these companies of selling everything from helicopters to...

The Presbyterian Church U.S.A. announced Friday that it would press four American corporations to stop providing military equipment and technology to Israel for use in the occupation of the Palestinian territories, and that if the companies did not comply, the church would take a vote to divest its stock in them. The companies - Caterpillar, Motorola, ITT Industries and United Technologies - were selected from a list of several dozen possibilities by a church investment committee that met Friday in Seattle. The Presbyterians accused these companies of selling helicopters, cellphones, night vision equipment and other items Israel uses to enforce...

The Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is urging Presbyterians to support legislation in Congress calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq. In an e-mail sent to Presbyterians around the country, the Washington Office says the bill introduced by a "bipartisan coalition in Congress" calls on President George W. Bush "to set a plan for beginning the phase-out of U.S. troops in Iraq." Asking Presbyterians to "edit and change the sample letter to make it your own," the Washington Office urges Presbyterians to "call your representatives and senators and urge them to support legislation requiring the Bush...

With tempers flaring and many congregants bursting into tears, a contingent led by Rick Ufford-Chase, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA), tried unsuccessfully to take over the June 26 worship service being conducted by the majority of First Presbyterian Church in Torrance, Calif. The service verged on pandemonium as Ufford-Chase and his allies milled around the chancel area, some of them talking loudly during prayers and hymn-singing and one, on at least two occasions, trying to forcibly grab the microphone, which was broken during one attempt. Church officials filed a police report, accusing the intruders of vandalism. Three security...

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been relatively quiet on the issue of homosexuality during a four-year study, but that's changing and the issue is intractable enough that leaders talk openly of schism. Since 2001, Presbyterians have been awaiting recommendations from a special task force on "Peace, Unity and Purity." It is seeking a way to overcome severe disagreements on same-sex relationships and other issues. The group is preparing its final report at meetings in Dallas next month and Chicago in August. Some aren't even waiting to read the fine print: 85 conservative congregations sent delegates to a convocation in Edina,...

While the Episcopal and United Methodist churches have struggled over homosexuality, another mainline Protestant denomination - the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) - has been relatively quiet. But that's changing. Since 2001, Presbyterians have been awaiting recommendations from a special task force on "Peace, Unity and Purity," charged with seeking a way to overcome severe disagreements on gay relationships and other issues. Now that task force is close to completing its work, with the group preparing its final report at meetings in Dallas next month and Chicago in August. Some aren't even waiting to read the fine print: 85 conservative congregations sent...

The Presbyterian Church (USA) lost 43,175 members in 2004, the third straight year that more than 40,000 people have left the denomination. The 2004 loss was both the second highest numerically and as a percentage of membership since the Southern and Northern streams of mainline Presbyterians merged in 1983 to form the PCUSA. The 43,175 departing members represented 1.79 percent of the 2003 membership. The loss in 2003 was the highest – 46,658, or 1.9 percent of the 2002 membership. The ongoing declines have reduced the membership of the PCUSA by 401,869 since the mainline Presbyterian merger – down from...

Seminary professor says PCUSA task force will follow Lutherans on ordaining active homosexuals By Paula R. Kincaid The Layman Online Saturday, June 18, 2005 EDINA, Minn. – "All mainline denominations are heading toward the rapids," said Robert A.J. Gagnon as he opened his workshop on "Scriptural Authority, Church Unity and Sexual Conduct" at the New Wineskins Convocation on Thursday. Gagnon at his Thursday workshop. "The United Church of Christ is has already gone over," he said, then asked, "Who's next?" His opinion – in order: The Episcopal Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and...

Message from the world Church: 'Stop the infection' By Parker T. Williamson The Layman Online Monday, June 20, 2005 Edina, Minn. – Church leaders from around the globe gathered in a seminar at the New Wineskins Convocation on June 17 to discuss their relationship with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The contrast was palpable, for in each country represented, the church is growing by leaps and bounds, while in the United States, progenitor of many of these vital communions, the Presbyterian Church is hemorrhaging members so rapidly that observers, both inside and outside the denomination, are predicting its demise. Rev. Tom...

Since its initial gathering in 2001, Christian Churches Together has sought to form a fellowship of the broadest spectrum of Christian churches and traditions in the USA. The gathering at Los Altos brought together a wider, more diverse circle of Christian church leaders than at any of the previous four meetings.

The Anglican Church is to consider a report calling for it to dispose of its holdings in companies doing business with Israelis who "support the occupation of Palestinian lands," a move that is being roundly criticized by some of the UK's top Jewish officials, the British daily newspaper The Times reported Saturday. The report calling for disinvestment is to be debated by the worldwide Anglican Church in Nottingham on June 22. It mirrors a program already begun by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., The Times reported. The report was condemned by Britain's Jewish community on Friday night. Irene Lancaster,...

Equating filibusters with hearing minority voices, the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is urging that Congress' use of filibusters on President George Bush's judicial nominess not be ended. In its May/June 2005 Washington Report, Elenora Giddings Ivory, director of the Washington Office, said "Careful and independent scrutiny of judicial nominees can happen during the confirmation process in the Senate. Scrutiny should not be shortchanged by cutting off extended debate (filibuster). Without careful review we can almost guarantee that we will open our newspapers one morning and see stories of judges who are being impeached." According to Fox News,...

LOS ANGELES - When the Rev. Alan Meenan took over as senior pastor at the nationally prominent Hollywood First Presbyterian Church, it had been losing members for 20 years. Now, hundreds of new worshippers are flocking to an alternative service staged by the church at a nearby nightclub that offers live rock music and a casual atmosphere that doesn't frown on flip-flops and nose piercings. The service, called Contemporary Urban Experience, has bolstered membership at one of the most storied Presbyterian congregations in the country. But it has also created a deep rift between old and new members that threatens...

--snip-- The May 10 presbytery meeting included an interfaith worship service with a prayer to "Allah" a reading from the Koran and the second vote on the Hollywood issue. --snip-- But before the actual vote on the motion, the presbytery heard readings from Scripture and the Koran. The Islamic text, Surah 30:37-38, said: "When we give men the taste of a good thing they rejoice in it, but when evil befalls them through their own fault, they grow despondent. Do they not see that God gives abundantly to whom He will and sparingly to whom He pleases? Surely there are...

NEW YORK, May 2 (JTA) — As a growing number of Protestant churches consider imposing economic sanctions against Israel, the Jewish community is threatening to abandon interfaith dialogue with mainstream Protestant groups. “Any Protestant denomination that would consider the weapon of economic sanctions to be unilaterally and prejudicially used against the State of Israel, or those who would hold the State of Israel to a standard different from any other sovereign state, creates an environment which makes constructive dialogue almost impossible,” mainstream Jewish defense groups and the three main religious streams wrote in an April 22 letter to Protestant...

In His Words, a Rubric For Unity A couple of years ago, as I sat down to lunch with a friend, he said, "I understand you Presbyterians don't believe in Jesus anymore." ...I responded, "Are you talking about your Jesus or my Jesus?" [snip] He chose John 14:6..."No one comes to the Father but through me." I reminded him of the first part of the verse: "I am the way, and the truth and the life." [snip] "I am the way." "The way" is an Eastern religious practice that some know as Taoism...which predates Jesus by anywhere from three to...

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Wednesday declared improper a request by the Presbyterian Church (USA) to allow an immediate takeover of the property of First Presbyterian Church in Torrance, Calif., and the installation of former General Assembly Moderator Syngman Rhee as the interim minister. Judge David Yaffe ruled that their request was improperly timed and that he would not consider it until after conducting a hearing in June. The leaders of the 2,700-member Torrance congregation, the largest Korean church in the PCUSA, are seeking to renounce the jurisdiction of the PCUSA and stake claim to their property, which is...

The Presbytery of the Pacific has taken steps to oust two ministers from Hollywood Presbyterian Church in California, one of the most prominent evangelical congregations in the United States. The presbytery's Committee on Ministry asked Alan J. Meenan, the senior minister, and David Manock, associate pastor of program and ministries, to resign, but they refused. They are supported by overwhelming majorities of the 2,700-member congregation and the 24-member session. Nonetheless, the committee – without specifying any reasons other than the "peace, purity and unity" of the congregation – is pressing for their resignations. The presbytery has scheduled a special meeting...

In the 1930s, a group of Christians fighting against the Nazi takeover of their churches wrote the Barmen Declaration. The document, which has become a centerpiece of Protestant theology since World War II, warns Christians not to allow their churches to be used as instruments of the state. Sadly, a network of pastors in the West Bank and Gaza have failed to heed the warnings of the Barmen Declaration and have handed the symbols of Christianity over to the cause of Palestinian nationalism, with ominous consequences for the Jews of Israel and for Christianity itself. In an effort to serve...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 217th General Assembly (2006) of the Presbyterian Church (USA), which will be the denomination's first biennial meeting, will be different in many ways. *** The Cumberland denominations will hold their General Assemblies in Birmingham, Ala., at the same time that the PCUSA General Assembly is meeting there. The dates for the PCUSA meeting are June 15-22, 2006. The three denominations have agreed to come together for worship services and some other parts of their meetings, although they say the time-sharing is not tantamount to a merger of the three bodies. ***