This page lists reports and commentary from all of February, 2005

Find all stories from January 2005

An op-ed column in today's New York Times relates the experience of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was picked up in the fall of 2002 by John Ashcroft's Justice Department and shipped off to Syria for a year of brutal treatment -- thanks to the US's pattern of outsourcing torture, now renamed "extraordinary rendition."

This note has just come to us from Kathleen Eschen-Pipes, a Presbyterian Minister in Santa Cruz, CA.  

Yet another Israeli group comes out in support of selective divestment. Best known for its work to support conscientious objectors, New Profile seeks to civil-ize Israeli society.

Peace, Salaam, Shalom,
Kathleen

It's too easy to see homelessness as one of those big Social Problems that's just there, and too big to deal with. But a recent AP story reminds us of the human dimensions of "the problem," as AP reporters and photographers spent 24 hours earlier this month meeting with people who live on the streets and in shelters, following them to their jobs, watching them in court and talking with those who try to help them.

Their report begins:

From villages to large cities, homelessness has spread like dye through the weave of America's social fabric. A single day in the life of the homeless reveals hundreds of thousands without shelter, and blame goes to everything from the lack of affordable housing and unemployment to drug abuse, mental illness and a flawed foster care system.

Faith-based organizations and congregations that are (a) operating an effective social service program with demonstrable, positive results and (b) operating that program in collaboration with some organization(s) OUTSIDE the faith community (e.g., schools, government agency, police, secular nonprofits) are eligible to apply to win $5000 in this contest being sponsored by FASTEN and the Points of Light Foundation. Visit www.FASTENnetwork.org for details and a contest application.   [2-28-05]

The proposed job training bill would allow religious discrimination by religious organizations receiving federal funding. The Washington Office has joined many other religious groups in calling for the restoration of civil rights protections to the bill.

Well, some people in the community of faith will be raising their voices in the coming weeks to remind our nation and our government that the war was wrong to begin with, and hasn't improved with age.

Sojourners reminds us that "Saturday, March 19, 2005, marks the second anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The human and financial costs of war on all sides continue to mount at an alarming pace. In these dire times people of faith are called to raise their voices for peace."

Speaking out of his own visit with Immokalee farm workers in Florida, and having seen what many of the Mexican workers go through in his own state of Arizona to find work in the US, Ufford-Chase reminds us that "The church at its best remembers that we are customers, employees, franchisers, farmworkers, and executives; that we are created for community and that justice is a community concept. All of us are children of God, called to recognize God's image in one another, and commanded to live in ways that promote God's shalom (well-being; just-peace)."

Vernon Broyles, associate for corporate witness for the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), recently provided a clear articulation of the background of the PC(USA) action to consider divesting from corporations providing material support for the destructive aspects of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories. Writing in Christian Century, he concludes: "It is time for us to join forces----Christian, Jewish, Muslim----to demand of our leaders a secure and lasting peace in the region. The people of Israel/Palestine must have it; peace in the region and the world requires it; and our God commands it. If we could manage that, the discussion of divestment would be irrelevant. Thank God for those who already have shown the courage to begin."

You can also read two critical responses to Broyles:

Broyles responds to their criticisms.

The people of the world can longer afford to allow religion and religious leaders to divide them, former Secretary of State and U.N. Representative Madeleine Korbel Albright told the annual gathering of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes February 25.

He calls it a "diatribe" and writes to "pontificate" in response.

By a convincing (and perhaps surprising) vote of 104 to 20, the Presbytery of Milwaukee last night acted to approve Elizabeth (Eily) Marlow for ordination. Ms. Marlow has long been active in the Presbyterian Church, through the National Network of Presbyterian College Women and various other programs. She is currently serving in the chaplaincy at Presbyterian-related Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. The presbytery action was notable as a strong endorsement of a woman who has been very open and honest in affirming her orientation as a lesbian.

Interim Executive Presbyter Anne Fisher commented that she was very pleased with the tone and demeanor shown during the discussion of the action. She added that members showed a real respect for one another, and a willingness to listen seriously to differing views on a controversial question.

The Rev. David Oliver-Holder commented that her statement of faith was "outstanding." He added that after a couple very busy weeks, "yesterday, as I was reading her statement of faith in preparation for the meeting, I was amazed to find, by the second paragraph, how calm I had suddenly become. Peace in the presence of Truth. I also respond well to good theology, and hers is very good."

A month ago we posted Peter Hodgson's theological critique of "the war on terror."

Palestinians speak about rights violations and about their persistent hope

For a direct link: www.toad.net/~cassandra/oceanhome.htm

A PBS film airing tonight shows the soldiers' story of fighting in Iraq

The film A COMPANY OF SOLDIERS will be broadcast next Tuesday night (February 22) on PBS at 8 PM (Central time). It is the soldiers' story of fighting in Iraq - a month in the life of the 1st Battalion of the 8th Cavalry stationed in South Baghdad. It was shot last November during one of the most dangerous times for that unit. A COMPANY OF SOLDIERS was made by October Films under the umbrella of the PBS Frontline Series and we'd like to ask you to email this to everyone you know with a request for them to send it on to everyone they know.

One word of warning is that the film graphically shows the risks and consequences of what it is to fight in Iraq - so if you haven't told your loved ones, they might be in for a shock. One senior confidential source at the Pentagon who has seen the film told us: "It is compelling stuff. It proves once again that it is our Soldiers who are our best spokespeople. It is not only courageous filmmaking (both figuratively and literally), but it's also an example of very insightful filmmaking. The film captures our Soldiers' humanity, putting a human face on a very complex set of issues - that is priceless stuff."

Conservative arguments again "takings" clause in Constitution will challenge government's power to act for the common good

Seeking to limit government seizures, conservatives take the issue to court. The issue of "takings," or the government's authority to take private property for legitimate public use under the law of eminent domain, has been a matter of concern to the Presbyterian Church, which has affirmed the need for such authority so that governments can act for the broader public interest in protecting the environment.

Peter Sawtell, Executive Director of Eco-Justice Ministries, reminds us of the important things being presented to us by the National Council of Church.  

With the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol for action against the emissions that are causing global warming, Worldwatch sees new economic opportunities as nations shift to new energy technologies, and living standards improve.  The US, of course, is staying out of it all.

The World Council of Church is encouraging Christians to enrich their observance of Lent by focusing on how we might work together to overcome the violence in our culture. The U.S. Committee for the Decade to Overcome Violence: Churches seeking Reconciliation and Peace (2001-2010) (DOV) invites Christians to enter into the Lenten season with a focus on the growing violence in our world and the need for peace and reconciliation.

They also provide detailed ideas for "fasting from the consumption of media violence, especially geared towards young people."

Utne Webwatch has posted a brief summary from Sojourners of some of the growing flow of articles dealing with issues in the federal budget from a progressive faith perspective.

And Sojourners editor Jim Wallis has written a brief statement affirming that indeed, budgets are moral documents. And he raises sharp questions about the moral values reflected in the President's budget proposal.

Sojourners also provides a web page for sending quick notes to Congress about the budget issue.

A day after President Bush's inaugural speech, in which he made sweeping statements about America's role in global security, world-renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs and his Millennium Project presented the UN with a 3,000 page report that outlines how to improve world security and cut world poverty in half by 2015. Leaders from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Rwanda, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Dominican Republic, and Botswana have since vocalized support and been listed on the project's Web site. So far, the US has been conspicuously silent on the subject.

The Sudan Advocacy Action Forum (SAAF) announces the launch of its new Web site at www.sudanadvocacy.com

Sharing news and advocacy information on Sudan, the site is a ministry of The Sudan Advocacy Action Forum, organized as a Christian grassroots effort to advocate for a just and lasting peace in Sudan.

SAAF is comprised of dedicated individuals with complementing skills who have come together to increase advocacy efforts and outreach focused on Sudan. Rapid growth of SAAF has come through the PCUSA, Reformed Church in America, and individual congregations of other denominations and non-denominational groups. While SAAF gets administrative support from the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is an ecumenical group primarily of Christians united in the same goal to work together to achieve a just and lasting peace in Sudan.

The SAAF site promises situation updates, prayer requests, lobbying and other action steps, and guidance for contributions. Individuals who want to follow Sudanese advocacy more actively can sign up for emailed reports and updates from the Website.

Presbyterian News Service reports on a recent meeting of a representative of the PC(USA) with leaders of the Anti-Defamation League in West Palm Beach, Florida, in yet another effort to reach some understanding of the 216^th General Assembly's action to consider divestment from corporations that profit by supporting Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The ADL leaders apparently continued to reject the Presbyterian Church action, with Abraham Foxman, ADL national director, labeling it as "moral hypocrisy."

Ecumenical partners' actions creating 'movement,' says Bill S-J

The Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) is continuing to research which corporations the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) should target for a General Assembly-mandated "process of selective, phased divestment" because of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

The Presbyterian Washington Office has published a clear, concise analysis of the President's proposed budget for 2006, focusing on slashes in Medicaid, the Food Stamp Program, child care for low-income families, education, and community food and nutrition programs. That is coupled with the President's proposal to make his huge tax cuts permanent, to the benefit of the affluent. Added to that is increased military spending - and that's not counting the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Bulletin includes a "Faith Reflection on the Federal Budget," from the Interreligious Working Group on Domestic Human Needs. The signers of the statement raise the crucial question of the budget: "[D]oes it uphold values that will strengthen our life together as a nation and as part of the global community?"

Church leaders call for Christians to fast and pray on Fridays during Lent for a just resolution of the Taco Bell boycott 

Thanks for publicizing the apology by Bill Moyers concerning the remarks he made about James Watt without checking his sources. I was not a fan of Watt's policies, but the particular quotation attributed to Watt by Moyers had sounded far-fetched to me, and I'm glad to know that it was not true. And in fact Moyers's speech had bothered me in general, because I know many evangelicals (myself among them) who are very much concerned about the environment indeed and feel it is God's charge to us that we care for it responsibly. Moyers's claim that evangelicals don't mind if the environment is despoiled, because it would supposedly hasten the return of Christ, is definitely not true of evangelicals as a group (if it is true of any of them); certainly I had never heard of such an idea until I read his speech, and yet I belong to a very large evangelical church.

Thanks again for your willingness to link to the apology.

Forty-three of the seventy-three Christian clergy from across the state of Maryland who have endorsed a "Statement on Equal Access to Marriage" gathered on Tuesday, 2/8/05, to release it publicly at a press conference. The seventy-three clergy are from eight Christian denominations: American Baptist Church, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Metropolitan Community Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, and the United Reform Catholic Church.

Three current major issues:

Last summer, the 216th General Assembly of the PC(USA) passed a resolution, Reaffirming the Importance of Our Nation's Social Insurance System (Social Security and Medicare). It reaffirms past policy; noting that Social Security and Medicare were enacted to promote the general welfare and to assure a guaranteed income and health care for U.S. workers. As noted by The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, in a letter to congregations: "These programs enable older Americans, people with disabilities, and their families to live life in fullness." [Read more]

The Arizona desert is beautiful at just about any time of year. Yet for migrants who have been driven from their homelands because of worsening economic situations, the desert is all too often deadly in its beauty. More than 3,500 migrants have died trying to cross the border since 1998; and at least 219 dead during 2004 on just the Arizona border. In the search for economic survival, many migrants leave their families and make the trek from Mexico or Central America to cross the deserts of U.S. border states. They hold out hope of making enough cash in the fields, farms, restaurants, and office buildings of America ---- not only to survive themselves, but also to have enough to send back home so that their families might also eke out a living. [Read more]

As the tsunami crisis unfolded, the Bush Administration's announcement of its paltry donation of $15 million in aid incited enough criticism that the amount was increased ---- to $350 million! The criticism sparked a debate: Is the U.S. stingy in what it gives to the developing world? In terms of percentage of national income, the U.S. is at the bottom of the list of developed countries. [Read more]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2005 Outlook

The 109th Congress has begun its first session. The Washington Office provides its outlook for congressional action in nine issue areas. If you are committed to influencing laws and policies, here's a great place to start.

An upcoming Speaking of Faith program on NPR and its companion website will feature the work of Reinhold Niebuhr, one of the twentieth century's outstanding public theologians. "Moral Man and Immoral Society" is the title of both the program and one of Niebuhr's outstanding books ... a work that is strikingly relevant today. Anyone interested in how Christianity can speak cogently to issues now being debated in American public life should tune in beginning February 10.

The program will look at Niebuhr's foundational idea, "Christian realism" -- a pragmatic middle way between religious idealism and religious arrogance. It will examine how his theology influenced leading figures in law, culture, and politics, and how he continues to influence contemporary thinkers on the right and the left, in America and abroad. It will probe the enduring questions Niebuhr brought to the crises of his day, through public activism and such books as The Nature and Destiny of Man and Moral Man and Immoral Society. Niebuhr was also the author of "The Serenity Prayer," which is now translated and recited in virtually every language in the world.

Thanks to the Christianity section of about.com

Presbyterian ministers, members divided over divestment

A recent survey by the PC(USA) Research Services office indicates that most Presbyterian laity are not aware of the 216^th General Assembly's decision to "begin a process of phased, selective divestment" of companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. More laity -- 42 percent of members and 46 percent of elders -- oppose selective phased divestment than favor it (28 percent of members, 30 percent of elders). But pastors favor the Assembly's action by a 48 - 43 percent margin and specialized clergy favor the divestment decision by a margin of 64 -24 percent.

The Layman, in the person of Editor in Chief Parker Williamson, has accused Dr. Mark Achtemeier, one of the leading evangelical members of the Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church, of a "departure from the Biblical tradition" in his classroom teaching at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. Williamson writes that Achtemeier "told a seminary class on Jan. 27 that his position on homosexuality represents a 'departure from the Biblical tradition.' "

Achtemeier has responded in a letter to PresbyWeb that this charge (and much else in Williamson's article) is "categorically false." He has demanded an apology and a retraction from the Layman.

Mr. Williamson has responded that he will do no such thing.

The exchange has generated some interesting comments posted on PresbyWeb, including:

The Minneapolis Star Tribune this morning published a letter from James Watt denying that he ever said what Moyers says he said. They also published a statement from Grist magazine (which Moyers had drawn upon for his quote from Watt) retracting what they had published. This was followed by a letter from Moyers himself, apologizing for not checking his sources.  [You may need to run a search on the Star Tribune web site to find Moyers' letter.]

[For the Grist retraction, scroll down through Mr. Watt's letter.]

We regret our minor role in perpetuating what is apparently a long-standing distortion of Mr. Watt's views.

Constructive Theology: A Contemporary Approach to Classical Themes presents an exciting and engaging way for today's students to encounter theology.

Coordinated by Serene Jones of Yale Divinity School and Paul Lakeland of Fairfield University, nearly fifty of North America's top teaching theologians (members of the Workgroup on Constructive Christian Theology) have devised a text that allows students to experience the deeper point of theological questions, to delve into the fractures and disagreements that figured in the development of traditional Christian doctrines, and to sample the diverse and conflicting theological voices that vie for allegiance today. 

We have received this note from Witherspooner Gary Campbell

I thought you might want to share with members of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, Witherspoon Society and Binational Servants the following message from Veterans for Peace National Administrator Woody Powell with exchange of letters between VFP member Bill Compher and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

Witherspooner Harold Barton responded to our note by adding this good point:

Yes, we should encourage our Church to buy fair trade items, but [we should] also consider using recycled paper products.

God bless, Paz, Harold

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has received $3.26 million in individual contributions for tsunami relief aid following the devastating Dec. 26 disaster in Southeast Asia, and expects to receive over $500,000 more from congregations and presbyteries.

The total means the disaster response arm of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has surpassed its tsunami aid goal of $2.5 million, which it set in an appeal issued in early January.

PDA is dispatching a three-person team of South Asians to begin working in Sri Lanka with the fishing industry and looking at issues related to vulnerable women and widows.  

The British public no longer believes that the Seven Deadly Sins have any relevance to their lives and think they should be brought up to date to reflect modern society.

According to a new poll, the original list of cardinal sins - anger, gluttony, sloth, envy, pride, lust and greed - do not have the power they once had.

The poll, commissioned by the BBC, found that people now believe cruelty - not one of the original seven - is Britain's worst sin. Almost four in ten selected cruelty as the worst modern-day sin, followed by adultery, bigotry, dishonesty, hypocrisy, greed and selfishness.

Read the story in The Scotsman for some interesting and varied comments.

What do you think of the New Improved Sins?  Just send a note to be shared here!

Negro History Week was established in the 1920s by Carter G. Woodson. February was chosen as the month in which both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln were born. Extended to a month-long celebration in 1976, Black History Month is an opportunity to emphasize the history and achievements of African Americans.

Web sites you may want to visit:

Thanks to Edgehill United Methodist Church, Nashville, TN
From Gene TeSelle, February 6, 2005

A young New York man was arrested on February 3 and charged with sending a letter to denominational officials threatening Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations with arson.

Jeffrey A. Winters, 25, of Queens, NY, was arrested "without incident" after a search of his apartment, according to the Kentucky Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He is charged with interstate communication of a threat to injure another person.

As the debate over the future of Social Security grows more urgent, we offer some resources from the Presbyterian Church and other sources.

If you have other material that would be helpful, or comments of your own, please send a note to be shared here.

New York court rules that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right

[A statement from That All May Freely Serve]

Committee upholds process for staff firings

The General Assembly Council (GAC) Personnel Subcommittee has found that Executive Director John Detterick acted properly when he terminated two high-level PC(USA) employees in November.

Religion, conflict & peace discussed at World Social Forum

Items archived earlier in March, 2005 >>