| |
Archive for April, 2009 |
This page lists our postings from all of
April
|
For an index to all our reports
from the 218th General Assembly
For an index to all our reports from
the
Witherspoon
conference on global mission and justice >>
Earlier in April,
2010
March, 2010
February, 2010
January, 2010
December, 2009
November, 2009
October, 2009
September, 2009
August, 2009
July, 2009
all of June
May, 2009
April, 2009
March, 2009
February, 2009
January, 2009
December,
2008
November, 2008
October, 2008
September, 2008
August, 2008
July, 2008
June, 2008
May, 2008
April, 2008
March, 2008
February, 2008
January, 2008
For links to earlier archive pages,
click here. |
4/30/09 |
This just in
.... Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons joins call for
review of post-9/11 interrogations
Letter to President Obama urges non-partisan
Commission of Inquiry
by Mark Koenig, Presbyterian Peacemaking Program,
and Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service
Louisville – April 30, 2009 – Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons joined church
leaders and human rights activists calling President Obama to create
a Commission of Inquiry to review interrogation policies and
practices of the United States in the years after Sept. 11, 2001.
"The God who made us all, is also the God to whom
we are all answerable for how we treat each of God's children,"
Parsons wrote in
his April 23 letter.
The letter specifically asks the president "to
work with Congress to establish a non-partisan Commission of
Inquiry" to conduct the review of Bush Administration interrogation
policies and practices. It was delivered to President Obama and U.S.
Congressional leaders.
Parsons based his call on an action of the 217th
General Assembly (2006) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in
response to an overture from San Francisco Presbytery. The Assembly
called on Congress to "convene an investigative body with the
independence, stature, and broad investigative powers of the
September 11th Commission to inquire into whether any official or
officer of the United States government bears direct or command
responsibility for having ordered or participated in violations of
law in the mistreatment of persons detained by the government of the
United States at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib Prison, or elsewhere or
in transporting persons into detention in nations with known records
of brutality and torture; to publish its findings and, if
appropriate, to recommend the appointment of a special prosecutor if
one has not been previously appointed."
Parsons acknowledged that the Executive Order to
Ensure Legal Interrogations issued by President Obama is "an
important step in preventing the use of torture against individuals
in the custody of the United States in the future."
More >>
|
House passes Hate
Crimes Prevention Act
Statement of Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy on the
passage of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act:
Washington, DC - Interfaith Alliance President,
Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy issued the following statement praising the
passage of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act
(H.R. 1913) by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Hate is neither a religious nor an American value,
and that is why Interfaith Alliance praises the House for passing
this hate crimes bill. The sacred scriptures of many different faith
traditions speak with dramatic unanimity in vehemently condemning
hate. If we aspire to be true to the prophetic core of our religions
and our American values, we cannot condemn hate and then sit idly by
while it destroys the lives of a group of our fellow citizens.
To be sure, legislation alone cannot remove hatred
from our midst, but passage of comprehensive hate crimes legislation
will send a clear message about America's common values - that we
utterly reject hate violence and embrace an America in which diverse
people are safe as well as free. Interfaith Alliance calls on the
Senate to follow the House's lead and send this bill to the
president without delay.
More >> |
Rabbi Michael Lerner, Chair of the
Network of Spiritual Progressives, urges ...
Stand with President Obama on Israel and Iran
If you're one of President Obama's supporters on
the Middle East, Congress needs to hear from you right now.
Send an email to your representatives in Congress
that you support President Obama's policy in the Middle East - both
on the Arab-Israeli conflict and on Iran.
Some in Congress may consider opposing the
President under the false impression that that's what Jewish
Americans and other friends of Israel want.
They're wrong.
In fact, over 70% of Jewish Americans support
President Obama's handling of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the
Middle East. We would prefer if Obama went further--and clearly
articulated a U.S. vision of what a just and fair peace agreement
would look like. We are concerned that he may be dragged into giving
US approval to a "peace process" that is little more than endless
negotiations, while Netanyahu and Lieberman expand the settlements
on the West Bank. So we want Obama to move beyond his current plans.
He certainly won't do that if he faces a Congress that tells him
that the US can't even engage in negotiations with the Palestinian
unity government! More
>> |
WITNESS IN WASHINGTON WEEKLY
The Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
April 30, 2009
This week's messages are —
|
From
the Campaign for Fair Food:
CIW and Bon Appétit forge agreement
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers
and sustainable foodservice leader Bon Appétit Management Company
have forged a new model for fair labor standards in Florida's tomato
fields! The new model for advancing farmworkers' rights includes a
new "minimum fair wage" provision, new practices to protect against
wage fraud, worker empowerment, worker safety, and third-party
monitoring which that also involves farmworkers. Read all the
details as well as the Washington Post article on the
agreement at www.ciw-online.org
. More >>
More in this update from the
Campaign for Fair Food:
1.
CIW and Bon Appétit Forge
Agreement
2. Human Trafficking
Training at Presbytery of Charlotte
3. Register for "The Big Tent"
in Atlanta, June 11-13, 2009
4. 40th Anniversary of
Presbyterian Hunger Program |
From Seeking Peace --
updates from the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program

Reports from Refugees International indicate that
South Sudan is nearing collapse as a result of the influx of
nearly 2 million Sudanese who have
returned since 2002 to the homes and villages they were forced
to abandon during a 21-year civil war.
Contact your senators and representatives and ask them to lead the
international effort to identify an emergency rescue package to
address the current budget shortfall of the Government of Southern
Sudan; increase funding to help reintegrate returnees to south Sudan
and help them earn an income; and maintain humanitarian funding to
respond to emergency needs as well as chronic problems.
Get situation updates on Sudan from the Sudan Advocacy Action
Forum.
Read the history of how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) has been
in ministry with the people of Sudan for over 100 years.
Learn more about Sudan today.
|
4/29/09 |
The freedom to marry
is at the heart of Christianity
The Rev. Dr. Marvin M. Ellison, who
Christian ethics at Bangor Theological Seminary, published a brief
opinion piece recently in the Bangor Daily News, as
the Maine legislature is moving toward consideration of a
same-sex marriage bill.
He begins:
As a Christian theologian, I support
marriage equality because I take the Bible seriously. More
importantly, I take the God of the Bible seriously. The God
I worship has a divine passion for justice that compels me
to respect all neighbors and defend their human rights,
including the freedom to marry regardless of the gender of
the two people.
This freedom to marry is important because my
religious tradition teaches that love — the call to love and
be loved — is at the very heart of what it means to be
human. Love is also holy ground. “Where there is love,” the
tradition affirms, “there is God.”
More >>
More on
marriage equality >>
|
4/28/09 |
Late news
Two more presbyteries shift to support Amendment 08-B
In their meetings today, the presbyteries of
Lehigh (Eastern Pennsylvania, by a vote of 60-46-2) and Detroit (by
141-92) brought the number of presbyteries switching from their
2001-2 opposition to 30, and the total approving Amendment 08-B to
71.
Thanks to Tricia Dykers-Koenig of
Covenant Network
More on Amendment 08-B
>> |
Join a Presbyterian blog session on gun violence
Presbyterian Church Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow is
setting up a “Presbyterian Bloggers Unite” group and inviting people
to join in sharing their experiences, ideas, and resources on
different issues.
For more information >>
 | The May 1 session will focus on poverty |
 | The June 1 session will consider issues of
church, state and politics |
 | The July 1 session will look at gun violence |
 | And the August 1 session will deal with
environmental issues |
Witherspoon Board member Catherine Snyder
especially encourages people to join the session on gun violence, to
share their experiences of gun violence and its impact on their
communities, to talk about ways people are acting to address issues
of gun violence, and to mobilize people for action.
Click here to join >> |
4/27/09 |
Amendment 08-B will
not be approved, but the struggle for a more just and inclusive
PC(USA) will continue
by Doug King, your WebWeaverOn Saturday,
April 25, the number of presbyteries voting against Amendment 08-B
reached a total of 87, which constitutes a majority of presbyteries,
and thus defeats the proposed amendment of the Book of Order.
Amendment 08-B, which would have removed the explicit ban on
ordination of LGBT members of the church, will still be voted on in
a number of presbyteries, and it’s important to keep working on
those votes, for they will be counted in the final tally.
The Presbytery de Cristo (Southern Arizona and
Southwest New Mexico) maintained its previous support (59-48), but
Sierra Blanca (Eastern New Mexico) did not (23-30), becoming the
second presbytery (after San Francisco) to shift from previously
supporting inclusion to opposing it in this vote. Also, the
Presbyteries of Boise (Southwest Idaho, by a vote of 25-34) and
Northern Plains (North Dakota, by 21-33) continued their rejection
of the change in ordination standards.
The current tally stands at 69 in favor of 08-B,
with 88 having voted against. (Actually, three of the “No” votes
were ties, which are counted as No votes.)
Fifteen other presbyteries have yet to vote, and
judging by past actions, at least five of them seem likely to
support the change.
So what's next?
Click here
for reports and commentary from Presbyterian Outlook, the Rev. Janet
Edwards, More Light Presbyterians, the Rev. John Shuck, your
WebWeaver Doug King, and more. |
4/25/09 |

Christian Peace Witness for Iraq is Wednesday, April 29, in
Washington, DC.
For the latest information on the event, and
links to more, click
here >>
The latest email
update from CPWI says, among other things:
We have prepared
for April 29 for many months. Our advocacy team is amazed at the
timing of our visits to work for funds for Iraqi refugees and
reconstruction. The President will be in the White House and his
8:00 p.m. press conference coincides with our witness outside
the White House at Lafayette Park. ...
Our timing could
not have been better. President Obama's supplemental spending
bill for Iraq and Afghanistan will be the focus of our advocacy.
The supplemental shows no strategic shift towards "smart power"
and the non-military spending for refugees and reconstruction is
in danger of being stripped out. In addition to our conversation
on the supplemental spending, Advocacy training will include
talking points on the Commission of Inquiry, diplomacy with
Iran, and codifying the Status of Forces Agreement.
|
Hugo Chávez’ gift to Obama is worth our attention
When Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, on his first
meeting with U.S. president Barack Obama, presented him with a book
about Latin American history, U.S. reports expressed some sense of
offense and some puzzlement, but people who know the book see it as
“a brilliant idea” of a gift, to quote Richard Gott, writing for
The Guardian/UK.
Gott opens his article:
Some surprise has been expressed in the Anglo-Saxon world that
should have presented a book to Barack Obama by Eduardo Galeano.
Ignorance can be the only defence, the very fault that the had
earlier accused his US counterpart of suffering from. For Galeano is
one of the most well-known and celebrated writers in Latin America,
up there with Gabriel García Márquez, and his huge output of fact
and fiction, as well as his journalism, has been published all over
the continent. His books have been continuously in print since the
1960s, read voraciously by successive generations.
It
was a brilliant idea of Chávez's to give Galeano's Open Veins of
Latin America to Obama, since this book, first published in
1971, encapsulates a radical version of the history of Latin America
with which most Latin Americans are familiar. Its subtitle, “Five
Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent,” gives a flavour of its
contents, which discuss the way in which Latin America has been
dominated and exploited by its European invaders (and later by US
corporations) for hundreds of years.
For the full essay >> |
What sort of spirituality might be shaped by an
ecological consciousness? Peter Sawtell of
Eco-Justice Ministries offers some answers to this provocative
question in his most recent
Eco-Justice Notes. |
Enough for Everyone offers
resources for Green Living, and suggestions for action on climate
change legislation
Melanie Hardison, staff
person for the Enough for Everyone program of the PC(USA), sends
this update:
Hundreds of Presbyterian churches and
families around the country have changed their light bulbs, started
carpooling to church and are buying more local foods -- actions that
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and leave a smaller footprint on
God's Creation. Each individual, church and local community has a
contribution to make in the effort to mitigate the effects of
climate change.
Green
Living
Consider deepening your involvement and celebrating every day as
Earth Day.
Check out our Green Living materials as a place to get started.
 | Engage with family, friends, your Sunday
school class or other small group to share ideas, discuss and
pray together. |
 | Form a discussion group with interested
members of your congregation or community. |
 |
Post your own ideas and practices online
-- and help expand our materials. |
 | Join the organization
Alternatives for Simple Living. They provide excellent
recommendations for educational materials on simple, joyful
and green living. |
Climate Legislation
Over
the next month, the House of Representatives will consider
legislation that addresses the United States' disproportionate
contribution to global climate change emissions. Celebrate the
glorious gift of God's Creation and our responsibility to care for
it by
contacting your members of Congress through the Presbyterian
Washington Office. The sample letter provided is based on PC(USA)
policy. In an ecumenical effort through Church World Service, you
can also
encourage the President to support a national climate response
and to engage in international climate negotiations in good faith.
Upcoming opportunities for engagement on green living and climate
change include:
Peace,
Melanie
Melanie Hardison
Enough for Everyone
(888) 728-7228 x5626
Enough for Everyone is a
partnership ministry of the following General Assembly Council
agencies:
 | Presbyterian Hunger
Program |
 | Presbyterian
Peacemaking Program |
 | Self-Development of
People |
 | Women's Ministries |
 | Presbyterian Women |
|
Memorial service set for Carl Dudley
Pastor, educator was innovative leader in
connecting church, community
Jerry L. Van Marter of Presbyterian News Service
reports that the Rev. Carl S. Dudley died on April 26 in his
Hartford home, at the age of 76.
Gene TeSelle of the Witherspoon Society notes that
Dudley has been a Witherspooner for years, and led a collective
recollection of changes in society and the church at our 25th
anniversary celebration in 1998.
For the full PNS
story >> |
4/22/09 |
Two more presbyteries shift to approve Amendment
08-B, but San Francisco shifts to oppose inclusion
A number of presbyteries have met this week to vote
on proposed amendments to the Book of Order, and two of them shifted
from opposing the ordination of LGBT Presbyterians to approving
Amendment 08-B.
Salem Presbytery
(in North Carolina) approved the change by a vote of 156 to 149,
with one abstention, while Wabash
Valley Presbytery (in Indiana) voted 78 to 60. Both of these
were shifts from their opposition to ordination equality in 2001-2.
National Capital
Presbytery first rejected a
recommendation from their Bills and Overtures Committee for “No
Action” by a resounding voice vote, and then approved the amendment
by 222 to 102, with one abstention.
But San Francisco
Presbytery, a traditionally supportive presbytery, became the
first one this year to shift from support of inclusive ordination to
reject Amendment 08-B, by a vote of 167 affirmative votes to 177
negative, with 4 abstentions.
That leaves the total tally thus far at 68
presbyteries in favor of 08-B and 85 opposed.
As Tricia Dykers-Koenig of Covenant Network
comments, “Because 87 is the number needed for passage, it would
take an even bigger miracle than we have yet experienced for the
amendment to be approved (nothing is impossible with God!); yet we
continue to rejoice in the progress we have made, and continue to
work in the presbyteries that have yet to vote. Even if we don't
amend the Book of Order this year, we are on track to do better than
ever before; let's keep sending a strong signal about where the
PCUSA is headed, and let's keep engaging in the respectful witness
that advances our cause regardless of vote totals.”
Thanks to Covenant
Network and More Light Presbyterians for these reports.
For more of our
reports and commentary on the voting on Amendment 08-B >> |
If you’ve been
saying “No to torture!” ...
Now
is the time to speak out and be heardPresident Obama has recently announced that he is
open to the possibility of investigation and perhaps prosecution of
Bush Administration members who provided the claimed legal
justification for the use of torture. That is an apparent shift from
his earlier insistence that the U.S. needs to look forward, and not
fret over the past.
He has made this shift, he acknowledges, because
of pressure from those who are calling not only for an end to
torture, but also for holding accountable the perpetrators and
(especially) those in authority who ordered and justified the use of
torture. But the pressure must continue, especially as voices on the
Right rail against such a move.
The Rev. Carol Wickersham, Coordinator of the
Presbyterian-based group
No2Torture,
writes:
This means that
now is the time to redouble our prayers and our pressure. Please
let the White House and Congress know that this is what we want:
an investigation and accountability. We must make it clear that
we want both: truth and justice. In order to achieve this, any
investigation must be nonpartisan, authoritative, investigation
of all who were involved in drafting the memos and giving the
orders up the chain of command. This is what the Presbyterian
Church has been asking for since the 2006 General Assembly. [Click
here for the full text of the 2006 GA statement (in PDF
format).]
The Rev. John Shuck
has gone into more detail
on his
blog page, summarizing the call by the National Religious
Campaign Against Torture for an end to U.S.-sponsored torture.
More from NRCAT >> |
Prosecution of war crimes is imperative
Nick Mottern, director of Consumers for Peace.org,
has a strong statement on Truthout.org, on why it is imperative that
there be some prosecution of U.S. war crimes. He writes:
Barack Obama is not given the right by our Constitution to be the
judge and jury for torturers. I include Bush and Cheney in this
category although they committed other war crimes. Mr. Obama and our
Congress took oaths to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the
land. They must be reminded that they must do this job regardless of
whether they think it is divisive or not. If President Obama and the
Congress do their jobs of enforcing the law with respect to torture
and other Bush and Cheney war crimes, they will begin unraveling the
web of deceit that has supported the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
More >> |
Remembering Maggie
Kuhn and the Gray Panthers – for clues to dealing with such a
time as this
Gene TeSelle,
Witherspoon Issues Analyst, calls attention to a recent book by
Roger
Sanjek, entitled Gray Panthers. He writes as an
anthropologist, but also as a participant observer in the Gray
Panther movement during the 1970s and '80s. A long-time national
staff member of the Presbyterian Church, Kuhn was instrumental in
the founding and shaping of the Gray Panthers as an organization
advocating for the rights of "senior citizens," when that was a new
thing in U.S. society.
TeSelle notes that this book reminds us that the Panthers achieved
results in part because they refused to be a "single issue"
organization focused on the interests of the ageing -- but pointed
always toward a wider range of social justice issues. |
4/20/09 |
Announcing a
Holy Union:
Voices of
Sophia and the Witherspoon Society Merge
Witherspoon co-moderator
Jake Young
announces the merger of Voices of Sophia with the Witherspoon
Society ... and
Sylvia Thorson-Smith tells more of how that is coming about, and
what it may mean for members of both groups. |
How shall we respond
to this time of crisis?
We're posting here three items from our
Winter 2009 issue of Network
News,
Theologian
Doug Ottati offers his thoughts on the state of the union, and
the state of the church. He offers great insights on both, and so
provides a context for thinking about how the church might respond
to this time of economic crisis -- which is also a deeply human
crisis for many of us.
Doug
King, your WebWeaver, asks how we might name and confront the fears
that are part of life for most of us these days -- for that's the
only way we can begin to help ourselves, or neighbors and our
society more through the fears to some new hopes. So
what can we do or say
that will offer authentic hope and not just platitudes or nice
sentiments?
One very common
reaction to fear and anxiety is to build walls. But what
happens when we do that? We may shut out the threats – the
strangers, the enemies – but we pay a price. Recently I heard
a meditation on walls, given
in a Lenten worship service in a Mennonite fellowship that my
wife and I happened to attend. I think it offers thoughts about
walls far better than mine, so I’ll share it here, with the kind
permission of the authors.
But
action there must be,
or we’ll be merely hearers of the Word and not doers, clanging
gongs and crashing cymbals, not partners in God’s work to make
the world a better, fairer place.
And many of you
who read Network News and visit this website are doing
things already, as you’ve been “doing” for years. But what do we
need to be doing in these days?
Let’s talk about
this! Here on our website, on
our
Facebook page where chatting is even easier and more direct,
or by
sending a note to your editor to be shared in the next issue
of Network News and on our website as well – however you do it,
please let us know what you’re doing (or what’s been done in
your city or neighborhood even if you’re not directly involved
in it) so we can help each other find our way through these hard
times.
Let's talk. And act!
|
Speaking of walls ...
Here's one voice in favor of walls ... and of
getting rid of "radical, secular fringe" groups like Witherspoon
Prof. Earl Tilford of Grove City College has
responded to our recent Holy Week reflections on contrition and
apology, in which your WebWeaver wrote:
So what would you
offer as a matter for contrition and apology this Holy Week? I’d
have a long list, and near the top would be U.S. torture of so many
people, in so many places; I’d have to add apologies to all those
whose humanity has been derided or denied because of who they are,
by virtue (and I choose the word intentionally) of the color of
their skin, or their sexual orientation, their nationality, their
religious faith ... and the list could go on and on.
Dr. Tilford has responded with
this note:
I would apologize for not doing more to rid
the Presbyterian Church of its radical, secular fringe,
including the Witherspoon Society. All Christians within the
denomination should do penitence for not speaking more
forcefully against the abomination of same-sex couplings
disguised as "marriage". I apologize for being too tolerant of
the apostasy and heresy emanating from a radical fringe that
condemns "US torture in so many places" and yet calls for
opening up Cuba to travel without securing the release of
political prisoners from Cuban prisons. My list goes on and on
as well. I actually do regret and confess my sins rather than
twisting the Scriptures to make what the Bible clearly tells us
is sinful to seem righteous, i.e. the practice of homosexuality.
Background note:
Earl H. Tilford, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of History at
Grove City College, has been there since 2001. Prior to that,
he served as
Director of Research at the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute.
From 1969 to 1990, he served as an Air Force intelligence officer
with tours in Vietnam and at Headquarters, Strategic Air Command,
where he was a nuclear targeting specialist. During his Air Force
career, Tilford also served on the faculties at the Air Force
Academy and the Air Command and Staff College.
Dr. Tilford has shared his thoughts on this
website fairly often. You might be interested to look at his
comments in 2003, in defense of the
U.S. war in Iraq.
If you have thoughts to share on the matter of
what we might need to be apologize for,
please send a
note! |
A new perspective on Creation:
In the beginning God created good food (like broccoli
and all those good things), and the Devil came along and tempted
those poor humans with Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and Krispy Creme
donuts.
But if you're serious about understanding our
Biblical faith, you'll want to see the
whole thing -- a little PowerPoint presentation complete with a
hymn for background music. |
4/16/09 |
John Calvin: after 500 years, what does he say to
us?In this year, just 500 years since the
birth of John Calvin, one of the major founders of what we now know
as the Reformed tradition, it seems appropriate to consider what he
and his teachings might mean for us in the very different world of
the 21st century.
Two essays in our recent newsletter, Network News,
offer just such reflections.
The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, who
retired last year as Stated Clerk of the PC(USA) and is now serving
as President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, highlights
some of Calvin's most important visions and actions for our troubled
time.
More
>>
And Dr. Gene TeSelle, Witherspoon's Issues
Analyst, looks at some of Calvin's distinctive roles in his own
time, and ponders the positives and the negatives of his work.
More >> |
The Legacy of John Calvin
The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, who
retired last year as Stated Clerk of the PC(USA) and is now serving
as President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, highlights
some of Calvin's most important visions and actions for our troubled
time. He begins:
July 10, 2009, will be John Calvin’s
500th birthday. For many it is not a very big thing.
For others it brings up connections that we would
just as soon forget – such as the (erroneous)
connection between Calvinism and modern capitalism
and the sad chapter of Calvin and Servetus in
Geneva. But for Reformed Christians it has a much
deeper significance – and a great promise for the
renewal of our church and our witness in the 21st
century.
John Calvin, a native of France, a
Reformer of Geneva, is truly a son of the world.
This movement of Reformation that started among the
French and the Swiss has literally spread to the
four corners of the earth! As we enter this year of
jubilee, we do not celebrate or seek to replicate
everything that Calvin did, but rather we seek to
make come alive his vision and legacy:
 |
A vision of the priesthood
of all believers, where everybody counts and where
mutual respect and shared leadership should be the
norm in churches and societies, |
 |
A vision of the
sovereignty of God over all the world, which calls
all of us to work for a world filled with justice,
compassion and peace, |
 |
A vision of the creation
as God’s gift, which needs to be respected and
nurtured for future generations, |
 |
A vision of the grace of
God available through faith in Jesus Christ to every
human being on the face of the earth. |
Calvin’s Geneva was a very
different world from that of the 21st century.
However, he too came on the stage of human
history at a time of deep turmoil and change,
and the wisdom he shared is remarkably
contemporary in our time.
The rest of Kirkpatrick's essay >>
This article has been published in the
Witherspoon Society’s Network News; to find it there
in an easy-to-print PDF version,
click here,
and go to pages 5 - 7.
NOTE: Dr. Cliff
Kirkpatrick will be leading a seminar co-sponsored by the
Witherspoon Society as part of the
Peace and Justice at Ghost
Ranch,
July 27 - August 2, 2009.
For more information >>
|
Commemorating John Calvin — Halo, Warts, and All
Gene TeSelle,
Witherspoon Issues Analyst, looks at some of the distinctive roles
played by Calvin as he dealt with the culture and the religious
reform of his own time -- and the mixed bag of positives and
negatives in his work.
TeSelle notes:
If
Calvin is an ambivalent figure, so are we Presbyterians at the
beginning of the third millennium, caught between love and
justice, freedom and authority, comprehensiveness and desire for
order. Brian Gerrish has always taken pains to remind us that
the Reformed tradition is much more than Calvin and Barth. Barth
himself noted that the Reformed tradition does not elevate
Calvin in the way that the Lutheran tradition elevates Luther to
a distinctive status. H. Richard Niebuhr loved to quote Barth’s
dictum that “we cannot do with only one church father.” Not even
Barth. Not even Calvin.
So
let’s take an “on the one hand” and “on the other hand” look at
Calvin.
More >> |
Mary Jane Patterson, long-time
director of the Presbyterian Washington Office, died April 8 at
Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, DC.
Click
here to read her published obituary notice >>
Click here for the
Presbyterian News Service report, by Jerry Van Marter. |
4/15/09 |
Latin America Working Group urges a complete
end to the travel ban on Cuba
This statement, dated April 13, 2009, comes
from the
Latin American Working Group, which works "to encourage U.S.
policies towards Latin America that promote human rights,
justice, peace and sustainable development. LAWG promotes the
interests of over 60 major religious, humanitarian, grassroots
and policy organizations to decision makers in Washington."
The White House issued a statement today that
lifted all restrictions on transactions related to the travel and
remittances of family members to Cuba.
Check our blog for details and comments. Here is the
White House fact sheet on today's action.
We applaud today's announcement and President
Obama's commitment to Cuban Americans and the sanctity of family
relations. Nevertheless, we urge the President to now push forward
in restoring the right of ALL Americans to travel.
Watch our friend, Silvia Wilhelm of Puentes
Cubanos, explain why she, a Cuban American, supports "Travel for
All."
What today made clear to us is that we must double
our efforts to demand a definitive end to the travel ban.
Send the White House a message or, better yet, call the
comment line (202.456.1111)
Here is the message:
Dear Mr. President:
Thank you for your executive action lifting
the restrictions on travel and remittances for Cuban Americans.
It is an important step forward toward creating a rational and
effective policy toward Cuba. But it isn't enough. I ask that
you step even further: there is more you can do by executive
action to allow Americans to travel to Cuba; and you should
indicate your support for congressional action to lift the
entire travel ban on Cuba. These steps would send a message
across the hemisphere that real change has come to Washington.
Looking to the Summit of the Americas, and
on the heels of your executive order, I urge you to declare your
support for the lifting of travel restrictions for ALL
Americans, finally restoring the constitutional right to travel.
Sincerely,
We continue working toward our goal of putting an
end to the travel ban, and each day more and more people join us in
asking for "travel for all." Continue spreading the word, and be
sure to take a moment today to celebrate this step forward.
Sincerely,
Mavis Anderson
Paulo Gusmao
Visit the LAWG website for more Summit actions you
can take.
For more
on Cuba, on this Witherspoon website >> |
What should be the goal of health care reform?
Monica Sanchez writes for the Campaign For America's
Future:
To guarantee everyone has access to quality,
affordable health care when they need it requires system-wide
reform that will lower the cost of health care and slow its
ridiculously high inflation rate. ... The way to lower overall
health care costs, stem their inflation rate and guarantee
everyone access to quality, affordable health care is to give
everyone the choice of a public health insurance option.
The
full essay >>
For more on
health care issues, on this Witherspoon website >> |
America is not a Christian nation
Religious conservatives argue the Founding Fathers
intended the United States to be a Judeo-Christian country. But
President Obama is right when he says it isn't.
Salon.com joins the flood of laments and/or celebrations of the
President Obama’s recently express view that the U.S. is no longer a
“Christian nation” – if it ever was. In case you missed it, he said
in his April 6 press conference in Turkey: “... we do not consider
ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation.
We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals
and a set of values.”
Michael Lind lays out four main arguments by those
who say Yes, it is a Christian nation, and then offers a brief
critique of each of them.
The full article >>
Got comments?
Please
send a note,
and we can talk about it here!
More on church-state issues >> |
18 congregation-based community organizing groups
to share $92,500
Grants support local efforts such as affordable housing, job
creation
Presbyterian News Service reports that the
Presbyterian Hunger Program, in partnership with the Presbyterian
Church (USA)'s Small Church and Community Ministry Office, recently
allocated $92,500 to 18 congregation-based community organizations (CBCOs).
"They are among the hundreds of Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) congregations making a difference in their local
communities" said the Rev. Phil Tom, associate for small church and
community ministry in the Evangelism and Church Growth area of the
General Assembly Council.
Grants are also provided to support training for
lay leaders, pastors, middle governing bodies' staff and seminarians
to develop the skills for congregational-based community organizing.
CBCOs – about 170 of them around the country – are
broad-based coalitions of congregations working in partnership with
other community organizations to address quality of life issues such
as affordable housing, living wage and job creation.
The rest of the
story >> |
4/13/09 |
Presbyterian United Nations Office will be
seeking new staff coordinator The Presbyterian
United Nations Office will soon be seeking new staff coordinator.
The current incumbent, Joel Hanisek, who has been there three years,
has announced plans to leave for graduate research in Ireland. The
office is located across from the UN Secretariat building. We are
very glad that the position is slated to be filled even though we
are concerned about its funding sources.
Click here for more
on the UN Office >>
We believe the work
of education, advocacy (especially on human rights and peacemaking),
ecumenical and interfaith coordination conducted by the Office,
guided by General Assembly policy statements, are very important,
both to the church and to the world God loves.
As far as we know,
this position has not yet been listed on the
Church Leadership Connection
of the PC(USA) website, but
click here to check for any new listing of General Assembly agency
jobs. |
4/9/09 |
WITNESS IN WASHINGTON WEEKLY
The Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
April 9, 2009
For the online PDF version of this report, in PDF
format,
click here >>
The Washington Office wishes you a blessed Holy
Week and a very Happy Easter celebration.
This week marks the first of two weeks of
congressional spring break. Members of Congress are scheduled to
return to Washington for legislative work Monday, April 20. Remember
that congressional recesses are an excellent time to meet with your
elected officials while they are home in their districts. Make an
appointment to visit with your member or Senators in their home
offices, or attend a local town hall meeting where you can raise
your concerns. Members return home during these periods in order to
build relationships with their constituents, so don't be left out!
This Week's Messages are:
|
Travel to Latin America with Witness for Peace in
2009 Open doors to education and empowerment.
At this dynamic time for Latin America and the United States, travel
with Witness for Peace in 2009. Your "witness" - the true stories
about the people you meet on a Witness for Peace delegation - will
have the power to touch others and transform policy.
Read about the following exciting upcoming
delegations. These are just a sampling of our 2009 travel
opportunities. Join us!
COLOMBIA
July 13 - 23, 2009 — Colombia: Meet Colombian
Communities Resisting Repression
August 10 - 20, 2009 — Colombia: Bilateral Free
Trade Agreement, Human Rights and Military Repression
CUBA
Be part of WFP's successful return to Cuba.
June 28, 2009 - July 07, 2009 — Cuba: Research
Delegation-Professional Organizers
July 18, 2009 - July 28, 2009 — Cuba: Research
Delegation-Professional Educators
MEXICO
May 20, 2009 - May 31, 2009 — Mexico: Migrant
Trail Walk
NICARAGUA
June 27-July 7, 2009 — The Children: Casualties of
the War Against the Poor
July 13, 2009 - July 27, 2009 — Inter-Cultural
Teen Delegation to Nicaragua
For more details on these and other travel opportunities >>
Witness for Peace can customize delegations for
groups of 10 or more. Contact Ken Crowley (202-547-6112) for more
information.
Witness for Peace
3628 12th Street NE. 1st Fl.,
Washington, DC 20017
202.547.6112 - 202.536.4708
witness@witnessforpeace.org |
Mary Jane Patterson, long-time
director of the Presbyterian Washington Office, died yesterday at
Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, DC.
We've just
received this sad news from Jude Michaels, who adds that funeral
arrangements are pending.
Ingleside Retirement Home will have
details eventually - 202-363-8310.
Click here for the
Presbyterian News Service report, by Jerry Van Marter. |
From
a pastor – curses on the Presbyterian Church (USA)
From the
Letters to the Editor section of The Presbyterian Layman,
March 2009, p. 23, comes this cursing prayer – an interesting
insight, perhaps, into how some people view the current state of
congregations separating from the PC(USA)
It’s also in the Letters to the
Editor section of the Layman’s website. Just click here
http://www.layman.org/LettersToTheEditor.aspx
and scroll through the pages to Feb. 13, 2009.
Curse the money that has been extorted from Kirk of the Hills
Lord God, I pray to
you in the name of Jesus Christ today, that you would for your own
glory curse the money that has been extorted from your servants at
Kirk of the Hills. I pray you would cause this fund to be a poison
and that misfortune would follow it into every account into which it
is placed. I pray it would be of no benefit to any entity that uses
it. For you, O Lord, have taught us that it is against your holy and
good will that we should steal. May this disaster be for those who
have broken your holy law a testimony and witness concerning your
justice; and may all your servants who watch this ruin transpire be
encouraged that you, O Lord, do move among the affairs of men,
promoting your own good name and the welfare of your chosen ones.
REV.
RUSS WESTBROOK
teaching elder
Riverside Presbyterian Church, PCA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One response
to the “prayer” appears on the Layman’s website, dated
March 23, 2009:
The "cursing
prayer" on p. 23, The Layman (March, 2009) is breathtaking – sounds
like something Lord Voledmort might have said about Dumbledore or
Harry.
Rev. Tom Eggebeen,
interim pastor
Covenant Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, Calif.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Rev. Bobbie McGarey responded just now with
this Maundy Thursday prayer:
Dear God,
HOLY Thursday!
We pray
Keep our hearts open
Keep our hearts soft
ready to give and receive your love.
Keep us cleansed as the Oklahoma sky
when the winds are blowing full.
Keep us ready to merciful
For surely
This day
This is your
Message for us.
Bobbie |
4/7/09 |
It's not just Iowa!
Vermont legislature overrides governor’s veto, allows same gender
couples to marry
The New York Times reports:
The Vermont Legislature on Tuesday overrode
Gov. Jim Douglas’s veto of a bill allowing gay couples to marry,
mustering one more vote than needed to preserve the measure.
The step makes Vermont the first state to
allow same-sex marriage through legislative action instead of a
court ruling. The law goes into effect Sept. 1.
The rest of the story >> |
But not everybody's happy ...
A U.C.C. “renewal” leader has issued an open
letter apologizing to the citizens and Christians of Iowa
The Rev. David Runnion-Bareford writes:
Today on behalf of many thousands of
Christians who belong to congregations of the United Church of
Christ and millions of faithful Christians in the ‘mainline’
churches that helped found our nation, I apologize with a broken
heart for our denominational officials and other proponents of
faux Christian religion who have publicly advocated and
applauded the attempt of your court to redefine marriage. This
is an ancient idolatry in new skin.
He goes on to affirm that “Marriage for all of us,
regardless of belief, is the primary covenant in which all other
human covenants, laws, and governments are grounded.”
The Rev. David Runnion-Bareford is Executive
Director of Biblical
Witness Fellowship, The Confessing Movement in the United Church
of Christ, and President of the
Association for
Church Renewal, a strategic alliance of renewal ministries in
the mainline denominations of North America.
For the full
text of his letter >>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A reflection from your WebWeaver:
This Holy Week is
certainly an appropriate time in the Christian year for contrition
and penitence. Rev. Runnion-Bareford expresses his sorrow for what
he regards as a betrayal of the Christian faith (the non-“faux”
Christian faith, that is) – and of the laws of God and nature as
well.
So what would you
offer as a matter for contrition and apology this Holy Week? I’d
have a long list, and near the top would be U.S. torture of so many
people, in so many places; I’d have to add apologies to all those
whose humanity has been derided or denied because of who they are,
by virtue (and I choose the word intentionally) of the color of
their skin, or their sexual orientation, their nationality, their
religious faith ... and the list could go on and on.
But what would you list for penitence and
apology just now?
Please send a note,
and share your thoughts
as we approach Good Friday and Easter. |
NRCAT – the National Religious Coalition Against
Torture – seeks more support for a Commission of Inquiry into
U.S.-sponsored use of torture
Here is their latest communication to their
members, including a number of helpful links for information and
action.
Thank you to everyone who has endorsed the
statement "U.S.-sponsored Torture: A Call for a Commission of
Inquiry" and to those who are collecting endorsements from others.
NRCAT is calling for a Commission of Inquiry (COI) so that our
nation can learn the complete facts about U.S.-sponsored torture
since 9/11 and thereby build a national consensus to assure that our
country will never use torture again.
Getting a Commission of Inquiry is proving to be a challenging
task. Many Members of Congress do not support it, and at this point
Senator Leahy, one of the strongest advocates for it in the Senate,
is unable to find a Republican cosponsor. We have our work cut out
for us. So far, we have more than 2200 endorsers of our statement
(after about a month). Here's what we can do to strengthen our
effort:
- If you have not yet endorsed, please
click here to endorse
online. We need to grow the number of people of faith endorsing
quickly in order to maximize the effectiveness of our call for a
Commission of Inquiry. We also urge you to
click here for a
petition version of the statement for a COI. Please take the
petition to your congregation or religious community and ask
people to endorse.
- NRCAT is also eager to encourage national and
regional faith group bodies, ecumenical and interfaith
organizations, congregations and other religious organizations
to consider endorsing the COI.
Click here for a page that includes: a model resolution that
you might suggest that your religious organization use, the list
of religious organizations endorsing to date and a form for
reporting that your religious organization has endorsed.
-
click here for a page
of resources and suggestions for promoting the Commission of
Inquiry. The page also includes a link to a letter to Eric
Holder and NRCAT's statement calling on the Department of
Justice to investigate for criminal culpability.
- June is Torture Awareness Month. NRCAT is
urging people of faith to encourage their congregations to
incorporate the concern about torture into worship, to study the
issue using a new DVD resource prepared by NRCAT and to consider
displaying a banner. We are also encouraging delegations of
people of faith across the country to visit their Members of
Congress at the end of June.
Click here to learn more about these opportunities. We will
be updating the web site page on Torture Awareness Month during
the next two months and we will send an email to you with more
suggestions for using Torture Awareness month in mid-April.
We still have
much to do this year, but thank you for everything you have done
to end U.S.-sponsored torture. It has made a difference.
Sincerely,
Linda Gustitus, President
Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director |
John Jackson shares ...
Quotes for April
The Rev. John Jackson, a Witherspoon member
living in Florida, sends out an occasional e-mail with various
gems of wisdom and information with a leaning toward
environmental awareness and action, under the title, EVERYTHING
IS CONNECTED!
Here are his “Quotes for April”
Between True friends even water drunk together is
sweet enough. – Zimbabwean proverb
You changed my mourning into dancing: O Lord, my
God, forever will I give you thanks. – Psalm 30:13
To be rooted is perhaps the most important and
least recognized need f the human soul. – Simon Weil
In a country well governed, poverty is something
to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something
to be ashamed of. – Confucius
Lead me from death to life,
From falsehood to truth.
Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe.
Peace, peace, peace. – Satish Kumar
Being rich is having money, being wealthy is
having time. – Stephen Swid
Life is infinitely stranger than anything the mind
could invent. – Arthur Conan Doyle
Action is the antidote to despair. – Joan Baez
I have loved, and I have been loved. All the rest
is just background music. – Estelle Ramey
True friends are those who really know you but
love you anyway. – Edna Buchanan
Things turn out best for people who make the best
of the way things turn out. – Joan Wooden
A cheerful heart is good medicine. – Proverbs
17:22
To be nobody but myself – in a world which is
doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to
fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never
stop fighting. – e.e.cummings
Now, with God’s help, I shall become myself. –
Soren Kierkegaard
If you'd like to join John Jackson's e-mail list,
just
send him a note.
|
4/4/09 |
Two presbyteries have voted today on Amendment
08-B The Presbytery of San Jose, meeting
at the Los Gatos Presbyterian Church, Los Gatos, California, voted
84 Yes to 81 No to approve the 218th General Assembly's Ordination
Amendment 08-B. They were the 65th presbytery to approve
the amendment.
But also today, the Presbytery of South
Louisiana came closer than in the past to approving inclusive
ordination, with a vote of 42 Yes to 55 No. Still not enough, but
the last vote was 51 to 71.
So the total of presbytery votes so far is 65 Yes
to 82 No.
For more on Amendment 08-B >> |
... but South Louisiana voted No
The Rev. John Shuck offers this painful but helpful
comment this evening on his always lively, always thoughtful blog,
Shuck and Jive
And that is the clincher, I am afraid. I held out
for a win until it was pretty much mathematically impossible to do
so. With the score 65-82, only five presbyteries are needed to
defeat it. There are five presbyteries that have historically voted
'no' unanimously or nearly so still yet to vote.
Now, team, we play for pride.
Our motivation is first of all to change hearts and minds one by
one. This is the opportunity to tell the stories and to witness to
the inclusive love of the gospel by proclaiming the equality of all
people.
We also play the spoiler.
What we want to spoil is the claim by the voices against equality
that the church has 'decisively spoken four times with increasing
margins, blah, blah, blah....'
We have spoiled that already. 25 presbyteries have switched from no
to yes, and the margin within most presbyteries who have voted no
has decreased. The "popular vote" is nearly equal. These are clear
factors that the denomination is moving toward equality. There is no
decisive voice. We are about dead even and everyday hearts and minds
change for equality.
This means we need to make this presbytery vote as close as possible
and perhaps win the 'popular vote.' All of that matters as we look
ahead to 2010.
Bruce Hahne
has a great analysis of all of this as well as commentary. He
reminds us that we are in a marathon not a sprint.
‘In a certain city there was a judge
who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city
there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me
justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later
he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect
for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will
grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by
continually coming.”
|
4/3/09 |
A time for prayer ... We
join with countless others in the U.S. and around the world, in
prayers for the families of those who lost loved ones in the
shootings at the Binghamton American Civic Association today. |
Iowa Supreme Court
affirms equal rights to marriage
Barbara Gaddis, a
Witherspoon member and resident of Boone, Iowa, sends this good-news
report
Boone, Iowa, April 3, 2009
A bright sunny spring day here in the heartland
might be an apt, if trite, metaphor for the great news delivered
this morning from the Iowa Supreme Court. The court unanimously
struck down the 1998 “Defense of Marriage Act” defining marriage in
the state as between one man and one woman. Declaring The Act
unconstitutional, the court did not demur by creating a separate
“civil union” category for same sex couples, but boldly stated that
anything less than marriage for couples did not grant equal rights
and protection under the law. The ruling makes Iowa only the third
state in the union to allow same sex marriage, behind Connecticut
and Massachusetts.
Needless to say this victory for equal rights has
been greeted with celebration among progressives here.
However, the airwaves are rife with those on the
other side of the ruling. Republican members of the Iowa House and
Senate have already stated their opposition to the ruling, vowing to
take the issue to a vote of “the people.” In the usual court-bashing
rhetoric of the right, we’re hearing about how our “family values”
are being threatened by “seven people in black robes.” The
relentless pounding that heterosexual marriages will be undermined
continues and so we expect to see a constitutional amendment on the
ballot in the next election.
But the results of such an election remain
uncertain. A recent “Hawkeye poll” conducted by the University of
Iowa in late March 2009 indicated that about one third of Iowans
support same sex marriage, a third oppose it and one third favor
civil unions. The same poll reported those under 35 overwhelmingly
support same sex marriage.
For now, we are savoring a wonderful victory for
equality! And we are proud to live in Iowa. Come visit! Come get
married!
Barbara Gaddis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
report from the New York Times begins:
Iowa became the first state in the Midwest to approve
same-sex marriage on Friday, after the Iowa Supreme Court
unanimously decided that a 1998 law limiting marriage to a man and a
woman was unconstitutional.The decision was
the culmination of a four-year legal battle that began in the lower
courts. The Supreme Court said same-sex marriages could begin in
Iowa in as soon as 21 days.
The case here was being closely followed by
advocates on both sides of the issue. While the same-sex marriage
debate has played out on both coasts, the Midwest — where no states
had permitted same-sex marriage — was seen as entirely different. In
the past, at least six states in the Midwest were among those around
the country that adopted amendments to their state constitutions
banning same-sex marriage.
“The Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a
union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause
of the Iowa Constitution,” the justices said in a summary of their
decision.
The
full report >>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An
affirmation of religious liberty
Americans United
celebrates the ruling as upholding religious liberty, by stating (in
the words of the news release) “that religious denominations have a
constitutional right to set their own rules about marriage but that
civil law should reflect equal protection for all citizens and not
be anchored in religious dogma.”
More >>
And for more on marriage
equality >> |
4/1/09 |
World Council of Churches
leaders: G20 must deal with 'greed' of financial system
Geneva (Ecumenical News International) – 30 March
2009 – The world's biggest grouping of churches has urged a "drastic
transformation" of financial institutions, claimed that greed has
become the basis for economic growth, and said that G20 leaders must
build a new system based on ethical principles.
"What we need are brave and new measures to
correct this unjust and unethical system in order to prevent such a
crisis from occurring once again," said the general secretary of the
World Council of Churches, the Rev. Samuel Kobia, ahead of a 2 April
summit in London of leaders from the Group of 20 leading economies.
"The need of the hour is to construct a system in
which market forces are checked [not only] through ethical
regulations and oversight but also by a framework of common values
that sets clear limits to excessive and irresponsible actions based
on greed," Kobia said in a letter to British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown made public on 30 March.
Kobia urged G20 leaders, "to go beyond short-term
financial bail out actions and to seek long-term transformation
based on sound ethical and moral principles".
The rest of
the report >> |
A Tale of Two Pastors & Two
Different Kinds of Churches Michael Adee of
More Light Presbyterians reflects
on a newspaper report on the Grace Presbytery (Texas) meeting which
approved Amendment 08-B by a vote of 203 to 182.
I do not know Rev. Kathy Collier or Rev. Ron
Scates. They are the 2 pastors quoted in today's Dallas Morning
News' article "North Texas Presbyterian leaders vote to ease way
for gays' ordination" by Sam Hodges. The entire article about Grace
Presbytery's recent vote of 203-182 in favor of the 218th General
Assembly's Ordination Amendment 08-B can be
found on their website >>.
Certainly one or two quotations do not sum up a
human being, or give a fully accurate picture of someone or the
totality of their beliefs and values. However, I was struck by the
profound contrast of these statements made by 2 pastors who serve
Presbyterian churches within Grace Presbytery in north Texas.
In many ways, the contrast between Collier’s and
Scates’ statements may indeed reflect and reveal two profoundly
different understandings of God's creation, faith, Scripture,
ministry and what it means to be the Church. Frankly, I see,
experience and feel "grace" in one and "law" in the other. Jesus
lived and spoke often about such things.
More
>> |
For an index to all our reports
from the 218th General Assembly
For an index to all our reports from
the
Witherspoon
conference on global mission and justice >>
Earlier in April,
2010
March, 2010
February, 2010
January, 2010
December, 2009
November, 2009
October, 2009
September, 2009
August, 2009
July, 2009
June. 2009
May, 2009
April, 2009
March, 2009
February, 2009
January, 2009
December,
2008
November, 2008
October, 2008
September, 2008
August, 2008
July, 2008
June, 2008
May, 2008
April, 2008
March, 2008
February, 2008
January, 2008
For links to earlier archive pages,
click here. |
| |
Some blogs worth visiting |
|
Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
|
Witherspoon’s Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, Witherspoon’s
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
|
John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
|
John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
|
Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
|
Plan now for our 2010 Ghost Ranch
Seminar!
GHOST RANCH SEMINAR
July 26-August 1, 2010
WE’RE ALL IN
THIS TOGETHER
CONFRONTING THE STRUCTURES OF INJUSTICE |
|
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