Saturday, January 26, 2008
Looks like the United Methodist Church is keeping things simple, targeting one company at a time: Caterpillar upsets some Methodists
Methodist renewal advocate Mark Tooley says United Methodist Church officials are urging church agencies and members to divest their holdings in Caterpillar Incorporated, for doing business with Israel.
Tooley, who directs the United Methodist Committee at the Institute on Religion and Democracy, says the UMC has about $15 million of Caterpillar stock in its pension fund. But he says the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society has unveiled a proposal to divest from Caterpillar ahead of the church's governing General Conference in April. Several United Methodist regional conferences have endorsed anti-Israel divestment, according to Tooley.
"It's another example of the anti-Israel bias of the mainline churches," he argues. "[They] tend to turn a blind eye towards the human rights abuses and support of terrorism of Arab regimes, but yet are very critical of and hostile towards Israel."
Tooley says the Methodist recommendation only targets Caterpillar because of the controversy that stemmed from the Presbyterian Church USA's divestment policy in 2006. "That was rather disastrous. The Presbyterians fairly quickly revoked their policy," he says. "So I think the Methodist lobby office is trying to avoid that example by simply going after one company in a symbolic way. But nonetheless, the intent is the same -- which is to punish Israel."
The Methodist renewal advocate says he is fairly hopeful that most Methodists will not go along with this divestment plan...
I haven't been posting that much on the divestment movement lately because frankly, the "movement" is pretty well dead. The UMC just hasn't caught on quite yet.
[h/t: emailer]
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Further to the post below, Methodists Still Targeting Israel...Through Caterpillar, the UMC has posted video from its Pre-General Conference Briefing. Those interested should look for the Friday, 3PM panel, "Divestment, the Middle East and Sudan,&... Read More
Sol -
I'm not sure it is a dead movement. It suffered a setback in 2006 (in the case of the PC(USA))- but its fundamental purpose (which is to affect public opinion in a propagandist fashion) lives on. And if these can re-create a climate that facilitates that, we'll soon see churches piling on to divest once again.
That the motive is propaganda is readily apparent - as we're not talking about sums of money that can in any way have an impact on their own. It is only by granting legitimacy to the idea "of punishing Israelis and companies that do any business whatsoever with Israelis for their perceived crimes against the obviously innocent and blameless Palestinians - because you know, it is the way those Jews ... er ... I mean Zionists are."
It is a racist, bigoted movement - and the mainline churches (not to be confused with all or even most Christians) are lining up to enter the anti-Jewish fray.
If I weren't broke, I'd buy Caterpillar stock.
You/me both, pal. Still, you can show your love with some Cat merchandise:
http://www.shopcaterpillar.com/caterpillar/default_global.asp
Caterpillar stock is fairly cheap right now. They had a good fourth quarter - at least, slightly beating analysts' expectations.
>>the "movement" is pretty well dead.
I couldn't disagree more. The aim has been to keep the notion of an apartheid state of Israel simmering in the arena of American public opinion, just enough to slowly turn the tide of opinion against US governmental support of the country. The various anti-Israel church proposals that continue to be introduced, even if expected to fail on the plenary floor, still function as an excuse to present "educational" forums and materials to a public that doesn't know better. In this regard, the movement has been succeeding.
From liberal non-Jewish friends, I am increasingly hearing opinions critical of Israel--advanced with unthinking conviction--that simply weren't uttered four years ago: "Israel's damn wall," "seeing how we don't get the Palestinian view since Jews control the media," "the apartheid that Palestinians suffer under," "Palestinians who are experiencing their own kind of apartheid," "the terrible checkpoints," "the Holocaust that is happening among the Palestinians."
I would hope I'm wrong, and that you are right.
EV -
I'm hearing much the same from 'conservative' non-Jewish friends as I am from 'liberal' non-Jewish friends. Some of the statements you list are a little more extreme than I am hearing - but the gist is the same as you report. (This happens among some Jewish friends, but that is a separate issue.)
Most worrisome to me is the inroads this steady drumbeat is making with 'conservative Christians'. Because many of these have been supportive of Israel, they are often regarded as immune - but they're not. [Leave aside, for a moment, people's views of their intentions, they have, for the most part been solid supporters of both Israel and of the Jewish people.] But propaganda of this kind works on them as well as anyone.
Those of us who can see it for what it is detest and loathe it, but most people don't see it. Instead they give the anti-Israel crowd a pass - pretending they are motivated by a desire for justice or compassion for Palestinians. This is decidedly (and laughably) inaccurate as many of these can barely control their overt hatred of all things Jewish - but they're still credited as being somehow moral.