Friday, June 13, 2008
When the PC(USA) released a statement last month that seemed to indicate a true pang of conscience publicly displayed, I thought it a positive sign, but felt we ought to wait and see. Our friend Will Spotts takes note of the fact that the church has quietly substituted a new, edited version for the one they originally released. It seems the original accepted too much responsibility for the PC(USA), and was too exculpatory of the Israelis for the anti-Zionist politicos within the church hierarchy. Will's excellent analysis is here: Vigilance Against Vigilance: How the PC(USA) Inoculates Itself against Awareness of its Institutional Anti-Jewish Biases
Oh, by the way, one of the guests at the next PC(USA) General Assembly? Jeff Halper.
Update: The organized Jewish Community is on top of it: Jewish Agencies Express Profound Hurt by Presbyterian Church Actions
The revised document, according to the Jewish statement, "is infused with the very bias that the original statement condemned." The Jewish agencies note "with profound hurt" that the "new season of mutual understanding and dialogue" called for by the 2006 Presbyterian General Assembly "has indeed not yet arrived."
The Following is a Joint Statement issued from the American Jewish Committee; American Jewish Congress; Anti-Defamation League; B'nai B'rith International; Central Conference of American Rabbis; Hadassah: The Women's Zionist Organization
Jewish Council for Public Affairs; Jewish Reconstructionist Federation; The Rabbinical Assembly; United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; Union for Reform Judaism; Women's League for Conservative Judaism; and the Women of Reform Judaism.
The joint agency statement follows:
"We are deeply distressed by the revisions made to the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s recent statement calling for "Vigilance against anti-Jewish ideas and bias."
The revised statement is infused with the very bias that the original statement condemned. We are disappointed that after taking steps toward better relations, the church has rescinded many of the positive statements it made about rooting out anti-Jewish invective. It is even more disturbing that this occurs after Jewish groups had warmly welcomed the original statement, and only days before the church's upcoming biennial. As such, we can no longer welcome its publication and must rescind the letters and statements in which we welcomed the original document...
And at the Union for Reform Judaism: American Synagogue Leaders Decry Presbyterian Church’s “Revised” Statement on “Vigilance against Anti-Jewish Ideas and Bias”
Dear Reverend Kirkpatrick-
Candor compels us to respond immediately and clearly to the “expanded” and “revised” publication of “Vigilance against Anti-Jewish Ideas and Bias,” and to tell you as plainly as we know how that the new statement marks a new low-point in Presbyterian-Jewish relations...
Both letters are worth reading.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: A Backsliding Presbyterian Church (Update).
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/14916
Jerry Van Marter, coordinator of the Presbyterian News Service, just doesn't get it: ..."The Jewish groups go nuts every time we make any statement they interpret as favorable to Palestine or the Palestinians," Van Marter told NJJN. Van Marte... Read More
This is another serious setback to good relations between Presbyterians and Jews. It is terribly disheartening. After all of the grassroots work done at the 2006 General Assembly, a few people can cause this kind of damage by irresponsibly changing a formerly good statement. Will Spotts has referred to the corruption present in the denomination: this incident confirms his point.