[The following, by Will Spotts, is crossposted from The PC(USA) on Israel and Palestine.]

Item 11-04 From the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, the Human Rights Update 2010

In 2008, the 218th General Assembly instructed the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy to "Identify Violations of the Civil Rights of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the United States and Other Areas of the World, Along with Other Incidents of Violation of Religious Freedoms, as Part of the Regular Human Rights Report to the General Assembly." This was part of a GA referral of an overture from the Presbytery of Newton. This is one of several items the ACSWP has chosen to address in its Human Rights Update 2010. The instruction is quite clear and unambiguous - the Committee is to focus on "violations of the civil rights of CHRISTIANS, JEWS, and MUSLIMS ... along with other incidents of VIOLATION OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS."

It is a clear enough instruction, and it seems a fair enough approach. The problem is, the ACSWP has decided NOT TO ADDRESS THIS MANDATED TOPIC. Instead they refer us to the work of another committee:

The Advisory Committee for Social Witness Policy offers zero rationale for its failure to address the topic - though it does cryptically and open-endedly "expect to do more with this referral in the future." In the meantime, the report to which the ACSWP refers commissioners, "Breaking Down the Walls" - a product of the Middle East Study Committee of the PC(USA), is biased and wholly inadequate to the topic.

Having elected not to seriously address this referral, the ACSWP did not remain content with silence - the legitimate product of their work on the subject. Instead they decided to affirm the MESC's truly odd presentation of a US State Department document, International Religious Freedom Report 2009. They completely bypass any discussion of the religious discrimination in Muslim majority countries with two sentence:

And

Instead, they find Israeli "discrimination against both Muslims and Christians and neglect of their holy sites."

So, after scouring the world for examples of violations of religious freedoms in accordance with their clear instruction from the 218th General Assembly of the PC(USA), the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy FOUND ONLY ONE NATION WORTHY OF COMMENT: ISRAEL. And, in considering religious discrimination against Muslims, Jews, and Christians, the ACSWP FOUND MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS TO BE THE ONLY VICTIMS OF SUCH DISCRIMINATION DESERVING OF PRESBYTERIAN ATTENTION; and the ACSWP FOUND ONLY JEWS TO BE GUILTY OF ANY RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION MERITING PRESBYTERIAN SCRUTINY.

If commissioners decide to adopt this report, they need to be aware that the egregious double standard is appalling and unjustifiable to anyone who values fairness.

Will Spotts