Four documents being prepared for next summer's General Assembly   [11-3-03]

by Evan Silverstein, Presbyterian News Service

WASHINGTON -- October 31, 2003 -- The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) has received updates of a number of proposed policy documents, including four papers it is scheduled to present to next year's General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

One of the papers under development for next summer's 216th Assembly in Richmond, VA, examines the relationship between violence, religion and terrorism. Another focuses on the changing nature of families in the United States.

During its meeting here, ACSWP, which develops social polices for GA consideration, also discussed a paper on the full legalization of U.S. immigrants and other refugee-related issues. In addition, committee members heard a presentation of the draft document, "Resolution on Limited Water Resources and Takings," by Dr. Robert Stivers, a professor of ethics at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA.

"With these four challenging reports to be received at the January ACSWP meeting, the committee will have its hands full," the Rev. Peter A Sulyok, the ACSWP coordinator, said after the Oct. 23-26 meeting.

A previous version of the families document, "Living Faithfully with Families in Transition," provoked spirited debate at this year's General Assembly, giving rise to a two-page substitute drafted by members of the GA's National Issues Committee.  [Click here for a report on the debate on this report at the 2003 General Assembly.]

The 45-page report, ordered up by assemblies in 1997 and '98, was referred to that committee, which approved a two-page substitute drafted by committee members with the assistance of The Institute on Religion and Democracy, which houses the "think tank" and advocacy group, Presbyterian Action. This document became the majority report. Some committee members then drafted a minority report.

The Assembly voted to refer both reports back to ACSWP with instructions that it "strengthen" the original in consultation with the Office of Theology and Worship and report to next year's GA.

In its paper, ACSWP had urged the church to commit to being an inclusive community that values many forms of family. Detractors said it was based on "flawed" theology and sociology, diminished the importance of the traditional two-parent family, and elevated non-traditional families, including those involving unmarried partners and same-sex couples, to moral equivalence, in violation of scripture and of Christian morality.

Committee members were informed that a panel revising the families paper got feedback during an open hearing on Sept. 24. The 45-minute public session took place at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary during a two-day meeting of the special panel, which was formed by ACSWP and the General Assembly Council's Office of Theology and Worship.

During the Sept. 23-24 meeting, the Changing Families Panel discussed a draft of a theological statement produced by the Office of Theology and Worship in July.

A writing team appointed by the panel will work on the revised draft and the full document over the next month. The panel is scheduled to meet again in December. The final draft will be reviewed during ACSWP's January meeting and will go to GA next summer.

Terrorism

The 214th General Assembly (2002) directed the advisory committee to form a work group to study and report on terrorism, the relationship of religion to violence, U.S. military response, and U.S. political and economic policies that may contribute to global problems. The group is to report to the 216th General Assembly in 2004. A vital part of the study will be defining terrorism, war, and political violence, and reviewing the applicability of the concepts of peacemaking, just war and nonviolent intervention in the wake of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

A draft resolution is expected to come before ACSWP during its January meeting in Louisville. The report is to go to GA in June.

Immigration

A resolution requested by the 213th GA (2001), will advocate for comprehensive legalization for immigrants and make recommendations to the Assembly and to the entire church for raising awareness and education about immigration and refugee-related issues.

ACSWP members were informed that the work group drafting the policy met recently to discuss theological issues and underlying issues facing immigrants and refugees in the United States, particularly since 9/11. The work team is drafting a resolution for review by conference call in January. The proposal will be reviewed later that month by ACSWP before being forwarded to the 216th Assembly in June.

Limited Water Resources

In response to the 214th General Assembly's request for clarification of water-rights issues in the Klamath Valley Basin in southern Oregon and northern California, the ACSWP, in consultation with the Advisory Committee on Litigation, is preparing a "Resolution on Limited Water Resources and Takings." Stivers, the university ethics professor from Tacoma, was on hand to present an early draft of findings from a consultation held in June in Medford, OR, with various groups concerned about the issue. [Click here for an earlier essay by Dr. Stivers on the subject of "takings."]

Like many river basins in the region, Klamath Valley has been affected significantly by human use of its water. Human exploitation has altered the character of watercourses that sustain many aquatic species, especially fish, that are now threatened with extinction. Legislators have responded with new laws to protect species and habitats, but water managers have a mixed record of enforcing such laws. Sometimes managers have withheld water allocations to certain users, such as farmers who need water to irrigate crops. The withholding of water is a serious problem for farmers that has on occasion promoted intense conflict.

Among the other issues in ACSWP's grist mill:

Disabilities (1999 overture, 2006 GA report-back); serious mental illness (1999, 2006); problem pregnancies (2000, 2006); domestic violence (2001, 2008).

Committee members were informed during the meeting that two recently approved papers on globalization will be published in November as the last two installments of a series of four papers examining issues related to globalization.

One of the newly approved papers, "Globalization and Culture," was written by Ruy O. Costa of Billerica, MA, a former ACSWP committee chair. The other, "Globalization and the Environment," was compiled for ACSWP by Stivers.

In his paper, Stivers concludes that, while economic globalization "promises increasing material affluence to those who adopt its assumptions," it gives rise to "very real abuses (that) stem from basic, taken-for-granted assumptions about nature."

ACSWP was directed to monitor global trade issues by the 1996 Assembly.

The globalization papers are available at $3 each through the Presbyterian Distribution Service; call (800) 524-2612, fax (502) 569-8030, or visit www.pcusa.org/marketplace. Specify PDS # 68-600-01-002 for "The Globalization of Economic Life: Challenge to the Church," by Gordon Douglass; PDS # 68-600-01-003 for "The Employment Effects of Free Trade and Globalization," by The International Labor Rights Fund; PDS #68-600-03-003 for "Globalization and Culture," by Costa; and PDS #68-600-03-004 for "Globalization and the Environment," by Stivers.