This page lists our reports and commentary from earlier in September, 2007

Tuesday morning

A Challenge from Accra for North American Churches

The second morning of the conference began with gathering music and prayer, led again by the Rev. David Gambrel.

We then turned our attention to the very important statement issued by the General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches meeting Accra, Ghana, in 2004. A recently published pamphlet with the text of the Accra Confession introduces it by explaining that the Confession was "based on the theological conviction that the economic and environmental injustices of today’s global economy require the Reformed family to respond as a matter of faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Accra Confession calls upon Reformed Christians around the world to engage injustices in the world as an integral part of their churches’ witness and mission."

To lead us into this material, we heard first from the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the PC(USA) and current President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and then from the Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi, who is the General Secretary of the World Alliance, and is originally from Ghana.

Monday evening worship

Our time of worship on Monday was centered on the celebration of Communion, in what worship leader David Gambrell called a "Word and Table Service."

The service opened with a responsive reading of Micah 6:8:

God has shown us what is good.
What does the Holy One require?
To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.

The Rev. Roberto Jordan preached the sermon, taking the conference theme seriously by challenging us to think in new ways about "Becoming Neighbors.

To be neighbors, he said, is to be shaped by our sisters and brothers in the community of faith – with no person being above another person, no nation being superior to another nation. Each of us has a different function, different gifts, and it’s that variety of gifts (and our respect for each other’s gifts) that makes the church a dynamic movement rather than simply an institution. Only when we begin to practice this kind of "closeness" with those who are different from us will we be truly practicing neighborliness.

These official letters of support for both ENDA and the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act are a result of PEP, the Presbyterian Equality Project, working in partnership with the Religion and Faith Program of the Human Rights Campaign, Washington, DC.

The Presbyterian Equality Project asks you to contact your member of Congress now to ask for her or his support of ENDA and Hate Crimes Act of 2007. We call upon all members of Congress to do the right thing by supporting fairness and justice by voting for both ENDA and the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act.

Here's the second installment reporting on our conference, with still more to come.

From the Witherspoon conference

Monday afternoon

The New Social Creed

Outsourcing war

One of the concerns raised during the Ghost Ranch Week for Peace and Justice was the growing use of contract security operatives as part of the U.S. occupation force in Iraq. That issue rose to front-page status last week when the Iraqi Interior Ministry charged the operatives of Blackwater USA opened fire without provocation in Baghdad, killing at least eight civilians. That is of course being denied by Blackwater, and the U.S. military says they are investigating.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday, Sept. 23, published brief comments by experts on various aspects of the private security forces.

The introduction to the story >>

At last, here's a first installment reporting on our conference, with more to come.

by Doug King

From the Witherspoon conference

Called to mission in an age of Empire

The Witherspoon Society conference was held earlier this week, from September 16 to 19 at the Hampton Inn in downtown Louisville, near the offices of the Presbyterian General Assembly. While the registered participants were not as many as we had hoped, the group was augmented by a number of people from the Louisville area who dropped in for at least part of the event, and enriched it by their own contributions.

Your WebWeaver has been occupied with other things since returning home Wednesday evening, but I want to give you a brief report now, and add to it in the days to come both with my own observations and the full texts of many of the presentations.

The first installments of our report include:

Reports still to come:

Contents include reports from the Week for Peace and Justice at Ghost Ranch; Gene TeSelle's discussion of the "Social Creed," 100 years after its adoption; a discussion on "Immigration, Identity, and God's Providence," and much more.  For table of contents (and page numbers), jump to back cover.

Launch of nationwide observances set for Sept. 16

LOUISVILLE - September 13, 2007 – The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) , an affinity group of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) committed to nonviolence and peacemaking, is urging Presbyterians to join a continuous nationwide ecumenical prayer vigil and witness to protest the Iraq War, starting Sept. 16.

More than 30 religious organizations are expected to launch the non-stop anti-war initiative with prayer vigils in churches and by staging witnesses in cities across the country.

The effort is being sponsored by the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq (CPWI), a group that PPF executive director Rick Ufford-Chase helped form to organize a large national peace witness last March in Washington, DC.     The full story >>

Two of the seven American soldiers who wrote of their pessimism about the war, in an Op-Ed article that appeared in The New York Times on Aug. 19, were killed in Baghdad on Monday. They were not killed in combat, nor on a daring mission. They died when the five-ton cargo truck they were riding in overturned.

The victims, Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray, 26, and Sgt. Omar Mora, 28, were among the authors of "The War as We Saw It," in which they expressed doubts about reports of progress.

Among many other important points, they wrote:

As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day.

Iraq Moratorium – another way to call for peace in Iraq   

The THIRD FRIDAY of every month beginning Friday September 21st

You're invited to join with millions to:

If you’ve been paying attention to the appearance of Gen. David Petraeus and and U.S. ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker before four congressional committees in the past two days, you may be wondering about the ways they have been portraying the situation in Iraq. Bad, indeed – but getting better. Not much, but a little, and if we just keep working at it, and fighting, they see at least some hope that things will get better yet.

For an alternative view of the situation in Iraq, you might take a look at a new article in The Nation magazine, which reminds us of the President’s frequent declaration that his war is making us safer in America. The first piece of the answer:

According to the July 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, Al Qaeda has fully reconstituted itself in Pakistan's northern border region. Terrorist attacks worldwide have grown dramatically in frequency and lethality since 2001. New terrorist groups, from Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia to the small groups of young men who bombed subways and buses in London and Madrid, have multiplied since 9/11.

Meanwhile, despite the Bush Administration's boasts, the total number of people it has convicted of engaging in a terrorist act since 9/11 is one (Richard Reid, the shoe bomber).

Following what former Attorney General John Ashcroft called the "paradigm of prevention," the US has engaged in acts of torture, "preventive detention," violation of human rights in the US and around the world, and much more. The result has been to increase America’s isolation, to escalate hostility toward the US in the Muslim world, and much more.

It’s a fairly long article by David Cole and Jules Lobel, but worth a read if you want helpful ways to think (and talk) about the endless war.

The Office of the General Assembly has announced that the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has decided not to seek another term as stated clerk.

Kirkpatrick's current term will conclude at the end of the 218th General Assembly (2008) in San Jose, CA, next June.

An important victory was won for Colombian trade unionists and human rights defenders last week as the full Senate approved a foreign aid bill that contained significant cuts in military aid to Colombia and an increase in aid for investigations of human rights abuses.

Michael Adee, National Field Organizer of More Light Presbyterians, offers his report on the conference with the headline, "Presbyterians make history in Atlanta!"

Witherspoon brings a little light to More Light

One little glitch occurred at the beginning of each of the first couple times of conference worship.  Each service was to be opened with the lighting of a Community Candle.  But when matches were found, no one could get them to light.

The Rev. Dr. D. James Kennedy, the Christian Right leader Rolling Stone magazine described as "the most influential evangelical you’ve never heard of," died September 5 in Florida of complications from a heart attack. His passing, only months after the death of Jerry Falwell, signals the generational shift of leadership now occurring in evangelical Christian circles.

Diana Butler Bass, a scholar in American religion and author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith, sees this as one more step toward the clear end of an age when American Protestants viewed their faith as the guiding light of their nation’s life and culture, and saw that linkage as necessary for the well-being of their church.

35 Presbyterian collegiate women gather in nation's capital

Presbyterian News Service reports that the National Network of Presbyterian College Women (NNPCW) held its annual leadership event July 25-29 at American University in Washington D.C. This year's theme, "Speaking Truth to Power," drew 35 young women from private and public universities nationwide.

Many issues pertinent to the upcoming 2008 election influenced the conference. To teach about the connection between faith and politics, the leadership event planning team organized a different plenary speaker each night and a visit to the PC(USA)'s Washington, D.C. office.

One of the speakers was Mara Vanderslice, the founder of Common Good Strategies. Her focus is on helping elected officials and candidates with tools to connect with religiously diverse communities. One student, Rachel Lewis, a senior at the University of Washington, commented "I really liked the talk by Vanderslice because she is actually working in the political field to help Democrats understand how faith and politics is for everyone, not just Republicans."

Take Action
Write a letter to the editor about the September 11 anniversary.

Six years ago nobody could say for sure what was the best response to the September 11 attacks. But six years later the results are in: In an essay published this week, FCNL’s Senior Military Analyst Dan Smith talks about the rising costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and analyzes how the unilateral, "preemptive" military response to the September 11 attacks has increased hatred of the United States, helped to recruit new supporters for violent armed groups, and destabilized key U.S. allies in the Middle East.

Despite these negative consequences, Congress continues to focus U.S. foreign policy almost exclusively on military solutions. The budget approved by Congress allocates 95 percent of all federal dollars for foreign engagement to the military. The entire State Department budget, money for foreign aid, and support for the United Nations must come out of the remaining 5 percent. Rather than continuing to throw more money at the failed military strategy, Congress should legislate a new policy of international engagement based on diplomacy, development, and support for international institutions.

You would have plenty of company in making your argument in your letter to the editor. FCNL has collected a series of quotes from military officers, U.S. intelligence agencies, and political leaders describing the failures of U.S. policy that might be useful for you letter to the editor.

As Congress receives a number of "reports on the success of the war (or lack thereof)," Wallis is calling on people of faith to pray for our senators and representatives as they begin a crucial debate about next steps in the war.

He writes:

So we would like to begin this great debate with prayer. Prayers for peace and prayers for the wisdom and courage to end this war in the ways that are most protective of human life, especially of the innocent. Our nation's political leaders are listening to the faith community as never before. We've spoken to several members of Congress who are considering reading a selection of your prayers for peace into the Congressional Record.

More on the Surge for Peace >>

We have reported before on the campaign to deny tenure to political science professor Norman Finkelstein because of his argument the Israel uses charges of anti-Semitism to stifle criticism of Israeli policy. He agreed on Wednesday to resign immediately "for everybody's sake," and read a joint statement announcing his resignation while about a hundred protesters gathered outside the dean's office to support him.

More Light Presbyterians gather for national conference in Decatur, Georgia 

With the theme "Liberating Love, Celebrating Hope!" some 75 registered participants and many drop-ins came together at North Decatur Presbyterian Church from August 31 through September 2.

WASHINGTON REPORT TO PRESBYTERIANS
September-October 2007

· The Second Chance Act, providing opportunities for people who have been in prison to make a start on a new life;
· The energy bills and resolution of differences between the House and Senate versions; and
· Immigration, with particular emphasis on family reunification.

Elenora Giddings Ivory has accepted a new call to ministry with the World Council of Churches as the Director of the WCC P3 – Public Witness: Addressing Power and Affirming Peace. She has tendered her resignation as the Director of the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and will not be there after the end of October 2007. The final vote on her appointment will take place when the WCC Executive Committee meets in Armenia, September 25-28.

Elenora’s starting date in the Washington Office was November 29, 1989. She says that "It has been an exciting 18 years in this position…(and) I will miss certain aspects of it, but I look forward to the challenges of my new call."

Spiritual renewal can and must lead to social transformation

Wallis, president and executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, said that "spiritual activity doesn't mean revival until it changes something in society. Conversely, we won't get to social justice in America and the world unless and until we have a revival of faith."

PHP grants help build more socially responsible food supply

Presbyterian News Service reports that the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) has awarded grants totaling $196,300 to 26 organizations around the country working to alleviate hunger by creating a more just and healthier food system.

Funding for the grants, which represents a portion of awards given each year by PHP, comes from the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.

The grants will help support projects that focus on such issues as food accessibility for low-income families, justice for farm workers, strengthening local food economies, sustainable development, community organizing, and education and advocacy around food issues.

Some time ago we posted a review of Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action, by David Ray Griffin, who (along with numerous other writers) analyzed the 9/11 act of terror as quite possibly an deliberate action by the US government. Many people have reacted to the elaborate "conspiracy theory" with some skepticism – not to mention outrage and such.

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