218^th General Assembly
2008

With Notes on Study Committees to be Appointed by the Moderator or by ACSWP.

Dear Friends,

This is one of periodic memos sent on behalf of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy and follows most directly the memo of April 2008, “Prophetic Choices before the 218th General Assembly.” That memo outlined the ten actions that the Advisory Committee was bringing before the General Assembly. This memo is designed to update you on this part of the Assembly’s work and touch on other matters of importance to those concerned with social justice work in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We encourage those interested in serving on pending study teams to go to www.pcusa.org/acswp/pdf/taskforcecommitteelist.pdf to see the full list of positions open—almost 100!

[See a recent note from Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow, encouraging people to volunteer, or to suggest others to serve on some of the many Task Forces, Study Groups and other bodies created by actions of the recent General Assembly.]

Please note that this is not the complete listing of social justice actions of the General Assembly: we are preparing a resource that will contain that full witness and include congregation-friendly suggestions for study and action (building somewhat on the Church & Society GA issue tradition). The “Assembly in Brief” is an official summary (OGA08030, $8/25), The Presbyterian Outlook provides a summary; and specific “affinity groups” provide their summaries, such as that of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. (http://www.presbypeacefellowship.org/node/188).

The Witherspoon Society provides a very thoughtful comprehensive summary.

Critiques of almost all our reports can be found at www.theird.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=231&srcid=734.

The Advisory Committee (and many other bodies in the church) are still exploring the right combination of web and print communication approaches that will complement each other.

Each of the subsequent paragraphs of this memo will expand upon the following summary results:

1. “Comfort My People: A Policy Statement on Serious Mental Illness.” This substantial and pastoral report on ministry to and with persons affected by serious mental illness was approved overwhelmingly and has already received positive endorsement from across the theological spectrum of the Church.   Details >>

2. “A Social Creed for the 21st Century.” While receiving considerable debate and determined opposition from some, this one-page summary of Presbyterian and ecumenical social goals was approved by 83% of commissioners.   Details >>

3. “The Power to Change: U.S. Energy Policy and Global Warming.” Virtually unanimous support, following strong support in the Assembly Committee on Social Justice.   Details >>

4. “From Homelessness to Hope: Constructing Just, Sustainable Communities for All God’s People.” Initial resistance in Committee led to a thorough but friendly consolidation of the recommendations section that led to strong support for the whole report.   Details >>

5. “God’s Work in Women’s Hands: Pay Equity and Just Compensation.” This forthright resolution went unchallenged in its careful statistical and other analysis of why women and people of color generally receive less in salary than men and whites, both in society and in the church. The Assembly authorized an updated “Theology of Compensation” among its recommendations.   Details >>

6. “Struck Down, But Not Destroyed: From Hurricane Katrina to a More Equitable Future.” Approved, including recommendations to develop material for other presbyteries and areas vulnerable to natural disasters and governmental neglect or abandonment.   Details >>

7. “Response to Referral: Smithfield Foods Labor Situation.” This referral summarizes the Church’s engagement and approved a team to continue monitoring of a labor rights and safety situation, possibly with liaison to the Hunger Program, which works on justice and sustainability in matters of food production, distribution and consumption.    Details >>

8. “Lift Every Voice: Democracy, Voting Rights, and Electoral Reform.” In Committee, there was considerable debate over particular recommendations leading to the removal of one: that the Electoral College, a chief shaper and distorter of election strategies, be sidelined. For other changes, see below.    Details >>

9. “Human Rights in Colombia.” This brief resolution was approved, after debate focusing on the “free trade agreement,” along with a somewhat similar action on Philippines, where ministers of the United Church of Christ have been tortured or killed.   Details >>

10. “Costly Lessons of the Iraq War,” with study paper, “To Repent, Restore, Re-build, and Reconcile.” This resolution was not seriously discussed but was answered by a good overture from Baltimore that was itself tempered somewhat in its call for withdrawal from Iraq. At the same time, the Study Paper was “commended for study” in the church—despite the clear linkages between it and the neglected “Costly Lessons.” Further clarification may indicate how the resolution itself, though not adopted, may be studied along with the Study Paper.   Details >>

Summary: The Advisory Committee brought a substantial amount of work to the Assembly, almost all of which was strongly affirmed. The notes that follow also describe new assignments for ACSWP.

Short Background on Actions summarized above:

An overview of work of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) was provided commissioners in our “agency summary,” or “narrative,” which described the mandate, methods, and membership of the Committee. This is an information item to be received by the Assembly. With this, two commissioners are usually assigned the task of reviewing the Committee’s minutes, which are also made available to all at the Assembly. Both of these records passed muster well. Especially if you are reading this on-line, it may be noted that the Assembly reporting does not include assessment of websites although most business is now done on laptop through the dedicated software program, PC-Biz.

1. Comfort My People. This statement was presented by Brenda Gales, Task Force Moderator; Tom Davis, Task Force member; and Gordon Edwards, member of that Task Force and out-going Chair of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy. In terms of implementation, it contains a strong argument for “parity” in cost reimbursement for mental illness comparable to that for physical illness. The Presbyterian Serious Mental Illness Network (PSMIN), related to the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA), can give guidance beyond the resources listed in the text and a study guide is being prepared.

2. The Social Creed text (http://www.pcusa.org/acswp/socialcreed.htm) is identical to that adopted by the National Council of Churches of Christ General Assembly late last year in preparation for this, the 100th anniversary of the original Social Creed.

More information is available in two-page backgrounder, which was provided along with a listing of previous PC(USA) social witness policies on the topics included in the Social Creed. A DVD documentary has been prepared and will be distributed, along with a booklet explaining each “plank” more fully. All royalties from sales of the prayerbook, Prayers for the New Social Awakening (Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), go for a successor to Church & Society and to help publicize the Social Creed.

Chairperson Lidia Serrata, consultant historian Gene TeSelle, and study group members Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty and Richard Poethig all made presentations, along with Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the NCCC, who was visiting the Assembly. In terms of implementation, the Social Creed may provide a helpful counterpoint to the platforms of both major political parties. Deeper analysis of twelve of its major topics is contained in the book To Do Justice, edited by Rebecca (“Toddie”) Peters and Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty.

3. Energy Resolution: most opposed in Committee testimony by two representatives of the Institute for Religion and Democracy who denied the seriousness of human-driven climate change, the resolution drew on work on carbon neutrality from a study team headed by Ms. Pam McVety, some of which was posted on the ACSWP web-site this past 18 months. Prof. James Martin-Schramm of Luther College re-drafted and added to the material, carefully documenting the difficulties with fossil and nuclear options and relative advantages of more “green” technologies and the social changes needed to employ them. In terms of implementation, we note not only the expected Washington and UN Office assignments, and the good work of Presbyterians for Restoring Creation, but the re-establishment of an Environmental Justice Office in the General Assembly Council.

4. Homelessness Study: This Report was presented by the chair of the study team, Laura Jervis of NYC, whose ministry has included envisioning and building 20 apartment buildings, some with the supportive care called for in the resolution. Norman Fong, housing activist and administrator in San Francisco, Bobbi Hargleroad, chief author of the Report, and Simone Hennessee, Director of Providence House in Shreveport, LA, spoke to the resolution. Thus, despite the consolidation of a number of recommendations, the momentum was positive. Leslie Woods of the Washington Office was wonderful in assisting the re-write pair of smart commissioners. The only piece lost was support for a law that would replace the Home Mortgage Deduction with a kind of tax credit, intended to cut the subsidy for second and third homes. The Presbyterian Network to End Homelessness was also present with Bob Brashear (also former PHEWA chair), Marc Greenberg of NY’s Interfaith Housing Coalition, and Jean Kim—known to all activists!

5. Pay Equity: This study team was represented by Gloria Albrecht of ACSWP and Vicky Lovell, economist member of the team (Esperanza Guajardo, Chair, could not be at the GA).

One of the key pieces here was the example of a tool for assessing pay equity in the presbyteries: Baltimore Presbytery has developed such a tool and the Moderator of that presbytery who initiated their study was present. The Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns (ACWC), which had consulted on the study, also had key persons speak to the study. In terms of implementation, even in a recession, it will be important to present this resolution’s concern for fairness in compensation to both presbyteries and congregations.

6. Struck Down, But not Destroyed (Katrina): This resolution, developed in consultation with the Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns (ACREC), was presented by its primary author, Prof. Ron Peters of Pittsburgh Seminary, himself raised in New Orleans and related to persons who have suffered deeply since Katrina and the other hurricanes’ impact. Like the Homelessness paper, this resolution honored the volunteerism of many Presbyterians working with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA); it moved from charity to justice, advocating both; and it called for serious investment of unrestricted reserves held by the Presbyterian Foundation in low-cost housing development, including green development. Implementation of this resolution comes in preparing other vulnerable presbyteries and regions (not only cities) for natural disasters that may especially devastate the poor, but in encouraging the repairing work of government for serious holes in our social fabric.

7. Smithfield Foods: Coming out of a strong 2006 GA statement of concern on behalf of workers at the largest pork processing plant in the world, in Tar Heel, NC, ACSWP had been referred a request to meet with management and workers, and with two local presbyteries; Coastal Carolina (in whose bounds the plant is located) and New Hope (which originated the overture of concern). Prof. John Knapp of Samford University spoke for ACSWP and was a participant in talks with top management, labor seeking to organize the plant, and presbytery representatives. (The PCUSA does not hold stock in the company; hence no involvement for the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment).

The monitoring team recommended is to come from both presbyteries if possible and to report to the next General Assembly. (A related study is updating the 2004 Immigration resolution in light of US detention and deportation policies that have greatly affected the undocumented immigrants working in meat packing and other plants).

8. Voting Rights: Roger Gench, Vice-Chair of the study team, preached the report to the Committee. Many comments tested recommendations, modifying but retaining the call for DC voting rights, and adding encouragement for greater rights for Puerto Rico (while avoiding the basic question of commonwealth status). Dianne Briscoe, Esq., Chair of the study team, was also present. Some implementation in terms of advocacy is possible in almost every jurisdiction where electronic voting equipment (paper verification!), alleged fraud (often an excuse for restrictive procedures; virtually no fraud has been found), and ex-offender disenfranchisement is likely. But a larger Reformed vision of the responsibilities of government is also provided.

9. Human Rights in Colombia: This received considerable debate, including the voices of some key Colombian church leaders present. The Committee and then the Assembly supported the resolution’s concern for the internally displaced 2-3 million people, the role of the paramilitaries, the anti-drug program, and large US military subsidies and presence. Persons who had served with the Presbyterian accompaniment program were also present; that remains a area for courageous witness for those willing to accompany Colombian church leaders who have been exposed to death threats and surveillance.

Other Business associated with ACSWP:

PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SERVE ON ONE OF THE FOLLOWING STUDY TASK FORCES (not a complete list!):

11. The Assembly approved a new Middle East Study and possible resolution, with focus on Israel/Palestine. This was recommended by the General Assembly Council, in a response to a referral that included ACSWP as we are the body directed to perform studies of social questions. The Committee voted to have the current and immediate past two Moderators, Bruce Reyes-Chow, Joan Gray, and Rick Ufford-Chase, appoint the 9 members of a study team to produce a report to the 2010 General Assembly. The Office of the General Assembly coordinates this study.

12. Gun Violence study: Recommended by National Capitol Presbytery, this immediately links to a conference at Stony Point, “Gun Violence and Gospel Values,” Sept 15-17, 2008.

(If you wish to serve on this, are you available to go to that conference?) ACSWP coordinates this study.

13. AIDS study (including public policy, the church’s role, international dynamics): from two presbyteries, a call for a more comprehensive treatment of this tragic subject. The study team will include medical and mission personnel, advocates, other expert volunteers.

14. Public Education study: called for by ACREC, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s decision and the trend toward “re-segregation,” but including other significant factors facing public education. Martha Bettis Gee of the Office for Children and Families will be among the staff to this study team. Teachers, superintendents, Board of Ed members…

15. Review of the Advocacy and Advisory Committees: This review is to examine the relations of the three Committees, building on the self-studies currently under way, and is lodged in the GAC, although these committees report directly to the GA. The current self-study processes are based on the academic accreditation model; this additional review puts the full scope of PCUSA public witness as the context, which is appropriate for developing an overview of these committees.

16. Study of Equal Rights for Families with same-gender Parents: Coming from two overtures, this study (to be appointed by Moderator Bruce Reyes Chow) will presumably look at issues of law, ethics, public policy and theology, though the Assembly declined to consider re-definition of the theology of marriage.
 

Other Assembly actions:

This report does not include discussions of the “big” decision to send the question of whether to remove “amendment B” out to the presbyteries; ACSWP supported the John Knox overture to restore the Authoritative Interpretation allowing “scruples” for conscience on the matter of gay ordination and said their was no inconsistency in supporting the discernment and possible exemption approach and removing G-6.0106b.

Nor does this discuss the proposed revision of the Form of Government (nFOG— a new Book of Order), where we favored the two-year study model the Assembly adopted. How much, for example, is the new FOG predicated on a “missional” and possibly more congregational view of the Church?

Nor do we discuss the two “Special Committees” to be appointed to consider changes in the Book of Confessions: one on the Heidelberg Catechism (to consider a new translation) and two, on the Belhar Confession (to considering adding this South African Confession to address racism more fully).

All of these clearly have bearing on the social witness of the church, especially if the study committee on Belhar were to recommend the writing of a new confession for the 21st Century rather than adoption of the document from the South African context.

The value of the General Assembly in our Presbyterian system cannot be underestimated, as it is a mixture of government of the church, worship, fellowship, and witness to the world. We are delighted that the Church’s new leaders carry strong social justice commitments. We welcome your thoughts and your sharing this write up with others.

If you would like to be added to the informal list to receive communications like this one, about the work of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) , please send your request to ACSWP@pcusa.org .

Grace and Peace,

ACSWP Staff, in consultation with the Co-Chairs

Please visit http://www.pcusa.org/acswp/ for more information about the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy.

Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
100 Witherspoon Street
Louisville, KY 40202
(888) 728-7228

Coordinator of ACSWP summarizes what's coming

The Rev. Dr. Christian T. Iosso, on behalf of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy which he staffs, has sent this letter to an e-list of interested people around the church. He has graciously agreed for us to share it here. It has been edited very slightly.

Dear Friends interested in Social Justice and Social Witness Policy:

At tax time, with a recession taking hold – in the midst of a very exciting political primary season—with two wars grinding on – and before Pentecost, I write to share with you information on a number of items going to this year’s General Assembly and on several other matters. We use links rather than attachments and I urge you to look at the resources made available, especially posted copies of the policies themselves. The core of all this effort is the conviction that the Church must speak and act on matters of grave social concern as part of our witness to Jesus Christ.

Because of the two-year General Assembly cycle, we have a seemingly larger-than-usual number of reports going to the commissioners. In order for elected persons to affect the programs of the General Assembly Council, it is necessary to put matters of social concern before the Assembly so that policies can be guided by representatives of the whole church. The word “policy” is used to show that we are not simply “pronouncing” on topics, or making “deliverances” in an omni-directional manner. The recommendations in all of the reports I will name are printed first according to General Assembly practice; the rationales or background statements follow, even if logically they should come first. But the key rationale is in the Book of Order, that “truth is in order to goodness;” hence the practice of adopting specific recommendations, rather than simply “receiving” them (which we do for study documents).

At this time, as my opening line suggests, we are seeing major changes in prospect on a very significant scale, and these changes affect everything the Advisory Committee is bringing to the Assembly. A brief overview of the set of 9 reports can be found on the ACSWP GA 2008 flyer, Responding to the Call.

All of the following documents are available on the website >>

Or click on any title for that document (in PDF format)

FROM HOMELESSNESS TO HOPE: This resolution addresses the most drastic evidence of poverty in America, the million plus who are homeless, on average, each night. Authorized by the 2006 General Assembly and developed by expert practitioners from across the church, this speaks directly to those 50% of our congregations who do some caring ministry related to people in need – food banks, Habitat for Humanity, offering beds, investing in affordable housing, etc. The basic issue here as elsewhere is to connect the church’s charitable works to the prophetic effort to change structures. Controversial is a proposal to invest unrestricted reserves of the General Assembly Council in affordable housing at 2/3rds market rate through the risk-absorbing intermediary of LISC, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. The Church has done such program investing since the 1970s through the Creative Investment Program related to the Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) Committee and managed by the Presbyterian Foundation, but finances are tighter today.

The scarcity and commercialization of clean water resources – a big ecumenical concern, is being superceded by the pressure on basic grains, partly by the rise of agri-or-bio-fuels. This is an inefficient way to make fuel, even for transportation purposes. Beyond that aspect of the struggle over resources, we are also aware that more solvent economies are growing rapidly in energy use: China and India above all. Thus this picture has big geopolitical implications.

COSTLY LESSONS OF THE IRAQ WAR: Speaking of geopolitics, some see this long war as the intervention to end interventions. The costs in human, material, military, and diplomatic terms are enormous and mounting. How do we scale down this catastrophe? The study paper recommends a strongly Gospel-based strategy of “repent, restore, rebuild, and reconcile,” internationalizing the occupation and restoring sovereignty as swiftly as reasonable, and acknowledging continued humanitarian reconstruction responsibility by the United States. Among the foremost lessons is to insist on “police-model” responses to terrorism rather than vast military over-reactions, punishing whole societies and downgrading the future influence and power of the United States. Among the key recommendations here is that the peacemaking approach of 1980 be updated with the help of college and seminary faculty consultations to address the changed place of the US in the post-Cold War order. Although the mainline churches were right in counseling against the war, the task of re-visioning our country’s place in the world requires new ways of teaching “the Gospel of peace.”

STRUCK DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED: FROM KATRINA TO A MORE EQUITABLE FUTURE: This resolution is a response to the Gulf Coast crisis that again builds upon the great charitable work of Presbyterians, at least 30,000 of whom have volunteered through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to help New Orleans and other communities re-build. One church near a broken levee has an American flag painted on its roof: would that this metaphor for governmental shelter and protection had proven true. The questions here are not only those of justice and governmental responsibility under God, but of our social bond with afflicted areas and populations within the United States. The study paper’s main author grew up in New Orleans and asks hard questions about the elements of “structural racism” and cultural loss in the continued diaspora of almost half of the citizens of that city, without forgetting the losses in Mississippi and elsewhere, and on the environment itself.

GOD’S WORK IN WOMEN’S HANDS (PAY EQUITY): Over the past 30 years, women’s wages have moved from being 65% to 77% of men’s comparable wages. For a church that takes the equality of women and racial-ethnic groups seriously, this basic disparity remains crucial, and deeply affects the poverty in which one sixth of US children live. This resolution builds on the policy, “God’s Work in Our Hands,” which looks at the meaning of calling in today’s world of work (1995), and provides tools for the church to improve its own track record as well as that of society. Several presbyteries have addressed the too-predictable disparities among ministers’ salaries and one, in particular, provides a model for assessing pay equity concerns.

HUMAN RIGHTS IN COLOMBIA: “More than 2,500 union members in Colombia have been killed since 1985…so far this year, 17...” (NYT, April 14, 08). Church leaders are in exile in the U.S. Members of our church “accompany” church workers still in 3-million plus slums of Colombians displaced by land seizures and terrorism by para-militaries or rebels.

It is in this context that this timely resolution provides background to a “Free-Trade” agreement now stalled in Congress. And though concerns about the impact of such agreements are expressed in the rationale, the Church is most concerned about how to minister in a climate of fear and corruption with which a government richly supported by the United States has been clearly linked. A section of this resolution looks at the similar human rights situation in Philippines, where the US supports a government responsible for the death and torture of church workers and others who challenge oligarchs and their paramilitaries.

The “war on terrorism” can be an excuse for undemocratic governments to violate human rights—this is part of the timeliness of this resolution, though it also notes the 60th Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Christian support remains crucial for the cause of human rights.

COMFORT MY PEOPLE (ON MINISTRY WITH THOSE AFFECTED BY SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS): Following the 2006 policy statement on Disabilities, this proposed policy statement (longer and more comprehensive than a resolution) addresses fundamental issues that affect a significant percentage of the population. Distinguishing between common episodic mental stresses and more major and/or systemic disorders, the policy sections recommend “parity” in treatment reimbursement and a variety of individual and community-based responses to the range of serious afflictions. Alongside this judicious use of the “medical model,” however, is an emphatically theological response for those who feel stigmatized and in exile due to serious mental illness. Sections of the report provide personal witness and inside understanding of experiences of suffering and healing, inviting all church members to work with the Holy Spirit in responding to this part of our human condition.

LIFT EVERY VOICE: DEMOCRACY, VOTING RIGHTS, AND ELECTORAL REFORM: Responding to the 2000 election debacle and continued disenfranchisement of poor and minority citizens, this resolution addresses the basic need for fairness and integrity in the US political system. Despite the re-authorization of the Civil Rights Act, the Justice Department itself has been politicized and new concerns have been raised about paperless electronic voting machines. Beyond these basic challenges, this resolution recommends larger reforms: re-enfranchisement of felons who have paid their debts to society, non-partisan election commissions, weekend or special holiday voting, DC voting rights, further campaign finance improvements, all based in an affirmative, nation-wide right to vote. Inequities between “battleground” and “bystander” states caused by the Electoral College will be very evident in this year’s general election, but the report recommends study of additional reforms of the undemocratic College and other voting methods.

A NEW SOCIAL CREED: TOWARD A NEW SOCIAL AWAKENING: One page long, the Social Creed is a consensus of Christian social teaching rather than a doctrinal creed. It recalls and celebrates the very influential 1908 Social Creed of the Federal Council of Churches that built church support for an end to child labor (in the US!), better working conditions, and several major elements of what became the New Deal 25 years later. The current Social Creed broadens concerns and anchors them theologically much more than the earlier version, and also encourages the “convergence” with Evangelicals that is increasingly evident on matters such as poverty, the environment, and the war. A book, New Prayers for the Social Awakening, inspired by the Social Creed and modeled on Walter Rauschenbusch’s Prayers for the Social Awakening (1909) has been published by Westminster/John Knox; a 28-minute documentary film will be shown at the General Assembly, and a longer booklet on the particular recommendations will also be available.

ALSO AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY--Additional communications from ACSWP:

Smithfield Foods: Response to Referral: The Advisory Committee was referred the 2006 Assembly’s strong statement of concern for working conditions and an un-coerced union election at the Smithfield Foods pork packing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina. ACSWP and representatives of two presbyteries, Coastal Carolina and New Hope, have met with workers, representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and top management of Smithfield Foods and a leading subsidiary, Murphy Brown.

Advice and Counsel Memoranda: These apply General Assembly social witness policy to overtures, commissioners’ resolutions, and other reports coming as items of business before Assembly Committees.

Narrative Report: This is a brief summary of the Committee’s work that is provided to each Assembly for information.
 

If you are in San Jose for the Assembly, we invite you to stop by the ACSWP GA booth #612 and introduce yourself. The Social Witness of the church is not something we take for granted. How can we help you in your witness where you are?

Envision: The Gospel, Politics, and the Future, a Conference at Princeton University, June 8-10, 2008. This is a major event representing the “convergence” referred to above, with major Evangelical leaders like Jim Wallis, Rich Cizik, Ron Sider, and Brian McLaren along with mainline leaders like Randall Balmer, Rita Nakashima Brock, and Miguel de la Torre. This is aimed at thoughtful activists, including young adults of many different backgrounds. The Advisory Committee is among the sponsors of this serious look at ethics and faith in this new century. See their website: www.ev08.org and consider passing this information on.

Great blessings and strength in God,

Chris Iosso
Coordinator, ACSWP.

Witherspoon treasurer Darcy Hawk reports that Pittsburgh Presbytery, on April 17, passed by a vote of 112 to 95 an overture which calls on 218^th General Assembly “to advocate for, educate about, and work toward single-payer universal health care reform through national health insurance that is privately provided (improved Medicare for all in principle) and publicly financed.”

Arguments against passage of this overture generally cited instances where the British, French, or Canadian systems have catastrophically failed individuals. These arguments overlook the social benefits of universal health care and obscure the devastation our current system visits on people of limited means, through bankruptcies, denial of service for the underinsured, and the reluctance of people to seek treatment because of the cost.

Furthermore, unlike other national health systems, this overture recommends leaving the private sector providers, physicians and hospitals, intact. A national insurance pool brings low risk people into the system to balance costs. It removes the burden of healthcare from business, reducing labor costs. In terms of Christian ethics it provides for a fairer, more equitable sharing of health care resources. I am pleased to report my presbytery passed the overture making it available for consideration in San Jose this summer.

Darcy Hawk

The full text of the overture:

An Overture to the 218th General Assembly 2008 in support of Single Payer Universal Healthcare Reform

PHEWA working group: Elder Hal Sanders; Elder Tom Graham; Elder Claudia Detwiler; Ken Love, CLP; Rev. Darcy Hawk; Rev. Bill Thomas, Rev. Bruce Mounts, Rev. Don Dutton Rev. Bebb Stone, Staff: Rev. Karen Battle.

January 2008

Whereas Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God, healed all kinds of sickness (Matthew 4:23, par) as a sign of God’s rule; Whereas Isaiah speaks God’s word to say ‘No more shall there be….an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime’ (Isaiah 65:20a).

Whereas we, as Reformed Christians, bear witness to Jesus Christ in word, but also in deed; Whereas as followers of our Great Physician Jesus, we have a moral imperative to work to assure that everyone has full access to health care;

Whereas our nation is in a crisis in health care which presents an unprecedented opportunity for our nation to provide healthcare affordable for all;

Whereas in this country there is a baby born every 51 seconds to a family with no health insurance;[1] Whereas in this the wealthiest nation in the world our infant morality rate is second highest in the industrialized world;[2]

Whereas 47 million Americans are uninsured[3] (50% employed; 25% children; 20% out of labor force as students, disabled, et.al.; 5% unemployed);[4]

Whereas the US spends nearly twice as much per capita as than any other country on health care, but we rank poorly in the 37 categories of health status measured by the World Health Organization;[5]

Whereas the rise in childhood obesity, asthma, diabetes, and other chronic diseases indicates that the overall health status of people of this country is declining;[6]

Whereas we are warned by the prophets not to heal the wounds of God’s people lightly; yet in 2006 the aggregate profits of the health insurance companies in the United States were $68 billion. During that same year more than 15,000 families were forced into bankruptcy because of medical expenses.[7]

Whereas our business employers operate at a competitive disadvantage internationally because health care costs are assumed by the governments of other industrialized nations;

Whereas the General Assemblies of the PCUSA and its predecessors since 1971 have called for reform of health delivery systems in the United States to make them accessible to the entire population;[8]

Whereas our federal government already operates efficiently and with low overhead[9] the health delivery programs of Medicare and Medicaid; and yet at the same time insurance companies spend nearly 1/3 of every premium dollar on marketing and other administrative costs and in fact, several such companies spend less than 60% of premium dollars they receive on health care services.

Whereas the American College of Physicians, the nation’s second largest physician group, has endorsed a single payer healthcare system;[10]

Whereas only a single-payer system of national healthcare coverage (privately provided; publicly financed; not socialized medicine) can save what is estimated to be $350 billion wasted annually on medical bureaucracy and redirect those funds to expanded coverage;[11] And

Whereas single-payer universal healthcare reform would increase coverage from the 60% of Americans already covered by Medicare (over 65) or Medicaid (severely limited wealth) to 100% of Americans, a net increase of only 40%:

Therefore be it resolved that Pittsburgh Presbytery overture the 218th General Assembly to advocate for, educate about, and work toward single-payer universal health care reform through national health insurance that is privately provided (improved Medicare for all in principle) and publicly financed;

Be it further resolved that the General Assembly through its Council actively pursue the goal of obtaining legislation that enacts single-payer, universal national health insurance as the program that best responds to this moral imperative of the gospel; and that the General Assembly Council monitor progress made toward this goal without regard to political party and report back to the church through its National Ministries Division on an annual basis;

Be it further resolved that the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly send a copy of this resolution to the appropriate committee chairs of the U.S. Congress and to the Washington and United Nations offices of the PCUSA;

Be it further resolved that $25,000 be directed from the Mission budget of the PCUSA to the PACT Network of PHEWA for the purpose of holding ten regional, one-day seminars supporting single payer universal healthcare reform, monies to be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

________________________________

[1] Healthcare Now Conference, Chicago, Illinois, November 10, 2007, Elder Hal Sanders.

[2] Chuck Pennachio, PhD, Executive Director, Health Care for All Pennsylvania.

[3] “The Uninsured, A Primer: Key Facts about Americans Without Health Insurance,” Kaiser Family Foundation, October 2007.

[4] Himmelfarb & Woolhandler tabulation, p. 13 “Medicare for All! A Guide to Single Payer National Health Insurance, B.S. Rosen, Chicago, Illinois.

[5] Healthcare Now Conference, Chicago, Illinois, November 10, 2007, Elder Hal Sanders.

[6] Elder Hal Sanders, Presbytery meeting, September 2007 at Camp Crestfield.

[7] Ibid.

[8] 1971 General Assembly of the PCUSA called for a national health insurance ‘single payer’ plan; and “the 200th General Assembly challenged the church by adopting ‘Life Abundant: Values, Choices, and Health Care—the Responsibility and Role of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’ in which the church was called to act upon the basic values of compassion, caring love, community wholeness and well-being, and justice that we hold to be fundamental in understanding and addressing the health issues and crises that confront the church and the nation.” Health E-News, National Health Ministries, December 21, 2007.

[9] Report of The National Bipartisan Commission on the future of Medicare, 2002, cites Medicare administrative costs at 3% of payments to providers for services to Medicare beneficiaries.

[10] Philadelphia Inquirer, December 5, 2007.

GA actions ratified (or not) by  the presbyteries   

A number of the most important actions of the 219^th General Assembly have now been acted upon by the presbyteries, confirming most of them as amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order.

We provided resources to help inform the reflection and debate, along with updates on the voting.

Our three areas of primary interest have been:

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PVJ's Facebook page

Mitch Trigger, PVJ's Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!

Voices of Sophia blog

Heather Reichgott, who has created this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:

John Harris’ Summit to Shore blogspot

John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive

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