This page lists our postings from all of March

The Presbytery of Northern New York approved Amendment 08-B by voice vote today, following its pattern of support for ordination of LGBT Presbyterians in the past. 

Terry de la Vega, an Elder in First Presbyterian Church, Potsdam, NY, says:  "The votes were not counted, so we do not know the exact level of support, which was kind of anti-climactic for me. In any case, when we gave our voice vote, Yes was decidedly louder than No, which was good enough for our moderator to call it. I hope and pray the momentum keeps going until we reach 87 Yes presbyteries!"

To which we can only say Amen!

And the Presbytery of Long Island, also meeting today, voted by 78 to 29 to approve Amendment 08-B.

That leaves the tally of presbytery votes at 64 in favor of Amendment 08-B, and 81 opposed.

Thanks to Michael Adee of MLP, and Tricia Dykers Koenig
of Covenant Network, for these reports.

Global economic crisis, strategic planning shape package of expense cuts, use of reserves

Net total of 44 positions are being eliminated

LOUISVILLE ― March 27, 2009 — The General Assembly Council (GAC) closed a $9.92 million shortfall in the 2009 General Assembly Mission Budget today (March 27), making budget reductions of $3.99 million and using unspent previous year revenue totaling $5.93 million.

In doing so, the council reduced the mission budget from $110,885,317 ― which it approved last September ― to $106,914,584. The overall 4 percent budget reduction includes a 16 percent decrease in unrestricted spending and a 1 percent increase in restricted expenditures.

The budget cuts announced today include the elimination of 14 incumbent positions and 19 vacant positions at the Presbyterian Center here.

Combined with personnel actions prior to this meeting which impact the 2009 budget, the GAC staff has been reduced by a net total of 44 positions, with 56 positions eliminated and 12 new ones created. The GAC staff now numbers just over 400, not including mission co-workers, conference center staff at Ghost Ranch and Stony Point and other GAC-related entities.

The full report from Presbyterian News Service >>

A brief report from the Aging in America Conference – and thoughts on the impending dissolution of National Health Ministries

We recently received this report from Patricia K. Gleich (Pat), Associate for National Health Ministries of the PC (USA). As that program will be disappearing, we believe they should be heard from just one last time.

Pat's Patter

I started putting together this newsletter from the Aging in America Conference, which I was fortunate to attend as the Presbyterian delegate on the National Interfaith Council on Aging (NICA) and finish it now during a time of great uncertainty about the future of National Health Ministries. Decisions by the GAC this week - forced by budget difficulties - will impact future programming of the NHM office. [WebWeaver’s note: Pat Gleich’s fears seem to have been justified. According to the decisions taken by the GAC and announced on March 27, 2009, the National Health Ministries program area has been eliminated. We find this beyond comprehension in this time when health issues are so urgent for so many.] 

And so, I write this newsletter knowing it might be the last correspondence from the office and my last opportunity to let what has become a vibrant and vital e-community know how profoundly grateful I have been to work with you. During this past almost 8 years (my first day at the center was 9-11!) I have met and talked with many of you at conferences, or worked with you on committees or task forces, but for some, we have simply been e-correspondents. My life and work have been so very enriched by these varied encounters.

And, once more, I'd like to affirm, the crucial work related to health ministries in congregations. Congregational health ministry provides the connection of a community and demonstrates the compassion of that community like nothing else. 

I think our work is even more critical now, as people are losing jobs and homes, and sometimes even hope. If your health ministry does not include support groups for people who are struggling, please add one. Create a place of psychological safety for people to be appropriately angry or sad or simply to express and have validated whatever feelings surface. We read of situations where people who have experienced job loss are too embarrassed to reveal it and go to great lengths hide their situation. I would like to think that in our congregations we find ways to let these folks know that they will not be viewed as any less valuable or competent or worthy.

Substance abuse, domestic violence and other unhealthy coping rise during times of increased stress. Be certain to be vigilant with people who might turn to uncharacteristic behaviors as they struggle to cope. This is not to target them, or demean them, but to help them. In our congregational care teams, we already understand that asking for help is rarely easy. At this time, people may appreciate an unsolicited gesture of kindness or appreciation or a barely perceptible net of safety. 

Now – back on topic with highlights from the Aging in America Conference

NICA is getting ready to launch an interactive website that will make it very much easier for individuals and adults who are looking for ideas and best practices in older adult ministry to not only find resources, but to find "communities" for discussion or simply conversation. I'm pretty certain that there will be an announcement about the launch of the new website, so watch the regular NICA website at NCOA - http://www.ncoa.org/ for the update.  

One of the other highlights of this conference was my opportunity to present the results of the Presbyterian Engagement in Volunteering study we did through the Presbyterian Panel last year. Some of the highlights of that study are contained below and the PowerPoint will also be hosted on the Healthy Living website. I'd also like to congratulate POAMN for earning and receiving a NICA Best Practices Award for their "certification program" – during the conference. 

Thank you for all that you do and I hope to hear from you still.

Of the six presbyteries meeting on Saturday, March 28, all six voted to ratify Amendment 08-B, which would remove the explicit ban on ordination of LGBP Presbyterians as elders or ministers.

Grace Presbytery (in the Dallas-Ft.Worth area of Texas) was presented with a recommendation by Presbytery Council to take No Action; rejecting that recommendation, they voted for Amendment 08-B by 203 to182, with 6 abstentions.

The Presbytery of Philadelphia also supported ordination equality for the first time in an amendment vote, by 152 to 139.

The Presbytery of Western New York (including Buffalo) returned to the supportive column after having taken no action (which has the effect of a 'no') in 2002.  Their vote was 66 Yes to 48 No.

Continuing their support of an inclusive church, two Upstate New York presbyteries voted to approve 08-B: Genesee Valley Presbytery's vote was 93 Yes to 24 No, while the Presbytery of Susquehanna Valley voted 59 Yes to 23 No. New York City Presbytery also voted to approve the amendment by 76 to 25.

In 2001-2, a total of 42 presbyteries voted for justice and to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in the Presbyterian Church (USA). This year, 62 presbyteries have already approved Amendment 09-B, while 81 have rejected it. So 143 out of a total of 173 presbyteries have voted. With 30 presbyteries yet to vote, those who support a just and inclusive church will need to work hard, pray with passion, and urge their friends to reflect deeply on this matter, and vote for a church that will more faithfully reflect the inclusive, capacious grace of God.

Hans Cornelder, editor of the PresbyWeb site, whose reporting on the voting has tended to emphasize the odds (if that’s the right word for a Presbyterian enterprise such as his!) against passage of the amendment, yesterday posted this evaluation of the tally as the voting nears its end:

“Re-Imagining Marriage, Gender & Confronting the Religious Violence of Defending Marriage” 

More Light Presbyterians is wholeheartedly committed to spiritual, ordination and marriage equality. While we are fully engaged in the national ratification campaign for the 218th General Assembly's Ordination Amendment 08-B which offers spiritual and ordination equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians, achievements toward marriage equality are being made in civil society.

In recent days, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted to approve legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry by a 186-179 vote and the Vermont State Senate voted 26-4 to approve pro-marriage equality legislation.

The Presbyterian Church (USA)'s long-standing commitments to non-discrimination in civil society based upon sexual orientation in addition to our long history of social justice should indeed instruct and inspire support for marriage equality in civil society and cause us to re-think a characterization of marriage between "a man and woman" that does not match God's creation.

In addition to sending Ordination Amendment 08-B for ratification, the 218th General Assembly commended the study of marriage. Marriage, from both a church and state perspective, is a faith conversation that merits much more thoughtful and faithful attention than simply declaring that "marriage is between a man and a woman." Defending that narrow understanding and proscription of marriage is an act of spiritual violence and civil injustice.

To help all of us understand that "defending marriage" does not advance thoughtful or faithful conversations about love, sexual ethics and marriage and it actually results in spiritual or religious violence, I recommend Professor Jon Pahl's recent article from the website of the University of Chicago's Divinity School. Click here for his article >>   Jon Pahl is Professor of the History of Christianity in North America at The Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

Network News is here!

The Winter 2009 issue of Witherspoon's newsletter is finally ready.  It includes essays on John Calvin (whose 500th birthday we commemorate this year) by former Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and Gene TeSelle, plus Douglas Ottati's reflections on the state of the society and the church in these troubled times, plus other thoughts and resources for dealing with the current economic crisis. 

For a higher quality PDF version of this issue, in case you want to print it and share it (and we hope you will!), click here.

For a brief list of the contents of this issue, in your PDF browser go to page 40 - the back cover.  Lean far to the left (yes, really), and maybe you can read it.

Right after the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Pacific ruled (apparently) against her proceeding with her candidacy for ordination, Lisa Larges wrote a strong, passionate and insightful essay on the church’s continuing rejection of LGBT people. She writes for a gay audience in The Advocate, and urges them to pay attention to religion and churches, even if they find little to attract or help them there.

She begins:

Like a colonoscopy or head lice, the word Christian is a conversation killer among LGBTs. So I will admit up front that whatever it is you’re thinking right now about Christians – hypocritical, antigay, anti-sex, anti-women, anti-choice – you’ve got plenty of evidence to back you up. Let’s also say, while we’re still here in the first paragraph, that whatever the church or its representatives did to you – whatever abuse, whatever violation of trust, whatever was said to make you believe that you were not a child of God in your whole beautiful queer self, whatever the silence in which you did not hear how infinitely and immeasurably God loves you -- whatever drove you out of the church is simply inexcusable. But unless our community changes the “God vs. Gays” paradigm, we will never achieve full equality. Nor will it be possible for so many of us to live out our truths. My truth, strange as it may be, is a calling to ministry. It’s also the truth of a lot of fierce and beautiful gay people I know, whose stories aren’t told often enough.

And she closes:

My wish – OK, since I’ve come out this far, I’ll say “my prayer” – is that all who seek spiritual strength in the Christian church will find it, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity. That all may freely worship. That all may freely serve. That is my prayer.

So, amen anyway.

Now see what’s in between >>

Presbyterian Outlook reports on the Synod PJC decision >>

100 Presbyterians join 700 in Washington for education, advocacy

Presbyterian News Service reports on this year’s Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C., which centered on the theme of Christians’ responsibility to keep Earth from harm and to ensure that there is "Enough for All Creation."

 Fr. Sean McDonagh, a Columban Missionary priest and opening worship speaker for the March 13-17 conference, emphasized this call – "We must protect this planet, which is God's gift for us," he said. "Churches and religions can play a vital role in supplying consciousness."

Ecumenical Advocacy Days is a movement of the ecumenical Christian community that works to strengthen the Christian voice and to advocate for a wide variety of U.S. domestic and international policy issues. Participants gather for a weekend of worship, theological reflection and education.

Three more presbyteries voted on Saturday, March 21, to support Amendment 08-B, reversing their past rejections of inclusive ordination.

In addition to these three that shifted to support change, the Presbytery of Grand Canyon (Arizona, including Phoenix) continued its support, in spite of an official committee recommendation against approval.

There were also presbyteries continuing their rejection of the change: The Western Pennsylvania presbyteries of Redstone and Northumberland voted 'no' today, as did Abingdon (Western Virginia) and Olympia (Washington) on Thursday.

Thanks to Steven Hammond, Pastor of Alpena (Michigan) Presbyterian Church, John Shuck of First Presbyterian Church, Elizabethton, Tenn., and Tricia Dykers-Koenig of Covenant Network, for these reports.

John Shuck concludes his report: 

Score? 51-79. We need a hero. We actually need 36 heroic presbyteries to go blue.

For more Witherspoon reports on the voting on 08-B, and links to other sources >>

The Associated Press reports that earlier today (Wednesday, March 18) the Obama administration formally endorsed a U.N. statement calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality, a measure that former President George W. Bush had refused to sign.

The move was the administration's latest in reversing Bush-era decisions that have been heavily criticized by human rights and other groups. The United States was the only western nation not to sign onto the declaration when it came up at the U.N. General Assembly in December.

"The United States supports the U.N.'s statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity and is pleased to join the other 66 U.N. member states who have declared their support of the statement," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.

"The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world," Wood told reporters. "As such, we join with other supporters of this statement, and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora."

More >>

Join Christian Peace Witness for Iraq in Washington, D.C.!

No big surprises in last weekend’s presbytery votes

Recent presbytery votes have pretty much followed their patterns in past votes, with presbyteries that have supported inclusive ordination continuing to do so, and opponents remaining opposed.

The votes for the Amendment 08-B came in these presbyteries:

Presbyteries voting against the amendment all did so by a narrower margin than in the past – except for San Juan (Puerto Rico) which acted by a voice vote. The other presbyteries were:

This leaves the total vote count at 46 for the amendment, and 74 opposed. But a number of presbyteries that have been supportive of inclusive ordination have yet to vote, so it’s not over!

Michael Adee, of More Light Presbyterians, offers some helpful reflections on “where we’re at” right now.  See the next item below.

Michael Adee of More Light Presbyterians writes:

A recent story from the Presbyterian News Service suggested that "the signs" in the ratification voting process on 08-B so far indicate two things: incredible shifts toward LGBT equality are clear since 2001-2 across our Church and in many surprising places as indicated in the number of presbyteries that have "flipped" from opposition then to support now; and that the current voting tally clearly shows that our Church will not ratify the 218th General Assembly's Ordination Amendment 08-B.

I agree wholeheartedly with the first sign which is obvious — that our Church is opening up to God's Spirit and leading us away from discrimination against our LGBT sisters and brothers; and there is much to disagree with the "foregone conclusion" of the second, that 08-B cannot be passed now.

A surface read of the current 08-B tally of 43 YES - 73 NO with 116 presbyteries having voted might lead one to such a conclusion that 08-B cannot be passed now. But I invite all of us to look beneath the surface. Bruce Hahne, Elder, First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto, CA and a recent MLP Board member, has been crunching the numbers, doing thoughtful analysis, looking at trends, etc., and he reports that there is much more story to be told, beneath the surface. Hahne's analysis from today gives us more accurate information than a surface read of the tally or a foregone conclusion that 08-B cannot pass now.

Lisa Larges, who has been a candidate for ministry for over 20 years, and who remains convinced of her call to ministry, is still being challenged by another judicial proceeding which will come before the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Pacific very shortly.

Ray Bagnuolo, an ordained Presbyterian minister who is also an out gay man, has written a strong and loving affirmation of Lisa and her cause. Andhe invites us all to join in prayer with and for her in these days.

More on Bagnuolo’s blog >>

Added later:

Twin Cities Area says Yes – again

Witherspoon member Peter Soulen reports that the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, meeting today at Faith Presbyterian Church, Minnetonka, Minn. approved Amendment 08-B by a vote of 138 Yes, to 54 No, with 10 abstentions. [So Amendment B received 71.9% of the Yes votes. The 2001-02 vote for inclusion was by a margin of 63.8%.]

Muskingum Valley again says No to inclusion

This report comes to us from Witherspooner Gordon Shull:

You may have learned that Muskingum Valley Presbytery defeated Amendment 08-B, today, by a vote of 44-70.  The debate was conducted fairly, with two minutes allowed per speaker, and rigorously enforced; all who wished to speak were heard. I attach the talk I gave.

Opposition arguments were almost entirely based on simplistic interpretations of scripture. Supporting arguments dealt with scripture, experiences with gay family and parishioners, and the merits of some features of Amendment B. One opponent urged us to give the PUP proposal a try. Another was all in a tizzy over the Amendment's reference to transgendered and bisexual people - as if they require separate treatment.

My own assessment is that people came with their minds made up. I doubt that more than a few minds were changed by our eloquence. But I wish that supporters had lined up a series of 2-minuters on the scriptural issues.

This report comes to us from Witherspooner Gordon Shull

[So we note that in Muskingum Valley, Amendment B received 38.6% of the votes as affirmative; in 2001-02, it received just 30.4% of the votes.]

For more Witherspoon reports on the voting on 08-B, and links to other sources >>

from Sharon Youngs, OGA Communications Coordinator (March 11, 2009)

The individuals who will serve on the Special Committee to Consider Amending the Confessional Documents of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to Include the Belhar Confession in The Book of Confessions have been announced.

Here’s a look at expectations for change and the challenges ahead

Salvadorans will go to the polls tomorrow to elect a new president in what many expect to be a close race, increasing tensions in the country and the possibility of conflict. A helpful and informative memo from the Washington Office on Latin America analyzes the current political panorama, the electoral process and mechanisms for observation, the platforms and positions of the two candidates, and coming challenges in electoral reform for Sunday’s victorious candidate.

MSNBC reports, based on a report from the East Valley Tribune, that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff's Department over allegations of discriminatory practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures.

In a letter dated Tuesday to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the department's Civil Rights Division said investigators will focus on alleged patterns of discriminatory police practices and on allegations of discrimination based on a person's national origin.

As First Lady, one of Michelle Obama's priority issues is nutrition. On March 5 she visited and served meals at Miriam's Kitchen for the Homeless at Western Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC.

She praised the program as a model for its emphasis on creating a menu that severely limits sugar intake while emphasizing the use of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole wheat baked goods. She noted there is a high incidence of diabetes among the poor. Serving the poor food loaded with sugar and high fat content simply exacerbates existing health problems.          

Since 1983, Miriam's Kitchen has been serving over 200 homeless people daily at Western Church. In 1994, neighbors attempted to shut the program down citing the zoning code. However, citing the First Amendment Constitutional right to practice religious beliefs, a U.S. federal court issued a permanent injunction barring the city from interfering with the congregation's work with the homeless.           

Two more presbyteries shift to support change

Again yesterday (Tuesday, March 10) two presbyteries shifted from opposing an inclusive church to supporting Amendment 08-B, which would take the Presbyterian Church one more step toward making “ordination standards” a matter of faith and life, and not of sexual identity.

The Presbytery of Transylvania voted by 84 to 61 to approve the amendment, having voted by 50 to 83 against change in 2001-02. And Eastminster voted for the change by 60 to 39, with two abstentions, where they voted 54 to 65 against the 2001 proposed amendment.

Lake Michigan Presbytery and New Brunswick both continued their support for change.

One presbytery – Riverside – rejected the change, but by a much narrower margin (45-53) than in 2001-02 (18-94).

San Gabriel voted to reject the amendment, and Nevada rejected it by a wider margin than before

So the total presbytery vote tally now stands at 42 approving the amendment, and 69 rejecting it.

Presbyterian News Service’s latest report on the voting, from Jerry Van Marter, portrays the amendment as “trailing,” but describes the voting as “closer than last time.”

Blogger John Shuck analyzes the voting and concludes that in numerous presbyteries the margin by which the amendment has been rejected have been very close (and in three the vote has been tied, which counts as a defeat that would have been reversed by one vote). So a few more votes could be making a big difference.

Shuck also notes the most recent report on The Layman’s website, which views with alarm the trend toward change.

On Monday, March 9th at the State Capitol Building in Tallahassee, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and their allies held a dramatic press conference and delivered over 39,000 signatures on letters to Gov. Crist, calling on him to meet with the CIW to address modern-day slavery in the fields. We endeavored, in the famous words of the prophet Habakkuk, to make the vision plain.

We've just learned that Governor Crist has agreed to meet with the CIW on March 25th in Tallahassee.

Your efforts in signing and circulating the Religious Community Letter to Gov. Crist played a critical role in gaining this meeting. Thank you! We'll keep you posted on the outcome of the meeting and any other important news.   More >>

The Rev. Noelle Damico, of the Presbyterian Campaign for Fair Food, reports on the ongoing efforts of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to end modern-day slavery in the fields of Florida.

CIW is holding a press conference today (Monday, March 9, 2009) on the capital steps in Tallahassee, urging Gov. Crist to meet with them and to deal with their concerns about the enslavement of farmworkers in Florida.

Test case on ‘scrupling’ must be tried, GAPJC rules

Presbyterian News Service reports that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s highest court has remanded back to a lower church court a case that will decide whether a former minister who refuses to promise that he will live in celibacy may be restored to active ministry.

Now serving as Executive Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, the former Moderator of the PC(USA) has recently shared these thoughts in a email note to PPF members.

He begins:

That commitment means we can be clear that the violence of the oppressive occupation of Gaza and the West Bank by the State of Israel must come to an end. ...

The violence of illegal land seizures beyond the 1967 boundaries for the establishment of Settlements in the West Bank must also come to an end. ...

The full note >>

We recently reported on the abusive and humiliating treatment of undocumented immigrants by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of Arizona's Maricopa County. The Wall Street Journal (yes, really) reports on anti-immigrant campaign as an outgrowth of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement program that trains local police to arrest illegal immigrants suspected of committing serious crimes. According to the Journal, this so-called 287g program, which has been seen as a symbol of the Bush administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, “has expanded without appropriate oversight, leading to the arrest of thousands for minor infractions, according to a study scheduled to be released Wednesday.”

Yellowstone Presbytery voted earlier today in favor of Amendment 08-B by a vote of 25 yes, 23 no, 1 abstain.

This is another major shift, for a presbytery which has voted consistently against equality in the past.

The total tally now stands at 37 yes – 57 no.

Thanks to John Shuck for this good news

The past week was not a good one for those seeking a welcoming, inclusive church.

Thirteen presbyteries voted during the past week on the constitutional amendments proposed by the 2008 General Assembly. Of those, ten have been clearly opposed to removing the effective ban on ordination for lgbt Presbyterians which was added to the Book of Order a few years ago in the form of provision G-6.0106b.

Proponents of the new pro-inclusion amendment had some hope that one presbytery, Indian Nations, might well shift this year to supporting the change, since its last vote, in 2001-02, was split 52 to 52 on a pro-inclusion amendment. That tie vote was counted as a rejection of the proposed change, but it was pretty close. This year, though, opponents of change were ready to resist.

They moved that the vote should be taken on 08-B without presentations or discussion. Their motion was passed, in a clear rejection of the call by the 2008 General Assembly for a careful process of discernment throughout the church.

So the week ended with 11 presbyteries rejecting the amendment, and 2 (Hudson River and Milwaukee) continuing their strong support for change – both by even higher margins than in 2001-02. As Bruce Hahne notes, though, most of those rejecting the amendment still saw an increase in the number of commissioners supporting it. The tide is clearly turning!

That leaves the total tally so far at 36 presbyteries approving the amendment, and 57 rejecting it.

Bruce Hahne, who is keeping a careful tally of the voting, complete with analysis and commentary, offers a list of four tactics that appear to be used in various situations by opponents of Amendment 08-B:

For more information and comment:

WITNESS IN WASHINGTON WEEKLY
The Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
March 2, 2009

This week's messages are--- 

•           Protect Women Around the World – Support the International Violence Against Women Act

•           President Releases Fiscal Year 2010 Budget

•           Urge the Administration and Congress to Ban Cluster Bombs

Interfaith Worker Justice urges an end to continuing raids on immigrant workers

Their message:

Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor. We commend President Obama's choice of Ms. Solis, a Congresswoman from Los Angeles who is the daughter of immigrant workers and is a longtime fighter for the rights of workers. Well done, Mr. President!

Yesterday there was also the first workplace immigration raid under the Obama administration at a factory in Bellingham, Washington, that rebuilds Japanese car engines and transmissions. Immigration authorities arrested and chained 28 workers, including three mothers.

Workplace raids hurt our communities, businesses, and all workers. With the economic crisis, this is a terrible time for raids.

Call the White House today: 202-456-1414

Or e-mail the White House here http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Or fax a letter to 202-456-2461

Tell President Obama 

•           Thanks for the wonderful appointment of Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor

•           Thanks for your leadership in facing the economic crisis, passing the stimulus and working to create jobs in our communities.

•           Stop all workplace raids and pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Please e-mail me at tsmukler@iwj.org to let us know that you called or wrote a letter.

In Peace and Justice,

Ted Smukler
Public Policy Director
Interfaith Worker Justice
www.iwj.org

We have reported before on the continuing effort of TheClergyLetterProject.org to encourage reasonable discussion on the perceived tensions between science and faith – especially the efforts of various conservative religious groups to require the teaching of “creation science” in the schools.

Michael Zimmerman, of Butler University, reports on recent observances of “Evolution Weekend,” and a couple related matters.

Zimmerman’s note to members of the group:

Now that Evolution Weekend 2009 has successfully passed, it seems a good time to catch up on events – as well as to present a fair bit of additional news.

I think it is fair to say that the success of Evolution Weekend 2009 exceeded even my most optimistic expectations. Our latest count shows that 1,045 congregations from 15 countries participated (www.evolutionweekend.org). Because the media coverage was so extensive, with reports ranging from NPR to Fox News, we reached a huge number of folks. Most importantly, because of your efforts, the nature of the discussion about the relationship between religion and science has begun to change. Please check out some of the media coverage on our web site (http://www.butler.edu/clergyproject/Resources/Related_news.htm). If you have links to reports that are not listed there, please send them to me.

We received word last week of the death of Leon Howell, journalist and leading thinking in the progressive wing of U.S. Christianity. His family said that Leon died at home in his sleep early Thursday, February 26, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am on Tuesday, March 3 at Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church, One Chevy Chase Circle NW, Washington DC 20015.     More >>

A Witherspoon comment:

Jane Hanna, former president of the Witherspoon Society, has worked with Leon over the past few years as he has frequently led summer seminars at Ghost Ranch, which featured Leon in conversation and debate with various informed guests, on moral and ethical issues confronting our society today.

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

Got more blogs to recommend?