|
| |
| Rainforest Action Network under siege
Source: SojoNet 2001 (c)
from SoJo, the web presence of Sojourners magazine
[posted here 7-25-01]
A trio of anti-environmental groups and companies is
launching a multi-tiered attack on the Rainforest Action Network [http://www.ran.org/].
Best known for its headline-grabbing campaigns to protect forests, RAN
has a proven track record of altering corporate behavior through a range
of pressure tactics.
A conservative group called the Frontier Freedom Foundation (FFF) -
heavily supported by tobacco, oil, and timber money - is lobbying the
IRS to revoke RAN's nonprofit status. At the same time, logging company
Boise Cascade has aggressively targeted RAN's funders with threatening
letters, trying to undermine the organization by drying up its cash
flow. Both are working with the anti-green Center for the Defense of
Free Enterprise to cripple RAN's effectiveness.
RAN executes highly visible, aggressive campaigns primarily against
corporations destroying old growth forests in North America and around
the world. Its tactics include consumer boycotts and symbolic efforts
designed to capture media attention, including rappelling down corporate
buildings and unleashing giant banners. Along with Boise Cascade, RAN
has also targeted Mitsubishi and Occidental Petroleum, among other
corporate giants.
The first attack came from the FFF (founded by former Wyoming senator
Malcolm Wallup, a close associate of vice president Dick Cheney), which
charged in a letter to the IRS that RAN routinely engages in
non-educational activity, violating the legal requirement that it be
"operated exclusively for educational purposes."
RAN is planning a protest near Chicago at Boise Cascade office on
Wednesday, July 25. The group gathered will include retired judges,
former members of Congress, business CEOs, foundation executives,
concerned celebrities, authors, religious leaders, and the executive
directors of organizations in movements including civil rights, human
rights, women's rights, environmental rights, and labor rights. For more
info, contact Anne Walton-Sandberg: anne@ran.org.
|
| |
|
Visit
our lively
new website! |
|
GA actions
ratified (or not) by the presbyteries
A number of the most important actions of the 219th
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:
 |
Amendment 10-A,
which removes the current ban on
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender persons being considered as
possible candidates for ordination as elder or ministers.
Approved! |
|
Amendment 10-2,
which would add the Belhar Confession to our Book of
Confessions. Disapproved, because as an amendment
to the Book of Confessions it needed a 2/3 vote, and did not
receive that. |
|
Amendment
10-1, which adopts the new Form of Government
that was approved by the Assembly. Approved. |
|
| |
|
If you like what
you find here,
we hope you'll help us keep Voices for Justice going ... and
growing!
Please consider making a special
contribution -- large or small -- to help us continue and improve
this service.
Click here to send a
gift online, using your credit card, through PayPal.
Or send your check, made
out to "Presbyterian Voices for Justice" and marked "web site," to
our PVJ Treasurer:
Darcy Hawk
4007 Gibsonia Road
Gibsonia, PA 15044-8312 |
| |
|
Some blogs worth visiting |
|
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!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
| |
|
Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
| |
|
John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
| |
|
John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
| |
|
Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
| |
|
