Deborah Kory, Managing Editor of Tikkun magazine (Tikkun is a liberal Jewish activist organization whose leading spirit is Rabbi Michael Lerner), has commented on the impressive lack of media coverage of the demonstrations last Saturday, Oct. 26, around the nation and indeed around the world, opposing the US march toward war against Iraq.

She urges those who share Tikkun's commitment to peace in the Middle East to write to their media outlets expressing concern at this bias.

Can you share news of any rallies or demonstrations you've taken part in or witnessed?  Please send us a note!

Thoughtful comments on the Administration's "National Security Strategy of the United States"

Judith Miller, writing in the New York Times, offers comments from a variety of military strategists about President Bush's recent release of an audacious new strategy for defending America against future foreign threats.

The Rev. Dr. Richard Shaull died peacefully in his sleep last Friday, October 25, after fighting cancer for nearly a decade. He had spent his last five weeks in hospice care. His wife, Nancy wrote this: 'He was ready to go and I supported his leaving. We had many hours of song, scripture reading, and great conversations. We both felt that we had no 'unfinished business.'"

Jane Hanna, past president of the Witherspoon Society, writes:

Richard Shaull was a Presbyterian missionary who first went to Latin America in 1942; there his theology, commitment and biblical understanding were deepened by exposure to liberation theologians who were influenced by the marginal and dispossessed Christians of Central and South America. From 1962-1980 he was Professor of Ecumenics at Princeton Theological Seminary where he articulated a theology of liberation learned from the poor but aimed at liberating mainline Protestants. Dr. Shaull's interpretation of Scripture challenged us to envision a different economic order, one that met the basic needs of all. From 1980 on, he divided his time between North and South America, communicating to Christians in the north the theological thought and vibrant Christian life he found amid the poor in Latin America.

Mourning the loss of Paul Wellstone 

For anyone committed to a more just and peaceful world and especially for those of us whom he represented so ably and conscientiously in the U. S. Senate, the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone, along with his wife, Sheila, and their daughter Marcia, along with three campaign aides and their two pilots, is a deep loss.

Please hold the Wellstone family and the loved ones of the other victims in your prayers.

A note just received from one Witherspooner:

I encourage you to post something about Wellstone's legacy as a US senator. He was very much a defender of those on the margins, and voted against the resolution to give Bush power to wage war. He is someone progressive Christians will sorely miss.

Tom Liddle

And a tribute from the liberal Jewish group, TIKKUN:

Dayan Ha'emet

OUR HEARTS ARE BREAKING FROM THE LOSS OF PAUL WELLSTONE

The death of U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane crash is a tragedy and a deep personal loss for us at TIKKUN. Paul was
a beautiful human being and a principled Jewish progressive.

He was a frequent contributor to TIKKUN Magazine and a person who stood with us in our commitment to Middle East peace. In 1991 Senator Wellstone was the keynote speaker at the TIKKUN Conference in Jerusalem in support of the Israeli
peace movement.

In our frequent conversations with him, Paul consistently articulated a vision of hope that affirmed the best in Judaism and the best in the secular humanist traditions. He stood with TIKKUN and with the progressive voices in American politics in public, when many others would only whisper to us privately that they agreed with us but dared not say so publicly.

He was a mensch among a Senate filled with mice.

Paul Wellstone was one of most principled and decent people to ever enter American politics. He was one of the very few elected officials who remained true to his principles and who was not corrupted by the need to appeal to the rich and the powerful.

And he retained a fundamental humanity and modesty that few have been able to sustain in public life.

Paul was proud of his Jewish identity, but unlike the many who kowtowed to the Jewish establishment, Paul spoke out as a
progressive and a critic of Israeli policy. He was a quintessential Tikkun Jew.

May his memory be a blessing, zichrono livracha.
May his life be an inspiration for all of us.
May his soul be bound in the bond of eternal life.
--Rabbi Michael Lerner


For the latest news from Minnesota, you may want to check the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Harry Smith 

The Rev. Dr. Harry Smith, a strong, long-time witness for peace and justice, campus minister, college president (at Austin College), and source of many of the bits of humor we've shared on our Just for Fun page, died yesterday, Oct. 24, at his home in Santa Fe.

Your WebWeaver recalls with warmth the hospitality that he and his wife, Etta, have provided to me, first at Austin College, and later at their retirement home in Santa Fe.

He and Etta have been frequent participants in demonstrations at the School of the Americas, have worked for a more inclusive Presbyterian Church, and in countless other ways have shared in the never-ending struggle for a more just and peaceful world.

Doug King

Do you have recollections of Harry Smith to share?
Please send a note!

Click here for the announcement from Austin College

Presbyterians raising voices in opposition to Iraq attack  

Evan Silverstein, in a recent Presbyterian News Service report, details a variety of statements and actions by Presbyterians around the country, urging the U.S. government not to go to war against Iraq. The story also takes note of the difficulties and tensions involved in coming to such decisions.

To All PC(USA) Presbyteries:

At its stated meeting of September 23, 2002, the Presbytery of the Western Reserve adopted the following statement to be sent to the President of the United States and the Ohio Congressional delegation:

We do not support unilateral, pre-emptive, retributive military action in Iraq. We believe that other measures short of sending troops must be encouraged with participation of allied and other nations.

A letter with the statement was sent to the persons indicated above on September 27th. Notice is being sent to you by action of the Presbytery.

In a notable action by seminary faculty, over 100 members of the Columbia Seminary community have signed as statement which opens with a too-rarely heard (but very Reformed) acknowledgment that "We share neither the mind nor the will of God."

The statement starts by affirming that "the presumption of the Christian faith is always toward peace," and that "even in the most carefully conducted wars, far too many innocent persons suffer death and hardship."

The writers then assert that "a policy of preemptive and unilateral action flouts current international laws, including those that have been agreed upon and promoted by the U.S. in the past." They summarize their stand: "We asked ourselves, 'Can we gain the type of security our national administration suggests it can deliver to us through war?' 'And if so, ought we desire it?' We believe that the answers to both questions are No."

Beyond counting are the sermons that must have been preached last Sunday, October 13, 2002, following the action of Congress to grant President Bush the power to wage pre-emptive war against Iraq. (Even more sermons were preached, we suspect, which studiously avoided the whole thing in the name of "peace in the church.")

Airs Friday, Oct. 11 on PBS

On Friday, Oct. 11, "NOW with Bill Moyers" (PBS) will examine public arguments being made against going to war by a number of community based groups, including the National Council of Churches, Veterans for Peace, Voices in the Wilderness, and Black Voices for Peace. In a thoughtful and measured documentary segment, NOW will illuminate the issues on the minds of these groups' leaders: The impact of the war on the black community, the possibility of continuing sanctions, the human tragedy at stake, and the high financial cost of war with so many ongoing domestic problems. Check local listings for air times at: http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html

Fidel Castro has agreed to an exclusive interview with Barbara Walters to coincide with the history-making Cuban Missile Crisis conference to be held in Havana later this week. See www.cubacentral.com for details about the interview. Don't miss it!

Responding to Jerry Falwell's widely quoted condemnation of Islam as a terrorist religion, the National Council of Churches has issued a statement which concludes by stating that "we ... affirm to our brothers and sisters in Islam that we condemn and repudiate Jerry Falwell's hateful and destructive statements delivered on CBS's "60 Minutes," October 6, 2002, and we call upon President George W. Bush to repudiate and condemn Falwell's remarks."  

President Bush's address to the nation on Monday night, Oct. 7, was notable for its appeal to "the emotions of fear and repugnance and moral superiority that are the foot soldiers of war." So writes Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive magazine. He sees Bush's appeal to fear as an effort to compensate for the weakness of his arguments for a war.

Thanks to Bruce Gillette for calling our attention to this article.

We received this note a few days ago from John Rozendaal in Carroll, Iowa.

One of the arguments advanced most often by the Bush administration to justify a war on Iraq is that Saddam Hussein has violated UN Security Council resolutions, and must be punished in order to defend the standing of the United Nations.

If you're responding to a particular item, please let us know which one it is.  And if possible, please identify yourself by name -- and anything else you'd care to add.

Peter Sawtell, of Eco-Justice Ministries, reflects on the current administration's attitude toward the world of nations as mirroring our nation's attitude toward the world of nature: standing above the rules, rightly telling other nations what to do - in short, attitudes the are grounded in our "bullying, exploitative, and self-centered worldview." 

Meeting in Louisville at the end of September, the General Assembly Council issued a "call to prayer and action," urging Presbyterians to oppose a precipitate U.S. attack on Iraq and the Bush administration's 'new doctrine of pre-emptive military action.'