ALSO:    The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program provides lots of good resources for study, worship, and action.

The ICC “resonates with the life-giving value of the gospel”

News release from Sharon Youngs, Office of the General Assembly communications coordinator    [11-13-07]

Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has issued a statement reaffirming the denomination’s support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Assembly of States Parties.

The ICC is scheduled to hold its sixth session beginning later this month in New York.

The 1999 PC(USA) General Assembly approved a resolution in support of the ICC, one year after the ICC Statute was adopted in Rome. One hundred and five countries worldwide have since ratified the Statute.

Early next year, the Court will conduct its first trial, a case involving an alleged militia leader from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who is accused of using children under the age of fifteen in hostilities.

Kirkpatrick states, “This is a specific and foundational instance in which the ICC is working with the support of the international community to hold accountable those who are responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.”

Encourages U.N. to give leadership toward "a peaceful resolution"   [10-1-07]

The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly, has communicated with the secretary general of the United Nations on behalf of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), expressing concern about the growing violence being used by the Myanmar government toward protesters of that country’s administration.

In his letter to Ban Ki-Moon, Kirkpatrick, "As people of faith, we affirm that such uses of force have never quenched the spirit of people who wish to be free. We call upon the United Nations, the leaders of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), all the nations of the region, and especially the leaders of the Peoples Republic of China and India, to use their good offices to help bring an end to this unfolding tragedy."

from Witherspooner John Shuck  [9-11-07]

Holston Presbytery became the third presbytery to adopt the Commitment to Peacemaking this morning at its stated meeting at Strawberry Plains Presbyterian Church. Here is the text of the overture from the Ethics and Human Needs Committee.

In addition to approving various encouragements toward peacemaking and discipleship, the presbytery voted to approve the following two actions:

Establish a Holston Presbytery Peacemaking and Discipleship Day. This day of peacemaking and discipleship will be held once per year and will be a day of education and dialogue. It will include workshops for all Presbyterians within our bounds in areas of spiritual discernment, personal discipleship, conflict management, violence and the causes of violence, and peacemaking in all areas of life. This day of peacemaking and discipleship will enable presbyters, sessions, and congregations to share ideas, dialogue about critical topics, and build relationships of trust.

and...

Adopt the Commitment to Peacemaking (see Appendix 2), instruct the Stated Clerk to inform each session in the Presbytery of this action, inform the stated clerk of the General Assembly of this action, and encourage all sessions and congregations within the presbytery to study and to adopt the Commitment to Peacemaking.

Here is the text of the Commitment to Peacemaking from the Presbyterian Church (USA) Peacemaking Program.

Holston Presbytery joins the Presbytery of West Virginia, Western Reserve, the Synod of the Northeast and over 4,600 hundred congregations (sessions) in adopting this commitment. Nineteen congregations (sessions) of Holston Presbytery have adopted the Commitment to Peacemaking.

This comes to us from USLEAP (U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project)   [9-10-07]

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.

We’re Number 96!
[6-15-07]

A group calling itself The Vision of Humanity has undertaken to create a Global Peace Index (GPi) to give some kind of picture of the ways in which nations are building a world of peace and sustainability.

They say:

It is our very firm belief that unless we can achieve a world which is basically peaceful, then the major challenges facing humanity will not be solved. The question is: How will we achieve the global co-operation necessary to reverse global warming, loss of bio-diversity, provide adequate drinking water and a sustainable population without peace?

The project was developed by a group of committed individuals who have the support of a group of philanthropists, business people, politicians, religious leaders and intellectuals.

Of the index itself they say: "121 countries have been ranked by their ‘absence of violence’, using metrics that combine both internal and external factors. Most people understand the absence of violence as an indicator of peace. This definition also allows for the measuring of peacefulness within, as well as between, nations."

They use a wide variety of indicators, including

• ongoing domestic and international conflict (e.g. number of external and internal wars fought, and number of deaths from internal and external conflict)

• measures of safety and security within countries (including the level of distrust in other citizens, and the number of displaced people, etc.)

• levels of militarization (such as military expenditure as a percentage of GDP, and the volumes of imports and exports of major conventional weapons)

The result?

Well, out of 121 nations, the United States ranks 96^th, just ahead of Iran and just behind Yemen.

Click here for the full list of rankings >>
Click on the name of any nation for details of its ranking.

And to see the full list of indicators used >>

Thanks to John Shuck!

While China's ASAT test is troubling, it is also hypocritical of the U.S. to criticize them for doing something that our country has been doing since the 1980s. The Pentagon today is developing a host of ASAT weapons technologies that would give them the ability to knock out other countries’ satellites. Sadly, the American people don't know anything about this because the corporate-dominated media refuse to cover the story.

The Save Darfur Coalition is urging support for the sates which have already enacted resolutions to withdraw investments from companies that support the genocide in Darfur by doing business with the government of Sudan, putting economic pressure on the Sudanese government to cooperate with international efforts to end the genocide.

The Peacemaking Update for April 4, 2007    [4-4-07]

From the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick has sent letters of appreciation to government and church leaders in Northern Ireland in the wake of this week's agreement by the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein to form a power-sharing government.   The news report plus the text of his letter >>

"A big step forward has occurred – and a long journey remains."

Rev Doug Baker, PCUSA Regional Liaison for Ireland and the United Kingdom, offers an update and analysis on the important steps that have been taken toward peace between the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party and the Roman Catholic Sinn Fein.

The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship will be there, and Marilyn White of PPF has sent this message in preparation for the event:

To: Presbyterian peacemakers and friends

Some of you have been asking about the Christian Peace Witness in Washington, March 16, and Presbyterian Peace Fellowship involvement.

Yes, we'll be there and Rick Ufford-Chase is organizing some exciting high-profile Presbyterian involvement in the National Cathedral service, civil disobedience action, and more.

For those of you who have been considering civil disobedience (holy obedience) this will be a prayerful, faith-based action with HUGE numbers. For every person risking arrest, support people are needed to hold the cell phones, communicate with families and press, etc. So everyone is needed and welcome.

You'll find more information on the Peace Fellowship website.  And from there, go to the Christian Peace Witness web site where you need to register, because space is limited at the national cathedral.

If you are coming, send a note to our volunteer organizers, Maren and Andrea, at ppfcpw@gmail.com  Let them know if you can provide housing or transportation, or if you have a room and need a roommate. Let them know if you have found a good place to stay that others could take advantage of. Let them know if you are looking for floor space in a church or other really basic accommodations. Let them know if you will be attending our lunch and gathering on Saturday, March 17 at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1313 New York Avenue, 11:00 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Are you going to Ecumenical Advocacy Days the previous weekend? If you are staying on for the CPW the following weekend, you might want to attend the Ecumenical Advocacy Conference on the Philippines, March 12-14. We are thinking of expanding our accompaniment work to the Philippines and our church partners will be explaining their dire human situation at this conference. There is a link from the Ecumenical Advocacy Days web site with more information.

If you are just coming for the CPW, when should you arrive?

If you are going to participate in the CD action, a required orientation meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Other meetings and workshops begin as early as Thursday evening. If you are flying into Baltimore, allow at least 2 hours to get into Washington. It should take less time from the other airports.

Don't rush home -

On Saturday afternoon, we will have a great gathering of Presbyterians, led by the Presbyterian Peacemaking program, the Washington office and others.

Following that meeting, plan on dinner in a restaurant with a large or small group.

On Sunday morning, plan on worship at New York Avenue Church, with Rick Ufford-Chase preaching.

I can't seem to find a reasonable airfare home on Sunday afternoon, so I'm staying until Monday. We'll plan some more activities for anyone who wants to stick around. Send me your ideas.

About housing:

I hope to have some hotel suggestions by Tuesday. I'll send another note at that time. After that, all communications will be from the ppfcpw address, so contact them if you want to stay in the loop.

Comments and suggestions are welcome -- see you in Washington.

David McPhail, who earlier shared his reflections on participating in a demonstration against the School of the Americas, reports now on a two-week visit to Bolivia with a delegation from San Francisco Presbytery, meeting with their Joining Hands against Hunger partners UMAVIDA (Joining Hands for Life).

Sunday, March 5, marks the 100th day since Tom Fox, Norman Kember, Jim Loney, and Harmeet Sooden were kidnapped in Baghdad. Pray for their safe release and restoration to their families. Pray for the 14,600 Iraqis illegally detained by the Occupation forces.

Doug Pritchard
Christian Peacemaker Teams 
Toronto ON

Thanks to Amy Ukena

And more ...

from a report by Alexa Smith (Presbyterian News Service) and Ecumenical News International

March 3, 2006 – Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) have issued a worldwide appeal asking churches to observe the first Sunday of Lent by lighting 100 candles to mark the number of days since four western peace activists were kidnapped in Baghdad.

Sara Reschly, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based organization, told the Presbyterian News Service that some cities, including Chicago, are holding public vigils, and some churches are integrating candlelight services into their regular worship. ...

The candles also are intended to honor the largely unnoticed peacemaking efforts of Sunni and Shi’a Iraqis at a time of escalating civil strife in Iraq, she said.

Prayers, litanies, and other vigil-related materials are posted at http://www.for.org.uk/bpf.html.

Beth Pyles, a candidate for ordination in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is one of seven CPT activists living in an apartment in Baghdad. numerous Christian communions.

PC(USA) Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase, of Tucson, AZ, is a CPT member. He has served in Hebron in the West Bank. Anita David, a Chicago Presbyterian, is living in CPT’s Baghdad apartment with Pyles and five other Christians.

After "prayerful discernment," the organizers of the 2006 Intergenerational Peacemaking Conference have decided to call it off. The conference, titled "Unmasking Power: Seeking the Faces of Peace," was scheduled for July 22-27 at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, CO. It was canceled because it appeared that it might not generate enough income to cover its cost.

Sara Lisherness, coordinator of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, said the cancellation of this year's event doesn't mean the conferences have ended forever.

Plans are already under way for the 2007 conference, which is scheduled for July 3-8 at Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina on the theme, "Jesus: Proclaiming Peace."

In the meantime the Peacemaking Program staff is encouraging people to take part in other peacemaking events scheduled for 2006, including Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, DC (March 10-13) and the Presbyterian Women's Gathering in Louisville (July 7-10).

For information on these and other peacemaking events, visit www.pcusa.org/peacemaking

We have received this notice about a creative approach to building communities for peacemaking:

The Storyteller and the Listener Online, a noncommercial newsletter about the use of stories and personal narratives in peacemaking and healing practices, is seeking essays from members of faith communities that use extensive storytelling for purposes of peacemaking, healing, bridge building and reconciliation, beyond the traditional use of stories in the congregation for religious education. The newsletter publishes two guest essays a month, and writers guidelines are available at the site: http://storyteller-and-listener.blog-city.com/. For more information, please email editor Holly Stevens at healing_stories@mac.com.

This announcement has come to us from Mary Lou Schwartzentruber, Certificate Program Manager of the program.

Conrad Grebel University College, with the oldest Peace and Conflict Studies undergraduate program in Canada, is an educational institution informed by the vision and values of the Mennonite tradition of peaceful collaboration and is dedicated to serving students, the university community, the church and society. To supplement and complement the mandates of the College, and to encourage and facilitate the work of peace research, peace education, conflict resolution, and public policy research of groups affiliated with the College, the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPACS) was formally constituted in 1984 with the mandate to:

A new study guide from the National Council of Churches USA helps you make sense of the world.  [1-4-06]

For the Peace of the World
A Christian Curriculum on International Relations

Sent 4 January 2006
[1-7-06]

PRESBYTERIAN UNITED NATIONS REPRESENTATIVE
The Peacemaking Program seeks a person to serve as the Presbyterian United Nations Representative.   Details >>

THEOLOGY, INTERNATIONAL LAW, AND TORTURE
Princeton, NJ - January 13-15-2006
The goal of this conference is to launch a national religious campaign against torture. Resources for local communities and congregations are being developed and will be made available.  Details >>

CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKING TEAM MEMBERS HELD IN IRAQ
A report >>
Peacemaking team planning White House prayer and fast
A report>>


WATER WEEKEND AT THE PRESBYTERIAN UNITED NATIONS OFFICE * February 3-5, 2006
The event begins on February 3 with the Committee for Teaching about the UN's daylong conference, The Global Challenge of Water. On Saturday morning, Presbyterians will tour the United Nations and the Presbyterian United Nations Office. They will spend the afternoon learning from speakers about PUNO's work and about ways to involve their congregations in education and advocacy at the UN. Register for the conference before NOON on January 18, 2006. Call (212) 697-4568 for more information.   Or click here >>

Registration form >>
Informational flyer >>

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY RESOURCES * January 16, 2006
 

RESOURCES FROM THE KING CENTER


LIVING WAGE DAYS * January 14-16, 2006


SUDAN ADVOCACY ACTION FORUM
South Sudan: 2005 Year in Review
Prayers for Sudan
 

UN Day provides an opportunity to learn about the UN's work for peace, human rights and development and to pray for that work.

The Nov. - Dec. 2005 issue of Church & Society magazine has been developed by the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and editor by Tom F. Driver.

It will include Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase’s essay on "Is Peace Possible?"   Chris Hedges, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Nancy Corson Carter have articles dealing with "re-thinking war." Offering thoughts on "re-thinking peace" are Ross and Gloria Kinsler, Parrish W. Jones, and Glen Stassen. Anne L. Barstow and Walter Owensby offer positive steps toward peace, followed by descriptions of a number of specific projects of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.

Prior to publication (or after) you may order it from the PPF, P.O. Box 271, Upper Nyack, NY 10960.

For all of us, but especially for us who have the privilege and burden of preaching, the current issue of The Living Pulpit is a much needed resource. The issue is red-letter titled "WAR" with this question below: "How do we preach about loving our country and loving our enemies, too?" To see the table of contents, and a featured article, "The Ambiguity of War," go to their website. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Also, the publisher, Presbyterian minister Douglas Stivison, offers bulk copies at a special rate, and a half-price introductory offer through the website. I hope we in Susquehanna Valley Presbytery will take advantage of that and have some discussion groups about preaching during this time of war.
Not incidentally, their editorial calendar for the next three years includes Reign of God, Stewardship, Hunger, Ethics, the Marketplace, Atonement, the Word, Mission, and Shalom.

In June we posted a note from James Atwood, seeking signatures for the petition he was going to present as part of a Fellowship of Reconciliation delegation marking the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The petition called on the government of Japan to maintain the rejection of war which is part of their constitution.

The Senate has included money for the nuclear bunker buster (designed to be used against deeply buried targets and underground bunkers) in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill. The House version does not include this funding. A conference committee will meet in September to resolve the difference. Senators Domenici (NM), Cochran (MS), McConnell (KY), Bennett (UT), Burns (MT), Craig (ID), Bond (MO), Sen. Hutchison (TX), and Allard (CO) need to hear from their constituents on this issue.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation provides a way to send email.

Learn about nuclear bunker busters at http://www.fcnl.org/nuclear/index.htm.

From the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program Update, 20 August 2005

Jim Atwood seeks support for petition urging Japan to maintain its constitutional rejection of war    [6-30-05]

From Len Bjorkman, co-moderator of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

The Rev. Jim Atwood, who served in Japan from 1965 to 1974, will go to Japan as part of a Fellowship of Reconciliation delegation marking the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a member of the National Committee of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, he will represent us, as a peace fellowship affiliated with the FOR.

Below is the letter that he has sent to our National Committee, giving information about the trip and asking people to sign a petition to maintain Japan's Constitutional rejection of war.

That important event is going on this week at Ghost Ranch.

We wish we could be there, but we’ll offer the next best thing: reports from Presbyterian News Service, and other sources as we find them – and from you who are there, if you’ll send us your reports, observations, anything else. (Just send a note!)    [6-24-05]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A world of woes

The church should take a more active role in addressing the needs of the world, General Assembly Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase told 400 participants in a Presbyterian Peacemaking Conference at Ghost Ranch this week. He suggested a policy of "civil initiative," a term coined by the late Jim Corbett, co-founder of the Sanctuary movement that sheltered Central American refugees in the 1980s.

Ufford-Chase said civil initiative "maintains and extends the rule of law … unlike civil disobedience, which breaks it, and civil obedience, which lets the government break it. The heart of a societal order guided by the rule of law is the principle that non-violent protection of basic rights is never illegal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Truth telling

Erik J Mason of Santa Fe, NM, returned to the US a month ago after spending 5 weeks in Colombia as part of the PC(USA) effort to provide North American Christians to accompany sisters and brothers in Colombia whose lives are threatened because of their work for peace and human rights.

A message from the Center on Conscience & War   [4-6-05]

Washington, DC April 1, 2005– People of conscience speak out to make their voices heard in the halls of Congress against the reinstatement of the military draft. On May 16th, 2005 the Center on Conscience & War (CCW), along with the National Campaign for Peace Tax Fund and other organizations, is holding a national lobby day against the military draft and to protect the rights of conscientious objectors to war. Participants will meet in the Methodist Building in Washington, and others will lobby locally at their Congress members' district office.

Dr. Arch Taylor, a frequent contributor to these pages, recently sent this note:

Chalmers Johnson is a veteran, authoritative expert especially on Asian matters but an astute observer of US world affairs.

Please check this site and pay careful attention to what Johnson says.

In peace, for peace,

Arch

[4-4-05]

Johnson’s article is his response to a question put by the founding editor of In These Times: "How should US foreign policy be changed so that the United States can play a more positive role on the world stage?"

Johnson says first we must attend to three fundamental crises in America today: First, we’re going bankrupt. (Not just Social Security – the whole outfit!) Second, we are behaving badly as citizens of the world; not only do our actions break all sorts of rules, but our attitudes are even worse. And third, our foreign policy must be changed to deal with the reality that our reign as the world’s “sole superpower” is being cut short as other forms of power emerge (especially China’s super-size economy) that will overwhelm our military might.

Finally he suggests some foreign policy reforms that might help, including steps (such as telling the truth) to restore a bit of our battered credibility; getting out of Iraq; returning to our role as supporters of peace between Israel and Palestine; returning to old patterns of diplomacy, working out and carrying out treaties; supporting China’s emergence as a major power, rather then seeing it as another invitation to war; dealing responsibly with the threat of nuclear war. And finally,

“the most important change we could make in American policy would be to dismantle our imperial presidency and restore a balance among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government. ... Reviving our constitutional system would do more than anything else to protect our peace and security.” 

Read the whole essay, in In These Times or in Truthout.org

Remembering Romero    [3-24-05]

The "Salvador Option" —to use death squads to target Iraqi regime enemies—is still being considered at the Pentagon. Twenty-five years ago today, the original Salvador option assassinated Archbishop Oscar Romero. Mark Engler, an analyst with Foreign Policy In Focus, looks that that dark time and warns that choosing state-sponsored terror as U.S. policy in Iraq will only exacerbate the incipient civil war and kill more innocent civilians. 

From TomPaine.com 

Read the essay >>

As the archbishop of San Salvador, Romero regularly spoke out against the growing violence and violations of human rights perpetrated by the armed forces and paramilitary death squads in his country. On March 23, 1980, he directly addressed the country's soldiers in his weekly homily, pleading, "In the name of God, in the name of these suffering people whose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you: Stop the repression."

The next day, he was shot dead by a sniper while celebrating Mass.

We invite you to remember his death, celebrate his life, and meditate on God’s call to us to be partisans for peace in our own time and place.

You might begin by looking at a short piece posted in the San Romero Yahoo Discussion Group by Carlos X. Colorado, moderator, sanromero@yahoogroups.com.

It’s called Ten Reasons Why Archbishop Romero Is Important, 25 Years after His Death

The first four reasons (to get you started) are

1. He told the marginalized, "you are important"

2. He was a Christian martyr

3. He was a prophet

4. His "conversion" makes him a compelling hero

Peace Not Poverty -- bearing witness for the “Beloved Community”   [3-14-05]

Voices of Sophia blog

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

Witherspoon’s Facebook page

Mitch Trigger, Witherspoon’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!

John Harris’ Summit to Shore blogspot

John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive

Got more blogs to recommend?

Plan now for our 2010 Ghost Ranch Seminar!

GHOST RANCH SEMINAR

July 26-August 1, 2010

If you like what you find here,
we hope you'll help us keep this website 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 "Witherspoon Society" and marked "web site," to our Witherspoon  Bookkeeper: