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Presbyterians Move to Divest in Israel, Urge U.N. Role in Iraq
(Kevin Eckstrom, 07-07-04)
The Presbyterian Church (USA) took steps on Friday to begin divesting in companies doing business in Israel, the first such move since the denomination divested in South Africa during the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s.  A resolution passed 431-62 by delegates to the church's General Assembly asked the church's Mission Responsibility Through Investment committee to recommend steps to remove church assets from U.S. companies operating in Israel.  "Horrific acts of violence and deadly attacks on innocent people, whether carried out by Palestinian 'suicide bombers' or by the Israeli military, are abhorrent and inexcusable by all measures, and are a dead-end alternative to a negotiated settlement of the conflict," the resolution said.  The 2.5 million-member denomination also forbids investment in alcohol, gambling, tobacco, large military contractors and the Talisman oil company, which does business in Sudan.  The measure was passed along with a separate resolution that called for an end to the construction of an Israeli security barrier that has been criticized for separating Palestinians from their jobs, schools and land.  In related business, delegates approved a resolution that called on the United States to "demilitarize its anti-drug policies in Colombia, (and) that it speak against the violation of human rights" in the war-torn country. Presbyterians in Colombia have asked for U.S. help in ending American involvement in that country.  Delegates also called for greater United Nations involvement in Iraq and condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the recent torture of Iraqi prisoners at the hand of U.S. soldiers.  "From the beginning, it has been the judgment of many church leaders, both in the United States and elsewhere, that an invasion of Iraq has been unwise, immoral and illegal," said the resolution, adopted 381-107. " (This assembly) concurs with that judgment."  A separate resolution on "Violence, Religion and Terrorism" urged the U.S. government to address the root conditions of poverty and injustice that fuel terrorists' violence.  It also called on the church to confess "that our support for military responses to acts of terrorism has too often been motivated by a desire for vengeance and not a desire for justice," said the statement, adopted 396-81.
[COMMENT] ***** I wonder how fast "W" would lose the support of the Christian right if/when his involvement (knowledge and/or approval) of the prison tortures come out?  I think it surprising (and encouraging) that an religious organization has admitted that our military responses are motivated more by vengeance than justice.  Too bad the rest of the country who still believe the lies Bush/Cheney are feeding them don't see the truths.  But, that's just this old Curmudgeon's opinion, FWIW.***** 

posted by A Curmudgeon 2:16 PM