July 1, 2005
A DISTANT MIRROR
Another US church mulls divestment (Sam Ser, Jerusalem Post, July 1st, 2005)
The United Church of Christ is to consider divestment from Israel at its biennial General Synod assembly, which opens in Atlanta on Friday.A resolution submitted by UCC member churches in Hawaii suggests the church divest from American and Israeli companies "profiting from the perpetuation of violence and injustice in Israel and Palestine," directly comparing Israel to South Africa's apartheid regime and noting support for the move from left-wing Jewish groups.
Because every UCC congregation is self-governing, the church notes on its Web site promoting the conference, its resolutions speak "to" but not "for" each local church. However, the resolution is part of a larger movement within Protestant churches, mostly in the United States, to divest from Israel. The Presbyterian Church-USA, the World Council of Churches, the United Methodist Church and the Episcopal Church have all considered similar resolutions.
The phenomenon has alarmed the organized American Jewish community, which has mobilized to undermine it by discussing with local churches more constructive ways to promote peace and their desire to see a just resolution to the conflict here.
The UCC resolution speaks openly about the controversy that such moves have created, seemingly attempting to create a sense of balance. For example, it speaks of trouble "in Israel and Palestine" rather than the Palestinian Authority alone, and suggests including in the divestment study "all corporations providing weapons of any kind to Israel, Palestine and the neighboring Arab countries.
Despite this, the resolution never mentions Palestinian terrorism explicitly, and never mentions the Palestinian Authority as a body responsible for controlling it. The resolution also blames "Zionist expansionist organizations" for expropriating land as a response to the Holocaust.
We could point out that these are largely the same churches that reject scriptural authority, preach moral relativism and latch onto just about any progressive social cause going, but to suggest there is any connection would be irrational.
Posted by Peter Burnet at July 1, 2005 8:52 AMIsrael, South Africa--let's see, can we think of any other settler nations, any other peoples of the wagon train to despise? I'll bet we could come up with another one if we tried really hard.
Posted by: Lou Gots at July 1, 2005 9:59 AMLou: Are you suggesting that modern anti-semitism is displaced anti-Americanism?
Posted by: David Cohen at July 1, 2005 10:09 AMNot "displacing" - IMHO - but merely a sideshow until the main act returns to the stage once more.
Posted by: obc at July 1, 2005 11:52 AMSince the Jewish community in the US is large, affluent and has some politically influential members, I think a change in traditional Jewish accomodationist strategy is in order.
1. We should as a community refuse to cooperate in any public ceremony where UCC and Presbyterian clergy are invited to participate.
2. We should boycott businesses owned by members of the Presbyterian Church and the UCC. We should refuse to hire them. We should refuse to provide medical, legal and other services to them.
3. We should ostracize them socially as well.
This is America in 2005 not Germany in 1937. The old wimpy accomodationist kowtowing to the enemy didn't work then, and since we have clout is unnecessary now. No one would expect a Black in the American South to patronize members of the KKK. Why should we be called upon to patronize members of organizations dedicated to our destruction?
Posted by: bart at July 1, 2005 12:14 PMScarcely displaced, I should say. Pius XI made the point in Mit Brennenden Sorge: spiritually, we Christians are all Semites. Anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism, with America being the premier Christian country, are two sides of the same coin.
Posted by: Lou Gots at July 1, 2005 12:27 PMBart--
That you're right is irrelevant, isn't it? We Jews are pretty stupid for being pretty smart. We wouldn't want to lose the approval of our moral and social betters, would we?
Posted by: Brian (MN) at July 1, 2005 1:23 PMThe thing is, the leaders of these churches don't even know that the general public is divesting itself from stupidity by not giving, and not attending.
Posted by: jim hamlen at July 1, 2005 2:10 PMSo essentially they're divesting themselves of the USA. I hope they do so by withholding their personal income taxes.
Posted by: Genecis at July 1, 2005 4:03 PMBart:
You're using an awfully broad brush here. Please carefully paint around me. I for one think all this divestment talk is assinine, and I've said so (though I didn't say assinine) publicly.