Newsletters

Date: July 22nd 2008

From Rick

Friends,

For as long as all of us can remember, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship has been a presence at the General Assembly. I’ve attended almost every GA for the last twenty years, and the PPF National Committee members have always been there, doing their best to assure a consistent witness from our denomination on what it means to be followers of the Prince of Peace. This year, our work before and during the Assembly made what can reasonably be argued was the strongest impact at any of the nearly twenty assemblies that I’ve attended.

Members and friends of the PPF were instrumental in shaping a wide variety of overtures and commissioners’ resolutions, most of which were passed with few changes, and some of which were strengthened by this Assembly’s resolve to speak out for the cause of peace. There were bold actions calling for the end of the War in Iraq, re-stating our denomination’s support for support for Conscientious Objectors, and condemning the use of mercenary or “for profit” soldiers in Iraq and around the world.

The Assembly also expressed a clear resolve to maintain and further develop our nonviolent work in Colombia, and in response to the pleas of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia, called for an end to U.S. military aid to the government of Colombia. Two of our members who participated in our delegation to the Philippines in February wrote a Commissioners Resolution that was passed overwhelmingly by the Assembly. That action raised serious questions about the rising level of violence and political killings directed against community and church leaders, and called on Presbyterians to participate in delegations there to seek greater ways to be in solidarity with our sister church, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. The General Assembly then complemented those actions by also choosing to sign on to a clear statement condemning the use of torture as a technique of interrogation in the U.S.’s efforts to combat terrorism.

For the first time in many years, this Assembly also spoke out on the epidemic of gun violence in our country. I wish you all could have been there with me as I listened to Rev. Jim Atwood, a member of our National Committee, give a powerful and prophetic call to the Social Justice Committee of the Assembly to invite all of us to address this crisis at every level of our society. His insistence that the church must be the conscience of the nation was especially compelling given the deeply disturbing decision of the Supreme Court on Friday of that week – on a five to four vote – to severely undermine the existing laws controlling the sale of these weapons.

Finally, PPF folks were supportive of efforts led by the Israel/Palestine network to continue to craft a consistent witness for peace among our Muslim, Christian and Jewish sisters and brothers in Israel and Palestine. The importance of our actions over the last four years was re-enforced by Archbishop Elias Chacour, who preached at the Ecumenical Worship service on Wednesday morning, and by Mubarak Awad, the Palestinian Christian who founded the Center for Nonviolence in Washington DC, who was the keynote speaker at the PPF breakfast. At that breakfast, the PPF also presented PeaceSeeker awards to Anita David and Beth Pyles for their work in Iraq, to Gary Cozette for his human rights work in Colombia, and to long-time National Committee member Peggy Howland for her lifetime of service to the church and to the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and her consistently strong message for peace and justice.

It was, indeed, a powerful moment for the cause of peacemaking in the church. For me, what was most important was that the strength of our witness as a Peace Fellowship grew out of our direct involvement as nonviolent accompaniers and peacemakers around the world. This was no intellectual exercise – it was the natural result of efforts of dozens of Presbyterians who have chosen to get directly involved in the cause of peacemaking in places of extreme conflict in their own communities and around the world.

I hope that many of you will be inspired to join us as our work and witness grows. Moments like the San Jose General Assembly make it crystal clear just how important that work is.

Rick

GA Summary

While much reporting and discussion on this year's General Assembly focuses on divisions in the church, the Assembly saw remarkable consensus on issues of peacemaking. Most peace related actions passed by very wide margins, and some were even unanimous. We've prepared a comprehensive summary of GA's actions on peace issues on our website. Click on any of the links below to view GA's action on a given issue.

• Nonviolence, not war
• Peace with Iran
• Mercenaries
• Philippines
• Colombia
• Iraq
• Israel/Palestine
• Conscientious Objection
• Gun Violence
• Immigration
• Torture
• Social Creed