This page lists reports and commentary from the earlier part of December, 2005

The Nation has gathered a number of very good articles on torture, in its December 26, 2005 issue. Details and links >>  

And the view from Canada – Robin Matthews, writing on the website ViveleCanada, lays out differing views of U.S. use of torture from two Canadians and two U.S. students of the issue. More >>

High schoolers comment on torture

The MSNBC cable network is running a poll in which over 175,000 have already voted, as of December 29^th.

You can participate at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562904/, and then you’ll see the most current results.  Earlier today they were:

Do you believe President Bush's actions justify impeachment?

* 177330 responses (as of 12-29-05)

Leif Utne, of Utne Reader, comments on the recent WTO gathering in Hong Kong, and provides links to many good resources and comments.

He summarizes his comments:

Leaders gave assurances that the recent trade summit would be more open and transparent than earlier talks and put the interests of developing countries first. But the reality in Hong Kong was more of the same: a tightly controlled agenda designed to push the interests of US and European corporations.

Steven Spielberg’s "Munich" has already generated considerable controversy. Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks said that Spielberg presents a "perpetual motion machine" of violence and that he ignores the "evil" involved — presumably meaning the Palestinians. The right-wing organization, CAMERA, is aghast that Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner depict Palestinians as people rather than as mindless killers.

At Jewish Voice for Peace, we work for a lasting and just peace that respects the rights of Israelis and Palestinians equally. We do that by working to change American policy in the region and by raising a Jewish call for policies that treat Israelis and Palestinians equally within the framework of international law. Read our view of the film and the relevant history >>

John Van Nuys, a Witherspoon member, has sent some friends this warm recommendation (slightly edited) of another film portrayal of Israel:

You may have seen these circulating on the web, but if you've missed them, here are some signs the people have found ... well ... interesting, if not instructive.  We're leaving off the comments that are circulating with them, and inviting you to create your own.

Here's the first of them.  Click here for the rest >>

Incarnation ... then and now

Michael Adee, National Organizer of More Light Presbyterians, sends a thoughtful Christmas meditation on the Incarnation and the Church – each of them, as a Benedictine monk reminded Kathleen Norris, “a shaky proposition.”

This past week's World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong ended in failure. The text of the agreement represents a profound disappointment and a betrayal of development promises by rich countries. Extremely damaging proposals on services and industry cancelled out progress on some aspects of agriculture. Developing countries were placed in an impossible position: accept a text which is seriously flawed or be blamed for the failure of the round. Ministers and commentators are assuming that another WTO meeting will take place early next year to finish off the deal.

There have been many reports on the complex issues in the WTO negotiations.

Oxfam presents one brief statement.

One said simply, "I tried to watch President Bush's speech, but I couldn't; there was no electricity."

But others had more to say.

Peggy Gish, 63, commented in Amman, "based on my three years of listening to Iraqis who have suffered the pain of war, U.S. and Iraqi forces' 'on the offensive,' means continued mass arrests, house raids and bombing of civilians, continued illegal detentions, torture, and abuse."

The Associated Press reports that U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III has ruled that "intelligent design" cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial.

Dover Area School Board members violated the Constitution when they ordered that its biology curriculum must include the notion that life on Earth was produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, Judge Jones said. Several members repeatedly lied to cover their motives even while professing religious beliefs, he added.  The full report >>

When Tim Holt spotted Maria Rabanales of El Salvador lying still in the Arizona desert this summer, he believed he had a God-given duty to save her.

He forced water through the woman's swollen jaws and poured ice down her shirt. Border Patrol agents later took Rabanales to a hospital, where she was revived.

Holt was praised by Humane Borders, sponsored by First Christian Church of Tucson, where he is a volunteer. But his actions that June day might soon be considered a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison or property forfeiture, if a Republican-sponsored bill that passed the House along partisan lines on Friday becomes law.

Buy Union for the Holidays

When you go to your next holiday gathering, why not put a smile on the hosts’ faces with a thoughtful gift of union wine?

Heaven and Nature Sing!

You can assist workers and institutions in countries where books are in short supply!  Share your books by sending them to Readers' Service, an agency of the PC(USA).  It's a great way to help!

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has set up an alternative gift program to benefit the community center they are building in Immokalee, Florida. The PC(USA) General Assembly and the Peace River Presbytery made the down payment on the building possible through generous gifts. Now the CIW is trying to raise $1M to renovate and furnish the building.

Thanks to the Rev. Noelle Damico, now with Alliance for Fair Food

Email ndamico@universityofthepoor.org

The New York Times has reported in a December 16 editorial that the agreement by the President to accept Sen. John McCain’s amendment to ban the use of torture by the US has some serious limitations. These include:
- Habeas corpus is being restricted
- Coerced evidence will be allowed
- Attorney General Gonzales et al. still will not define techniques like waterboarding as torture
- Those charged with torture can use the defense that a reasonable person could have concluded they were following a lawful order

Dr. George Hunsinger, convener of the planned Princeton conference on human rights and torture, has sent this letter to religious leaders who are being invited to the conference. 

MUSING AT YEAR'S END

Bethlehem census takers,
doing the work of Caesar Augustus—
checking the roads
and taxes owed,
and counting all the noses—
may well have missed one peasant birth in a stable
behind the inn.

Easy still
to be distracted
by discordant noise of nations
and the busy hum of tending
our own empires.

Peace to you and yours
and to our world ...

Witherspooner Amy Ukena offers this helpful advice for your own war on terrorism:

A Buddhist approach to fight terrorism - one on one

First principle: install a wireless security system:

Go to a secondhand store, buy a pair of men's used work boots, a really big pair. Put them outside your front door on top of a copy of Guns and Ammo magazine. Put a dog dish beside it. A really big dish.

Water will be one of the major issues of the 21st century, and there is an emerging battle between corporations that want to privatize all water (whether it's for drinking, agriculture, or industry) and those that think that water, as an essential of human life, should be kept available to all.

Reuters reports that the Pentagon has a secret database that indicates the U.S. military may be collecting information on Americans who oppose the Iraq war and may be monitoring peace demonstrations, NBC reported Tuesday.

Conference will introduce curriculum material on issue of torture from Christian perspective

The President was asked yesterday how many people have died in Iraq. He answered smoothly that it’s about 30,000. Estimates of the numbers differ widely, and perhaps the total doesn’t really matter, for each death is unique and for some people, that one is all that matters.

We invite you to take a moment to watch a moving, short film about the human cost of the Iraq war. (And then forward it to your friends.) It's a powerful reminder of the individual lives lost, and a call to take action to stop the carnage. If the pro-peace majority can grow -- and make ourselves heard -- we can end this war!

The online film – about 3 minutes long – has been produced by the American Friends Service Committee. It tells the truth about the ongoing loss of life in Iraq – and encourages viewers to sign our petition to bring the troops home.   View the film >>
 

As California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refuses to block the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams, it may be worth noting Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick’s statement last week, reaffirming the long-standing Presbyterian Church opposition to capital punishment/

So who’s the real prophet?

In this season of Advent we spend a lot of time hearing from the Hebrew prophets – usually a few well-chosen lines about a coming Messiah, a virgin, hopes for a better time. Peter Sawtell, of Eco-Justice Ministries, offers some helpful thoughts on "dueling prophets," and the difficult challenge to discern which are the authentic prophets, and which are just trying to proclaim "good cheer."

He concludes:

Jesus, Jeremiah and others have let us know that there are standards and guidelines to use in sifting out the genuine word of God from the false prophecy. In making the choice between competing voices today -- about war and peace, taxes and government services, ecological responsibility, personal morality, and more -- here are some of the clues that I look for:

The prophetic word is always challenging, and always calls us to look beyond ourselves. It makes us look for the well-being of the whole community, the whole Earth.

The prophetic word lifts up a vision of hope and promise. It imagines a different way of living in peace and community. It is always a proclamation of God's shalom.

The prophetic word never affirms the status quo. It always brings judgement -- sometimes on us, and sometimes on others -- and it always demands justice. It is especially likely to challenge excessive power, violence, and poverty.

The prophetic word will never say that the ends justify the means. The way we get there must be congruent with where we're trying to go.

The Senate recently voted on two important bills: the Defense Appropriations bill and the Defense Authorization bill. You may well want to urge your Representative (and Senators too, if you have time) to support the Anti-Torture Amendment as passed by the Senate 90-9 and offered by Senator John McCain.  It's important to address this issue in both the Defense Appropriations bill and the Defense Authorization bill.   Details >>

Also ...

"Torture" takes on new meaning in post-9/11 U.S.

2006 Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice
"Challenging Disparity - the Promise of God, the Power of Solidarity"

Advocacy Days will include:
• Major speakers
• Enlivening Ecumenical Worship
• Workshops
• Networking Opportunities
• Chance to advocate with your members of Congress
• Bring your faith values into the public square
• Fun and more…

Princeton theologian Mark Lewis Taylor provides an astute analysis of how after 9/11, Christian nationalists have forged an imperial America that subverts what most U.S. citizens and most Christians hold dear about their democratic life. Even as he exposes the dangers of the Christian right, Taylor also retrieves and highlights an authentic democratic spirit that U.S. citizens can nurture and develop in public life.   [a book notice from Fortress Press]  More >>

"Mark Lewis Taylor is the most prophetic theologian, political activist and cultural critic of his generation. There is simply no one on the scene like him. Don't miss this book!" -- Cornel West, University Professor of Religion, Princeton University

A Witherspoon note:   Dr Taylor was one of the leaders of the Witherspoon/Peace Fellowship seminar at Ghost Ranch in the summer of 2005.  Witherspoon board member Jake Young reported on the seminar, and especially on Taylor's presentations, in Network News, Summer 2005, pages 9-10.  You can read it in PDF format:  just click here, and scroll down to page 9.

I've signed the Birmingham Pledge and I'm sending it to you so that you can help end racism one person at a time too. The Birmingham Pledge is a personal commitment to recognize the worth and dignity of every individual. Tens of thousands of people from all over the United States have signed the Birmingham Pledge and I hope you will join me. If you have not already done so, you can sign the Pledge by clicking this link http://birminghampledge.org/English.asp. Thank you for making a difference!

As the disasters of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita begin to look more like history than like current, urgent problems, it may be helpful to look at those critical events from the perspective of  three months of action ... or inaction. 

Gene TeSelle, Witherspoon's Issues Analyst, considers the disasters from two angles:

The Fall 2005 issue of Witherspoon's newsletter is finally at the printer -- a little late because your editor/WebWeaver was in Sri Lanka for a couple weeks as an election observer.  It should be in the mail in a week or so, but you can read it here, now.

Writing for Sojourners, Duane Shank reminds us of Martin Luther King's last Sunday sermon, urging us not to sleep through the three great revolutions taking place in the world - a technological revolution, a revolution in weaponry, and a human rights revolution. And more than remembering the promise of God's reign, were are invited to share in the fulfillment of that promise:

A book note by Berry Craig begins:

The Presbyterian Layman reports that Redstone Presbytery, in central Pennsylvania, will send three overtures to the 2006 General Assembly, which will "test the 217th General Assembly's commitment to a Biblical perspective on marriage, abortion and counseling." One of them affirms that marriage is only between a man and a woman, and that no other sexual relationship is legitimate. The second would require that pastoral counseling and study materials offered by the PC(USA) must be consistent with that narrow definition, and insist on guiding people to seek forgiveness and change from their "sexual sin."

The third would once again oppose late-term abortions, while couching the opposition in apparently pastoral concern: "When late term pregnancies must be terminated, we urge decisions intended to deliver the baby alive. We look to our churches to provide pastoral and tangible support to women in problem pregnancies and to surround these families with a community of care. We affirm adoption as a provision for women who deliver children they are not able to care for, and ask our churches to assist in seeking loving Christian adoptive families."

Eric Geller, who has been communicating with us fairly often (see above) about the actions of the 2004 General Assembly dealing with Palestine, Israel, and possible divestment, has called our attention to a report in the New York Times about a recent visit to a Hezbollah leader by another Presbyterian group – but not one sent or sanctioned by the denomination.    The report >>