This page lists reports and commentary from all of November, 2005

Ethical Consumption for the Holidays--

You don't have to buy stuff to be loved.
It's better for the environment if you don't.

From the Network of Spiritual Progressives

We in Western countries are 20% of the world’s population, but we are consuming over 80% of the earth’s natural resources, causing a disproportionate level of environmental damage and unfair distribution of wealth.  The average North American consumes five times more than a Mexican, 10 times more than a Chinese person, and 30 times more than a person from India.

Advertisers make us feel that we are worthless if we don’t spend a lot of money on holiday gifts and give us this false image that we will achieve family bliss, sexual success, and love if only we spend enough money on extravagant gifts. But love cannot be bought, and many people find themselves depressed at the holidays, either because they’ve increased their debts or because they find themselves lonely or disappointed with family interactions in which gifts are substituted for real loving encounter. And the spiritual meaning of the holidays is lost in a frenzy of spending.

December 1, 2005, is World AIDS Day: A Day of Remembrance, Prayer and Action for More Light Presbyterians   

Harold Kurtz, former mission worker and Senior Associate of the Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship, writes as a veteran of World War II (along with his four brothers) and as an evangelical, saying: "Lately I feel like a stranger in the United States. I am a remnant of what has been called ‘the greatest generation,’ but it's not the thinning ranks of my generation that has me feeling lost and confused. It's the debate about torture that has been swirling around me for months. I never imagined such a debate in my country."

His family helped feed and care for German POWs who were brought to work on their farm, and he concludes by wondering, "What has happened to my country? How can my country be debating the merits of torture? Why has my country lost the will to make friends out of its enemies?"

Yesterday I reported briefly on my participation in an election observation team for the presidential election held last week in Sri Lanka.  Go there >>  (to the report, not to Sri Lanka)

Today I can share the results of our work: the interim report from the international observers.

Sri Lanka election – a great success, a great failure

The interim report from the international observers describes the election as a "great success" in the reduced level of violence, and "great failure" in the absence of voting by people under the control of the LTTE – the Tamil rebels seeking autonomy from the predominantly Sinhalese government.

The 11-page report is posted here in PDF format.

Protesters urge closure of U.S. Army training school in Georgia

The annual vigil and protest against the School of the Americans – now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (or School of Torturers?) – was probably the largest ever in its 16-year history. SOA Watch estimated that 19,000 people participated in the Nov. 19-20 protest . Of the demonstrators, 39 were arrested.

Catholic News Service offers a report >>

SOA Watch has posted a great slide show of the event – with music!

A suggestion: Be smarter than your WebWeaver, and click on the little arrow under the lower left corner of the opening screen. Or be like me, and just sit staring at it and wait for something to happen.

[This report is being posted a bit tardily, because it came after I had left for Sri Lanka, where internet connections were pretty iffy. And costly. I’ll try to catch up on a few important items like this, though, over the next few days. Doug King]

The General Assembly of the National Council of Churches USA (NCC) and Church World Service, meeting in Maryland during the second week of November, commended the U.S. Senate for "anti-torture provisions" in the 2006 Defense Appropriations bill.

But as the House of Representatives began debate on the bill, some high-ranking U.S. government officials declined to support the provisions.

"As delegates to the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches USA and Church World Service, we find any and all use of torture unacceptable and contrary to U.S. and international legal norms," the delegates said.

an en route report from your WebWeaver, Doug King

I’m writing this quickly before checking out of my hotel room in Sri Lanka, to head for the Colombo airport and the 30-hour trip home to Twin Cities.

This will not be a travelogue – fear not. Nor will it be a news report, since what the election observer team does is not a matter of gathering news, but seeking information that might help the people of Sri Lanka on election day (which was last Thursday) to minimize the possibilities of violence or other tactics that groups might use to keep this from being a "free and fair election." In other words, we were hoping to prevent the kinds of incidents that generally seem to "make news." And that hope seems to have been fulfilled – not perfectly, but with significant improvements over past elections.

Presbyterian United Nations Representative

No2Torture Public Witness

A gathering will be held in Miami, FL: all day Fri., Jan. 6, until Noon Sat., Jan. 7, 2006. The gathering will include updates on legislation and legal action, theological reflection, worship, a public witness, networking and strategizing, and prayer. To register, contact Megan Burns at pinkdahling@aol.com or 305-643-1760

Stopping Torture

Darfur

Grants for Dialogue

Resources for college and seminary students on war and peace

Worship Resources for Human Rights Day * December 10, 2005

Water Weekend at Presbyterian UN Office

Eco-justice and Katrina 

Theology, International Law, and Torture

Church World Service and partners unveil Africa Peacebuilding Program

Churches Uniting in Christ Seeking a Director

For Your Children: Creating Communities of Faith in Our Families  

UPCOMING EVENTS

2006 Peacemaking Conference * Unmasking Power: Seeking the Faces of Peace -July 22-27, 2006, YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park, C0

The Rev. W. Mark Koenig
Associate for Resources and Publications
Presbyterian Peacemaking Program
100 Witherspoon St., #1624
Louisville, KY 40202
888-728-7228, ext. 5936

www.pcusa.org/peacemaking

To subscribe to this e-list, send an email to peacemaking-subscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org

This year's conference of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, with 500 in attendance, was held in the Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis. The location in the South was significant by itself. But there is also some "background." In the repressive style that is all too familiar in the region, 27 of the 80 ministers in the Presbytery of the Mid-South urged the Idlewild session to cancel their sponsorship of the event, and there was a vague threat of legal action. Well, the session rethought it, decided to continue, and were joined by nine other churches in the presbytery and two outside it as co-sponsors.

Each service of worship at Idlewild was an impressive experience, with Melva Costen leading worship several times.  Other speakers included writer Kathleen Norris, theologians Eugene Rogers, Larry Rasmussen, and Amy Plantinga Pauw -- along with PCUSA Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase, and Theological Task Force members Barbara Wheeler and John Wilkinson.

Tim Hart-Andersen, speaking for the Board of Covenant Network, emphasized that the Board has neither taken a position on the report of the TTF nor endorsed its recommendations. It has, however, noted sadly that "the final recommendations do not address all of our hopes for the church," in particular the full inclusion of its GLBT members.  He noted that the Covenant Network will continue to support overtures from presbyteries to remove G-6.0106b from the Book of Order and will ask commissioners to listen for divine guidance during the deliberations of the General Assembly in June.  The reaction of the assembled body seemed to be one of uncertainty about what had been said and emotional ambivalence in responding to it.

Your WebWeaver’s taking a trip

If things get a little quiet on this page over the next few days, here’s why:

I’ve been invited by Nonviolent Peaceforce, a group based in the Twin Cities, to join an international team of volunteers to be in Sri Lanka for the next few days, serving as election observers watching the process of a national election on November 17. "NP," as they call themselves for short, is training and organizing people from many nations to intervene as a nonviolent presence in situations of conflict – and Sri Lanka is certainly that.

I leave tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 8) and will arrive in Colombo some 30 hours later, around 6 AM on Thursday, Nov. 10. After a couple days of briefings and orientation, we’ll be sent out to polling places around the country, and then return to Colombo for debriefing. I should be home again on Monday, Nov. 21.

I don’t know how and when I’ll be able to get on the Internet during my time there, but I’ll be posting things here as much as communication facilities and our other business permit.

I ask your prayers for the people of Sri Lanka as they strive to deal with centuries of conflict between Sinhalese and Tamils, through a democratic process.

For news on the election, you might visit the website of the Sri Lankan organization that is coordinating the monitoring process – PAFFREL for short.

Witherspooner Gene TeSelle will soon share his report on the conference, but in the meantime ...

Jerry Van Marter of Presbyterian News Service has filed a number of reports from this conference.

Kathleen Norris to Covenant Network: Disciples must embrace the mysterious

Amy Pauw reminds the group that spirituality is communal, theologian says, and personal piety isn't sufficient as response to God’s grace

Larry Rasmussen, former professor of social ethics, asserts that the concept of righteousness is both personal and corporate.  [Sorry, this report has not been posted yet.]

Presbyterian Outlook has a number of reports by Leslie Scanlon, Outlook national reporter. 

For headlines and links to the stories, go to the Outlook home page and log in.  (Registration is now required.)

So far the letter has 9,229 signatures. The author, Michael Zimmerman, of the College of Letters and Science in the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, is hoping to reach the goal of 10,000 ministers.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Internal Revenue Service has warned one of Southern California's largest and most liberal churches that it is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status because of an antiwar sermon two days before the 2004 presidential election.

"Open Space Technology" opens a new adventure in doing workshops

What happens when you gather about 75 Presbyterians and let them loose for six hours to create their own workshops, decide their own topics, lead them or just listen as they choose, wander off to something else, and finally write up their own reports?

What we found was that lots of people had concerns and ideas and projects to talk about, and lots of others were interested enough to sit for a few minutes or an hour, working through some issue and putting together some kind of report for the whole group – some with very significant recommendations (to the Worldwide Ministries Division, or to Witherspoon, or to themselves).  Topics ranged from evangelism to advocacy for social justice, from accompaniment in Colombia to advocacy for the people of Sudan, from how Young Adult Volunteers can share their experiences to "futbol/soccer." 

It was a fascinating venture in a free-for-all-approach to things people care deeply about.  And it worked.

We offer a sampling of the workshops, and some of the points they reported to the whole group.

Mr. Eric Geller has been corresponding with us over the past few months, offering his thoughtful reflections as an American Jew on the debate about Presbyterian actions regarding Israel/Palestine and divestment.  And yesterday he sent this note:

Doug,

You may have read the recent horrific remarks by the President of Iran. The Presbyterian Church issued the following terrific statement following these remarks. Click here >>

Just thought you might want to see this. I think what the Iranian President said has sent some shock waves of reality throughout the world. The Presbyterian comment was great.

Regards,

Eric

Here’s one way to protest US use of torture

Thousands will rally -- yet again! -- to demand closure of US Army training school
Convergence and civil disobedience will be held at Fort Benning, Georgia, November 19-20, 2005 to close the US Army’s School of the Americas.

The Washington Office reports that the House of Representatives may vote on torture in the next few days. Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask to be connected to your Congressperson's office. After reaching your Member of Congress's office, ask for the staffer who covers defense issues. If they are not available, ask if you can leave a message on their voicemail. Talking points from Amnesty International:

The New Wineskins Initiative, on whose conference we reported in June, 2005, is moving rapidly to place their "vision" for a radically different Presbyterian Church before the 217^th General Assembly.

In a letter to their supporters and those who attended their conference, David Henderson and Dean Weaver, Co-Moderators of the group, call on endorsing congregations and other friends to present one of two proposed overtures to their presbyteries.

They then remind their friends that "From the beginning the NWI has sought to work through existing mechanisms for change available within our denomination. We want to be true to our word, and faithful to pursue change from within in this season. This means overtures."

Acknowledging the support recently expressed by Presbyterian seminaries for the Theological Task Force report, and the calls for new authoritative interpretations, they assert that "the clarion call of the New Wineskins Initiative to radically rethink how we do church and serve Jesus Christ is all the more real. We are convinced that new window-dressings will not fix our present structure."

Lisa Larges, Regional Partnership Coordinator of That All May Freely Serve, who lives in San Francisco, sent this note:

Presbyterian Minister, activist, singer, band leader, dancer, chef, and symbol to so many of us of God's gracious hospitality, the Reverend Chuck McLain died this All Saint's morning, at age 71.

Details regarding services celebrating Chuck's life will be forthcoming from Montclair Presbyterian Church where Chuck has served for many years as Parish Associate.

May we live in love as Chuck did so well.

Blessings friends,
Lisa

Civilians in Iraq need you to help end state-sponsored torture by Iraqi security forces.  

Christian Peacemaker Team in Iraq spent nearly two years documenting abuse of Iraqi detainees in U.S.-run prisons in Iraq. But for the past several months, the team has received more and more reports of detentions, killings, and torture perpetrated by the new Iraqi security forces – forces trained by U.S. military and now given responsibility for security in their country. Methods of torture reported by survivors and families include beatings with cables, electric shock, electric drilling, food and sleep deprivation, beating of feet, stress positions, and suspension from the ceiling. CPT has received first-hand testimonies alleging that the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police and new commando groups such as the Wolf and Scorpion Brigades have targeted particular communities, such as Iraqi Sunni neighborhoods as well as neighborhoods of Palestinians born in Iraq.

For earlier archives --