This page lists all reports and commentary from December, 2006

Chris Hedges comments on the attacks on Jimmy Carter’s book

What’s happening to America’s middle class?

You may have heard CNN’s Lou Dobbs declaim about this issue recently, in ways that seem to make immigrants the main culprits in the decline of the middle class.

The Campaign for America's Future is now recommending a new book by Yale political science professor Jacob Hacker, entitled The Great Risk Shift: The Assault On American Jobs, Families, Health Care, And Retirement-And How You Can Fight Back.

Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign, writes, "The book has extraordinary explanatory power – made all the more compelling by Hacker's skillful use of short vignettes – stories of individuals and families coping with sudden unemployment, the loss of a breadwinner, a seriously sick child, or the mounting costs of education." He adds that Hacker is setting forth a "plan for health care for all – a plan that would guarantee choice of either traditional private insurance or a new cheaper Medicare-style system – while rapidly getting all Americans covered."

See more comments on the Campaign for America’s Future website >>

If anybody out there has read this book,
or can read it soon and give us some comments on it,
we’ll be happy to share it here.
Just send a note!

At our Fall board meeting, held in September at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, the Board of the Witherspoon Society voted to take some concrete steps toward engaging more directly with the big wide world. We adopted as a working title for this project the "Global Engagement Initiative."

As one step in this project we have committed to provide partial support for Shannon O’Donnell, who has recently gone as a Mission Volunteer to serve at the Sabeel Ecumenical and Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.

We are happy to present more information about this new Witherspoon project, including an introduction by Board member Peter Barnes-Davies, a "report from Jerusalem" by Shannon herself, a statement by Sabeel of its current "points of emphasis," and more.

Don't miss a beautiful collage created by the people of Sabeel to represent their people, their situation, and their mission.

Click here for a page that will be devoted specifically to our partnership with the PC(USA) in its global mission, through Shannon O’Donnell and Sabeel in Jerusalem.

After delays caused by the general chaos of moving, and finding a new printer and getting a new mailing permit and all that, the Fall 2006 issue of Witherspoon's Network News is at the Post Office.  We hope!  It brings reports on Witherspoon's new Global Engagement Initiative (and you can read it on this website, too), along with other creative reflections on the "mission imperative" and the PC(USA)'s social and moral witness in our global context.  And lots more.  You can read the whole thing here in PDF format, or wait for your friendly letter-carrier to bring it to your door.

If you want to subscribe to Network News or become a full supporting member of Witherspoon, click here to join, and you can pay online as well. 

Many ideas but no clear solutions for responding to task force report

Advent reflections

This is True
by Allan Boesak

It is not true
that this world and its people
are doomed to die and be lost.

This is true;
God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believes in him,
shall not perish but have everlasting life.

It is not true
that we must accept inhumanity and discrimination,
hunger and poverty, death and destruction.

This is true;
I have come that they may have life,
and that abundantly.

It is not true
that violence and hatred should have the last word,
and that war and destruction have come to stay forever.

This is true:
Unto us a child is born,
and unto us a Son is given,
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Come Together to Say No! To Torture
January 19-20, Los Angeles, CA

Presbyterian Phil Gates, a retired school superintendent living in Prescott, AZ, writes about his decision to "cross the line" at Fort Benning, GA, in an act of civil disobedience to protest against the School of the Americas.

Soon after his arrest he wrote a letter to some friends, and has kindly given his permission for us to share it here. He draws very illuminating connections between his experience as an accompanier in Colombia and his decision to take action against the School of the Americas, showing how US actions in South America are closely tied to SOA, and even more important, to the American attitudes and policies that support SOA.

And therein lie the reasons for resistance.

MLP’s Michael Adee is used as the lead-in to the story.

Gay Man Uses Pulpit to Fight for Acceptance

Issue of Ordaining Homosexuals Threatens Schism in Mainline Churches

From Presbyterian News Service, December 8, 2006

The General Assembly Council’s (GAC) Executive Committee has unanimously confirmed GAC Executive Director Linda Valentine’s appointment of the Rev. Tom Taylor as the GAC’s deputy executive director for mission.

Valentine praised Taylor as "intelligent, creative and deeply committed to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)." She said that during the search process in which 50 candidates were considered, "Tom Taylor really stood out as someone who would articulate a theology of mission service that matches the realities in the church and world today."

Moreover, she added, Taylor "has been a healer in a presbytery (San Gabriel) that is deeply polarized … is a modern thinker with an affinity for tradition …and has a flair for communication, which is the concern most frequently heard out in the church."

The Presbyterian Church, along with other denominations and the National Council of Churches, has been involved in conversations aimed at formulating a new "Social Creed" for the 21^stcentury, marking the 100^th anniversary in of the creation of an earlier Social Creed in the year 1908.  See a background story >>

Most media call it marginal, but organized push swayed world opinion

Tom Hayden, a former California state senator, was a leader of the anti-Vietnam war movement, and now teaches at Pitzer College in Claremont (Los Angeles County). He argued recently in the San Francisco Chronicle that while the media seem to think the opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq has appeared out of nowhere, in fact a variety of groups on the left have been working successfully over the past few years to advance a critical understanding of the war and U.S. foreign policy in general.

He concludes that

If ever consulted, anti-war voices might propose the following:

•First, seek a dialogue with anti-occupation forces in Iraq, from politicians to insurgents, to work toward a cease-fire and a longer-term conflict resolution process.
•Second, announce the withdrawal timetable that about 80 percent of Iraqi people and 60 percent of the American people want.
•Third, initiate a diplomatic offensive, beginning with Iran, to seek regional global assistance in dealing with security, reconciliation and reconstruction issues.

Hmm. Does that sound a little like the Baker-Hamilton report? Not quite, but there is a resemblance, at least.

A time to reflect on William Stacy Johnson’s A Time to Embrace, and on same gender relationships 

The first book to come from a member of the recent Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church, has been written by William Stacy Johnson under the title A Time to Embrace: Same-Gender Relationships in Religion, Law, and Politics. Witherspoon Issues Analyst Gene TeSelle takes a thoughtful look at the book, examining Johnson’s description of various attitudes that are being promoted in dealing with same-gender relationships, pro and con.

TeSelle sees this typology of attitudes as very useful, partly because of the breadth of Johnson’s exploration of the different views. Further, he shows how Johnson arrives at his conclusion that (in TeSelle’s words) "same-sex marriage is the only approach that is truly just under U.S. legal principles." TeSelle agrees with that conclusion, but then suggests that for the time being, it may be strategically necessary to accept some compromises along the lines of civil unions, until the American public gains enough awareness to affirm same-gender marriage.

The world was watching

The Guardian (of Manchester, England) carried a report on December 6, giving a good, clear account of the demonstration and some of the main points that were made by the speakers. For example:

Many speakers cited recent electoral victories in Latin America and opposition there to the US military build-up as signs of hope and positive change in the region. SOA Watch activists described their campaign to persuade Latin American political leaders to no longer send troops to the SOA, a step already taken by Uruguay, Argentina and Venezuela.

The whole story >>

And the PC(USA) was watching, too

Evan Silverstein of Presbyterian News Service also provided a good report, noting that "More than 150 Presbyterians are believed to have taken part in the protest, which involved as many as 22,000 demonstrators from around the country."    The PNS report >>

from Presbyterian News Service

Presbyterians are being urged to celebrate a week of prayer and witness next year in support of Christians in the Middle East.

The observance will take place between Easter (April 8) and Pentecost (May 27) when every church and presbytery in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be encouraged to plan events marking the occasion.

The idea is to lift up Christians in parts of the Middle East where their numbers are declining such as in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Syria and Israel/Palestine, said Kathy Matsushima, moderator of the PC(USA)'s Israel/Palestine Mission Network.