This page lists reports and commentary from all of January, 2006

Trials begin in Columbus, Georgia on Monday, January 30; grandmother, priests, retirees, nun, students among those prosecuted

Here (at last -- sorry!) is the full text of the first of the overtures being sent to the General Assembly to "delete B" and provide a new Authoritative Interpretation that would eliminate earlier official statements condemning same-sex relationships as a bar to ordination.

For this overture, plus the text of all the concurring overtures (many with distinctive rationales), go to the PC(USA) web site.

Along with the numerous surveys of the "outlook for 2006" in various areas of social concern, the Presbyterian Washington Office has just published a paper offering a theological reflectionon why it is important for people of faith to be engaged in the issues facing us as members of a greater society. How should faith shape our public, social and political actions? This Biblical & Theological Perspectives, entitled "Through the Work of Our Hands and the Meditation of Our Hearts: Defining Spirituality for Contemporary Justice Seekers," was written by Dr. Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty. A Presbyterian minister, she is now a member of the theology faculty at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky.

That All May Freely Serve National Conference

[from That All May Freely Serve]

That All May Freely Serve invites our regional partners, allies, friends, and families from around the country to a national gathering hosted by TAMFS-South at the Calvin Center in Hampton, GA, approximately 45 minutes south of Atlanta.

Conference organizer Carol Wickersham writes:

Please check out the lead story in Presbyterians Today by Evan Silverstein. He has done a remarkable job of giving a sense of the content, process and intent of the meeting. All of the presenters are quoted! It was wonderful to have a mighty group of 50, but now the word has gone out to thousands more.

So let us keep the faith and keep building the momentum,

Carol

Christianity Today Magazine has published a lengthy article by David P. Gushee, professor of moral philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, considers carefully the US administration’s efforts since 9/11 to justify its interrogation techniques as something other than torture. Perhaps "torture lite"??

But he concludes that for five very basic reasons, Christians must say No to torture – lite or regular:

What would a faithful vision of global security look like?
Come find out. . .
March 10-13, 2006
Washington, DC

Challenging Disparity: The Promise of God – The Power of Solidarity

These are very helpful resources for anyone who wants to understand, and perhaps have some impact on, legislation and policies in Washington.

Each topic is listed here, along with the headline on that document.  Click on each topic to jump to that document.

Africa
Making the Crucial Connection between Land Deprivation and Extreme Poverty

Civil Rights & Religious Liberties
Congress to Look at Immigration Reform, Domestic Spying and Voting Rights

Ecology & Environment
Legislative Progress Unlikely, though Midterm Elections May Provide Needed Attention

Global Security
Can the United States Rebuild Global Trust?

Health Care
Uninsured Americans Increase, as Congress Struggles with Budget and Cuts in Health Funding

Hunger & Human Needs
Congress Pursues Tax Cuts and Moves toward Slashing $40 Billion from Domestic Programs

Latin America
Challenges from the Left, as the U.S. Goes Deeper in Colombia, and Ponders Mexican Security Fence

Middle East
Pivotal Year for Israelis and Palestinians as Bush Administration Struggles with Iraq, Syria and Iran

Witherspoon’s Issues Analyst, Gene TeSelle, has gathered good materials for background reading on the civil rights movement, and presents some books that relate especially to Birmingham. So before many of us head for Birmingham and the 217^th General Assembly in Birmingham, you may want to dip into some of these as a way to experience the city with new depth.

A Song of Empire

How about a little poetry?  Not a cautionary tale, exactly, but a little cautionary verse for American empire-builders. 

It begins:

Brian Cave, a student at Union Theological Seminary, New York, has sent a note about a book on "seeker churches," otherwise known as mega-churches, and the insights they may offer into ways that churches can understand and relate to the changing culture of our time.  It is Seeker Churches, by Kimon Howland Sargeant.    More -- including interesting quotes >>

Lynne Reade has been a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church for almost 40 years.  On January 15 she was granted her request to her Session that she be released form the exercise of ordained office, to stand in solidarity with all those faithful Presbyterians who are excluded from ordination because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Read her statement >>
Copy her application for release to use if you choose to take the same action >>

The statement originally issued with the title "The Soul of Our Nation Is at Stake: Religious Voices Opposing Torture," has now been posted on a new website, and those who support its opposition to torture in the name of faith in God, are invited to add their signatures and support to the declaration. It now has a new title: "Torture Is A Moral Issue: A Statement of the National Religious Campaign against Torture."

You can read the text of the declaration on our website, or click here to go to the new site of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.  Scroll to the bottom of the page to add your name.

The statement is also available in PDF format.

A report on the conference from Carol Wickersham  >>

With an appeal from the Gospel of Matthew, the Presbytery of Boston has approved a Delete-B/Remove AI overture calling for an end to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians.   Michael Adee, National Organizer of More Light Presbyterians, estimates this is the eighteenth presbytery approving an ordination overture to the General Assembly in Birmingham.

More, including the text of the overture >>

Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

Anuradha Mittal, of the Oakland Institute, sends this note:

I am one of the initial endorsers of this exciting new campaign: Women Say No To War! From now until March 8, International Women's Day, we will be gathering over 100,000 signatures on the Urgent Call for Peace in Iraq (below). On March 8, we will deliver the signatures to the UN, U.S. embassies, consulates, and federal offices all over the world. This is your opportunity to unite with international women everywhere, and voice our opposition to the illegal war in Iraq.   

(PLEASE NOTE: Men in solidarity with 'WOMEN SAY NO TO WAR' are invited to join us! )

Retired military leaders express concern after the president made ambiguous remarks on the new ban last month.

A group of retired military officers urged President Bush on Thursday [January 19, 2006] to spell out how he would enforce a ban on the torture of U.S.-held prisoners, complaining that he muddied the issue in a statement last month that some experts said signaled he would bypass rules for treatment of detainees when he saw fit, even after he signed them into law.

Bush reluctantly accepted the ban, pushed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), after scandals over abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, harsh interrogations at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and reports that the CIA ran secret prisons abroad to hold terrorism suspects.

Retired military leaders, including Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, who was commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, said Bush should clarify his stance after his statement last month.

Matthew R. Schlimm, of Duke University, has published a very good article in the Society of Biblical Literature Forum, on "Teaching the Hebrew Bible amid the Current Human Rights Crisis: The Opportunities Presented by Amos 1:3-2:3."

Acknowledging that "these oracles do not delineate a developed doctrine of human rights in times of war," nevertheless Schlimm shows how "each of Amos' six oracles against the nations condemns war crimes broadly understood as inhumane actions committed in times of violence. Each crime that Amos focuses on would be deemed, at least by today's standards, a crime against humanity and a severe human rights violation."

The full article >>

Thanks to Terri Brink, on the e-list of No2Torture

We have reported earlier on the efforts of US multinationals to gain private control of water supplies, especially in Latin America. A major struggle has gone on in Bolivia, where Bechtel Corporation has worked for six years, with the help of the World Bank, to take control of the water supply in the city of Cochabamba.

On January 19, 2006, Jim Shultz of The Democracy Center ("Helping people build democracy from the ground up"), reports:

The Cochabamba water revolt which began exactly six years ago this month will end this morning when Bechtel, one of the world's most powerful corporations, formally abandons its legal effort to take $50 million from the Bolivian people. Bechtel made that demand before a secretive trade court operated by the World Bank, the same institution that coerced Bolivia to privatize the water to begin with. Faced with protests, barrages of e-mails, visits to their homes, and years of damaging press, Bechtel executives finally decided to surrender, walking away with a token payment equal to thirty cents. That retreat sets a huge global precedent.

The January 13 air attack on a Pakistani village, which killed many civilians and perhaps a few al-Qaida members, illustrates the United States' policy of bombing from the sky and letting the chips (and bodies) fall where they may. As Seymour Hersh reports in The New Yorker, the US military now seems to be relying on drawing down troop numbers on the ground while shifting focus to its air assault capabilities.

Statement of Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook:

by Jerry M. Landay, a former CBS News correspondent and journalism professor, who writes now for Media Transparency, which reports on "the money behind conservative media."

His report begins:

"There's bankruptcy and there's bankruptcy. We learn that in 2005, more than two million Americans filed for bankruptcy -- one in every 53 American households -- many having fallen prey to excessive medical costs, and/or maxed out on their credit cards. It's the highest number of bankruptcies on record. It coincided with Congressional passage of legislation misleadingly labeled The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Law. ... Now, many Americans may never escape the clutches of indebtedness."

This, he says, is part of a larger trend, "in which the gulf between the privileged management class and the rest of us grows wider and wider, in which a new corporate aristocracy will preside over ever more impoverished proles, a destructive socioeconomic process in which the middle class merges into the underclass. ... The middle class has been the architect and maintainer of a healthy democracy -- well educated, informed, aware. It works hard, the living symbol of upward mobility, a place you can always reach if you try. Out of the great middle class came the potent activist concern for equal opportunity, the defense of the poor and needy, and enlightened justice.

"But the middle class in America is eroding as the national wealth is shifted upward. It's getting tougher to hold onto jobs headed overseas, to afford suitable housing, to meet escalating bills for energy, medical care, education, food and transportation."

The rest of the story >>

We received this note on January 17. We invite YOU to follow Barbara Howard’s fine example, and join us!

Dear Doug King,

I am a 75 yr old that has just discovered the Witherspoon Society! Where in the world was I all these years you may ask -- I was born and raised here and have spent my life in Houston, Texas, most of it as a Baptist. When I became a Democrat I found the Presbyterian Church USA and the more liberal and progressive I became, I found a few like minded souls. One of these friends goes to the same church I do, his name is Charles Stogner, and he gave me one of your publications.

Now the sad part is I live on Social security and can't afford to join even though I would so much like to.

However I wanted you to know how thankful I am to know that your publication exist and you are associated with the PCUSA. My church is Westminster Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas. Thank you for keeping up the good work and sending out much needed information to those of us surrounded by the "Bush dogma." It's like a drink of cool water in the desert. We need to step up as Christians and take back the values we have allowed to be so shamefully used by the right wing. I applaud you and I believe our spiritual crisis is real; you are my heroes!

Sincerely

Barbara Howard
Houston, Texas

A little note: We’ve added Ms. Howard to our membership list with a complimentary membership for 2006. We’re glad she’s with us! And we’ll welcome YOU, too.

In 2005 more than 900 persons from at least 26 denominations gathered in Washington, D.C. and participated in workshops, training and advocacy for international and domestic social justice issues. The March 10-13 event promises to be bigger and better. Advocacy Days 2006 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…

''In 2005 it became disturbingly clear that the abuse of detainees had become a deliberate, central part of the Bush administration's strategy of interrogating terrorist suspects,'' the report said.

The rest of the story

On TruthOut.org >>

in the New York Times >>

The 105th annual Earl Lectures of Pacific School of Religion will focus on the meaning and potential of progressive Christianity at a time when public discourse is dominated by the Christian right. The lectures carry the general title of "Gathering the Beloved Community: Voices of Faith for the Public Square" and will take place January 24-26, 2006, in Berkeley.

Featured lecturers and preachers are James Forbes, senior minister at The Riverside Church in New York City; media and religion scholar Diane Winston; feminist theologian Kwok Pui Lan; Holocaust scholar Hubert Locke; and Delwin Brown, dean emeritus of the host Pacific School of Religion. The lectures and worship services are free and open to the public.

The Golden Globe awards offer reasons for celebration..
Certainly we can celebrate the fact that "Brokeback Mountain" won the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture Drama, with its moving portrayal of love between two cowboys, and the terrible price they and others paid for that love because of society’s prejudices. But there’s more. After all, how many Presbyterian organizations have Golden Globe-winning movie stars named after them?

This note is from the Rev. Robert Moore, Executive Director of the Coalition for Peace Action &
Peace Action Education Fund.

First, see links below to excellent press coverage of this weekend's Conference on Torture, attended by 165 religious leaders from across the US, which launched the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. I'm especially pleased that The Trentonian, a very conservative newspaper, featured photos and quotes about our Conference on Sunday's entire front page and most of the third page! Unfortunately, the first link below only has the story, but it was tremendous coverage aimed at a constituency we hope to reach on this issue! News 12 New Jersey television also covered the event.  The Trenton Times >>

Featured speakers included Ray McGovern, creator of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, who served as a CIA analyst for 27 years; Retired General Richard O'Meara, and James Yee, a former Muslim chaplain at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, who was arrested, charged with espionage and treated like the "enemy," until charges against him were dropeed and he received an honorable discharge.    The Trentonian >>

In this report Ray McGovern is quoted as saying of torture: "It’s not wrong because it’s condemned by law. It’s condemned by law because it’s wrong." When asked if he gave any weight to the argument that torture tactics are necessary in today’s "war on terrorism" because it’s a new kind of war, McGovern answered immediately, "No weight at all. Torture is terrorism."

A note from your WebWeaver: We will soon have a report from three members of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship who participated in this event. One of them described her experience there as "mind-blowing .... high-power ... stunning." So we gather it was pretty good.

The Rev. Barbara Swartzel Anderson, PCUSA clergywoman and pastor, has written a new education resource that Michael Adee, National Field Organizer of More Light Presbyterians, recommends for us by individuals, congregations, youth groups, campus ministries, seminary communities and MLP chapters.

We are happy to post the full text here. Adee adds that "you can copy this for your use. Please know that this educational resource is copyrighted by the author and generously being shared with MLP by her."

For more educational resources go to www.mlp.org

The government of Venezuela, gaining financially from its large oil production and sales, has gone shopping for weapons, like any good modern nation.

Pres. Hugo Chavez wants to buy 12 planes (transports and surveillance planes) from Spain. The US has refused to grant an export license to Spain, since the planes contain US technology.

So Pres. Chavez has said he might stop selling oil to the US (about 15% of US energy imports). Spain meanwhile has agreed to sell the planes anyway, simply removing the taboo US parts and replacing them with parts from European sources.

And so our power grows. Or, ummm ...

More

On Chavez’ seeking the planes, and threatening to stop selling oil >>

On Spain’s readiness to work around the US objections >>

Today the Cincinnati Presbytery has sent an overture to the GA that would seek to delete seven of the most insulting statements in the GA's 1978 Policy on Homosexuality.  The vote was 79 to 74 with 4 abstentions.    Three reports, plus the text of the overture >>

The Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity has spoken collectively in its final report. Presbyweb has offered to post an op-ed article by the members individually. They are posting the 16 articles they have received in alphabetical order, one or two at a time.

• Why I support the Task Force report – by P. Mark Achtemeier
"...In short, I support the task force report because I am convinced it represents a step toward a more faithful, truthful, and sustainable way of working through our differences as we seek together to be the one body of Christ in mission to the world."

• A more faithful, life-giving way of "being church" – by Scott Anderson
"...The Peace, Unity, and Purity Task Force experience is one of the best I’ve had as a Presbyterian... and I long for the wider church to have this same experience of unity in Christ even as we continue to disagree on important issues."

Presbyterians organized and funded a six-day roofing "blitz" during the week after Christmas, to aid hurricane survivors, fixing homes in Biloxi, Long Beach and Bay St. Louis, all in Mississippi.

Volunteers, most of them Presbyterians, came from as far away as Ontario, Canada, to participate in the $250,000 effort, which was coordinated by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), Mississippi Presbytery and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Gulfport.

Most of the building materials used in the effort were bought with contributions raised through a PDA appeal issued shortly after Hurricane Katrina. So far, the disaster-response agency has raised $20 million for church rebuilding, pastoral support and general community work, according to PDA's coordinator, Susan Ryan.

Fresh claims of torture and abuse at Guantánamo Bay have been published by Amnesty International to mark the US detention center's fourth anniversary.

The London-based human rights group said 500 detainees continued to be held without charge or trial and repeated its call for the center to be shut.

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider godfearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing he has the gods on his side.

Lincoln wouldn’t recognize the Republican Party in his native Kentucky county  

Witherspooner Berry Craig describes the Republican Party chair in Larue Country, Kentucky, birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, as exemplifying a "party of theocracy" and born-again Christianity that is very different from Lincoln’s modest spirituality and commitment to ending human bondage. 

The Sago mine disaster – not merely an accident

The Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO, provided a helpful examination of the political and economic factors underlying the explosion in the West Virginia mine on January 2. They also offer links to a number of other analyses.  

The Philadelphia Inquirer provides one report of the "Justice Sunday III" rally held in Philadelphia on Sunday, Jan. 8, primarily in support of Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s Supreme Court nomination.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, described President Bush's nomination of Alito as the culmination of a lengthy effort to "mobilize people of faith and values."

A protest rally across the street from Greater Exodus Baptist Church included several dozen gay-marriage advocates, AIDS activists, and other groups who criticized the event as a dangerous intermingling of politics and church. In a conference call held in advance, liberal religious leaders described "Justice Sunday" as a bid by the Christian right to control the judiciary.

The Rev. Bill LeMosy has shared with us four hymn texts that he has written, which he hopes might "fit the bill" for a request by the Rev. Dorothy Duquette for hymns that are suitable and nourishing for a progressive Presbyterian congregation.

>> For Advent:  Dreamers, Awake This Holy Day
>> For Epiphany:  The Magi Came from Far Away
>> The Lordship of Christ:  Come to the Feast
>> LeMosy hymns

We have also posted previously a number of the hymn texts written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. Here are a few samples:

>> You Formed Us in Your Image, Lord -- a hymn for families
>> Creator God, You Made the Earth -- celebrating the God of creation
>> A Voice Was Heard in Ramah -- for the day after Christmas

Tomorrow, Sunday, January 8, will see the third in a series of events held by the Religious Right to shape the federal courts in the ways they want.

The group Faithful America urges people concerned about "justice for all" to sign a petition to let our Senators in Washington know that the religious conservatives are not the only people of faith who care.

Their announcement:

Millions of Americans of faith are about to be misrepresented in Washington through a well funded and heavily promoted effort called "Justice Sunday III." This attempt by politically-aligned right-wing religious fundamentalists aims to pressure Congress to load the courts with ultra-conservative judges. Congress must not hear only from religious fundamentalists. The rest of us deserve a hearing, too. You can help make that happen by signing the following petition, which will be sent to your Senators in Washington.

Religious liberty watchdog group calls ruling a victory for public education and church-state separation

Ordination Standards:
Biblical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives
by North Como Presbyterian Church

A Presbyterian congregation has just published an extensive survey of source material – Biblical, theological, and scientific – on questions of sexual orientation and behavior, and how Christians might deal with these within the church. 

Pacific School of Religion (PSR) is initiating a new website ministry to strengthen progressive Christian voices in public discussion across America. Launching of January 24, it will be called The Progressive Christian Witness (PCW) and found at www.progressivechristianwitness.org.

As the new year begins, we live in hope. Not of a violent apocalypse wherein our enemies get their comeuppance. But of a time when walls begin to crumble. And a time when we all yield this quivering planet to the Spirit of peace.

May the shalom and salaam of God be with you.

This New Year greeting came to us from Witherspooner Rev. Bill LeMosy, who has agreed that we might share it with all who visit here.

Calvary Presbyterian Church of San Francisco has produced a new overture on the torture issue which will be voted on by Presbytery at its January 10th meeting. The issue does not end with the legislation recently sponsored by Senator McCain. The proposed overture calls for investigation and creation of a public record of what we have done and accountability wherever the law has been broken. The evasions and hiding behind legalisms will continue until the whole horrible apparatus is exposed to daylight and the consequences of law breaking are made to fall on the guilty.

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

In 2005 more than 900 persons from at least 26 denominations participated in workshops, training and advocacy for international and domestic social justice issue. 2006 promises to be bigger and better.

More information >>
For a brochure in PDF format >>

The Chicago Tribune reports that while faith-based groups are barred from proselytizing or engaging in other obvious religious activity when using federal funds, some are accused of doing just that in their programs to encourage teenagers to abstain from premarital sex or help substance abusers fight addictions.

Lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation accuse the faith-based organizations and the government of violating the constitutional separation of church and state. Meanwhile, experts say
the Bush administration is doing too little to monitor religious groups receiving federal money.

More >>

A new study guide from the National Council of Churches USA helps you make sense of the world. 

For the Peace of the World
A Christian Curriculum on International Relations

Presbyterian pastor Dorothy Duquette, who is serving two small churches in Minnesota, elaborates on her request:

I would love information on updated words for traditional hymn tunes. That is part of what I am looking for. I appreciate hymns with inclusive language for God and people. I'm also looking for Lent and Easter hymns that offer alternative understandings of the saving nature of Jesus' death and resurrection besides the sacrifice model.

I am not a musician, but I enjoy music very much and it is an important part of my spiritual life. Besides some new hymns, I am also looking for good music that I can add to my collection. I am frustrated by a lot of the Christian music /artists that I have listened to because the theology is usually conservative. Is there anyone out there who is offering music with a more liberal Christian perspective?

Thanks so much for your help!

Dorothy

So – who can offer some suggestions?

We invite you to send them to us, so we can share them with others who no doubt are looking for such music, too. Click here to send your response to us, and directly to Rev. Duquette as well.

The 2006 Ghost Ranch catalog is on-line! Registration begins in mid-January.

The 2006 list of Ghost Ranch seminars has been posted on the internet. Although registration will begin in mid-January, you and your family and friends can view the seminar line-up to begin preparing your spring, summer and fall adventures. If you would like to sign up for the Holy Week Retreat, please contact the registrar at 505.685.4333, ext. 152 or 179, as soon as possible.

For those of you who still receive both print and e-mail versions, the mailed version should reach your mailbox around the second or third week of January.  Registration forms and other pertinent information will be available and posted soon. Please do not try to register by using a form from a previous year.

Go to the full catalog >>

We especially invite you to check out one seminar that will be presented in partnership with The Witherspoon Society, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and Presbyterians for Restoring Creation:

Economy, Ecology and Empire
July 17-23, 2006

In an editorial this morning (January 2, 2006) the Minneapolis Star Tribune raises this question, noting that the amount of charitable giving "directed specifically to people in poverty is shrinking, by some measures quite dramatically. Total giving is on the rise, but increasingly the money goes to health or educational institutions -- whose efforts on behalf of the disadvantaged may be surprisingly meager -- or to arts and cultural organizations that, it can be argued, serve chiefly the middle and upper classes."

What's your impression of this concern?  Do you see the same tendency for less charitable giving directed toward the poor?  Just send a note,  and we'll share it here.

One excerpt:

"Everything is done in the name of self-defense, so they can do anything because nothing is forbidden in the war powers act," said one official who was briefed on the CIA's original cover program and who is skeptical of its legal underpinnings. "It's an amazing legal justification that allows them to do anything," said the official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issues.

Peter Sawtell of Eco-Justice Ministries reflects on those beautiful nature scenes in his new calendar – and ponders the assumptions they suggest about nature and humanity.

He writes:

In the world of nature calendars -- and the lovely Sierra Club ones are only one example of the genre -- the full beauty of nature is ruined if people are present. Within this iconography, "nature" and humanity occupy completely different realms.

The ongoing debate questions the aesthetic assumption of the calendars. Is "nature" something that is utterly different from the human, or should we acknowledge the interconnections between the two? At its most challenging form, the question asks if it is even misleading to use language that conceptually separates "human" and "nature." Ethicist Larry Rasmussen wrote, "We could learn to speak, for example, not of humanity AND nature, but of humans IN and AS nature. ... We could acknowledge that humans never rise above nature, never transcend it."