Witherspoon history

From Witherspoon's past

THE WITHERSPOON SOCIETY

(1985)

A note: Witherspoon Issues Analyst Gene TeSelle found this statement in our archives, and shares it here as an interesting record of "where we were" more than 15 years ago.
An added note on August 20, 2010: For a newer, more complete history of the Witherspoon Society, click here.

And for a brief history of Voices of Sophia, click here.

The Witherspoon Society was founded in 1973 by Presbyterians concerned that the United Presbyterian Church not lose sight of its prophetic role and social justice commitments as it worked its way through a major structural reorganization. In the mid-1980's we experience a gentle sense of deja vu as we observe an even more fundamental reorganization as reunion with the Presbyterian Church, U.S. produces a new Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. Our concerns remain the same: that Presbyterians and. their Church continue to hear and heed God's call to empower the powerless; to speak of God's justice and mercy to a world in need of repentance; to raise to the consciousness of the Church the concerns of the poor and the disenfranchised; to call the Church to reformation when it falls short of God's demand for right relation in its own life.

We believe that the realm of God is now and is to come and we trust God to overcome every power to hurt or divide us. With the Apostle Paul, we believe that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:3839)

As God's Advent people we trust in the God of creation who makes all things new and who so loves humanity that the Incarnation is not just an historical reality, but is a continuing revelation.

As God's Lenten and Easter people we find comfort and challenge in the life and ministry of Jesus the Christ and seek to be faithful, as he was, to the call of God.

As God's Pentecost people we look to the Spirit to bring inspiration and vitality, joy and commitment to our life together.

We believe we see the face of God in our neighbor. Thus, that which alienates us from our neighbor also alienates us from God, and that which reconciles us to our neighbor also reconciles us to God.

As a Chapter IX organization within the Constitution of our Church, the Witherspoon Society finds itself in the role of "loving critic" of our Church and its policies. Both parts of that phrase pertain - our love for our Church does not blind us to its shortcomings; our critique does not hinder our love. We welcome to our membership any Presbyterian who supports our work and who feels called to a common ministry.

Our concerns for peace, justice and reconciliation are wide-ranging and include:

PEACEMAKING

	Support for peace studies in college, seminary and church school curricula, financed by the regular mission and program budget of the General. Assembly.
	Opposition to a military draft in peace time and support for the elimination of ROTC from Presbyterian college campuses
	Support for those who in conscience refuse to pay taxes for military purposes
	Support for those who leave military and defense-industry employment out of a concern for peace
	Support for the original goals of the Peace Academy (now the Institute for Peace Studies)
	Support for a negotiated peace in Nicaragua and against armed or covert intervention in Central America
	Support for the Sanctuary Movement
	Support for persons arrested for non-violent civil disobedience
	Support for the Nuclear Weapons Freeze and a ban on future weapons testing

BRIEF STATEMENT OF FAITH

Now in process of being written, we urge the drafting committee to include affirmations which reflect concerns for peacemaking, social and economic justice, and the challenging perspectives of theologies of liberation

AN INCLUSIVE CHURCH AND SOCIETY

	Support for equality of opportunity for women and racial ethnic persons
	Support for sex-inclusive language for God and humanity in our corporate worship and ecclesiastical documents
	Support for full participation of lesbians and gay men; a healing of the wounds of heterosexism
	Elimination of discrimination based on age, marital status or handicapping condition; sensitivity to language in our corporate worship and ecclesiastical documents

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

	Support for reproductive rights, including freedom of Choice and free access to birth control
	Support for endeavors to provide adequate housing for all persons
	Awareness of the ways our economic system has fostered and maintained inequality
	Abolition of capital punishment and reform of our criminal justice system
	Concern for the inequities of salaries for clergy and Church employees, and for the equalization of pensions
	Support for programs of mission responsibility through investment and the use of Church investments to formulate economic alternatives

LIFESTYLE

	Demonstration of careful stewardship in meetings of the General Assembly and other governing bodies, while not sacrificing participation and inclusiveness
	Support the use of alternative or renewable energy sources

ECUMENICAL AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

	Call for justice in international relations, with particular concern for Central America and South Africa
	Support for the National Council of the Churches of Christ
	Support for the World Council of Churches
	Support for the United Nations as a vehicle for international discussion, cooperative work among nations, and as an agent for peace in the world
	Call for open communications and improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union
	Affirmation of God's all-encompassing love for the world and rejection of exclusive or national claims of God's favor