Saturday, August 13, 2005
Breaking: Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Adopts Modified Security Fence Resolution - UpdatedThe ELCA was today scheduled to be the latest in a string of Protestant denominations to adopt resolutions condemning Israel's Security Fence. Most of the resolutions passed so far have been noxious resolutions noted for their one-sidedness and blindness toward Arab responsibility. In more than one case, more modest resolutions have been set aside at the last moment in favor of resolutions containing more ideologically and morally blind language.
I have it on good authority that the resolution that passed today was, while still imperfect, modified in negotiations by an interfaith group and is a "darn sight better" than the original proposal. This looks to be at least a bit better news than we have been used to.
Will post more information when I have it.
Update: Here is the Reuters report: U.S. Lutherans criticize Israeli security wall
The resolution, titled "Peace Not Walls" was approved 668 to 269 at the biennial assembly in Orlando, Florida, of the sixth largest U.S. Christian denomination, and church leaders said a campaign for peace had become urgent in light of the Israeli security barrier under construction on Palestinian land.
Before the vote, Bishop Munib Younan, representing the denomination's sister Lutheran church in Palestine, told the 1,108 assembly members that his congregation had been split by the wall and church attendance was dropping.
"The future of the Palestinian (Lutheran) church is at stake because the current conditions are causing our children to leave in increasing numbers," Younan said via telephone.
Some critics of the resolution warned that the world might hear only the catchy title, which spotlights what Israel considers an essential defensive barrier against terrorism, without understanding the nuances of the church campaign.
"They're creating a religious document, but when it gets to the Mideast, people are reading a political document," said Dexter Van Zile of the Boston-based David Project, an Israeli advocacy group. "The Arab public is going to see 'another church is against Israel.'"...
Here are a couple of quotes from an email I received:
That didn't happen with the Presbyterians last year, and the UCC or the Disciples of Christ last month...
..."Still, the resolution gave the leaders of the ELCA an opportunity to broadcast a dishonest narrative about the Arab/Israeli conflict to their members and to the general public. If you look at the map of the separation barrier on display at the back of the hall housing Augsburg Fortress Press, you won't see any accompanying images from the terror attacks the barrier was designed to prevent. The leaders of ELCA tried to portray the separation barrier as if it were built in a vacuum, not in response to the violence of the Second Intifada which killed more than 1,000 Israelis."
Van Zile also criticized ELCA's leadership for not soliciting input from Israelis in crafting the document.
"During debate, ELCA leaders announced that the document was created with input from representatives of the Middle East Council of Churches. To suggest that the MECC can act as a neutral arbiter between the Israelis and Palestinians is a case of intellectual malpractice. Member churches of the MECC are all located in Muslim majority countries and as such are made up of beleaguered populations beholden to governments that do not embrace notions of religious freedom and tolerance. They are not free to speak the truth about the religious nature of the war against Israel."
