Denomination schedules long pre-assembly presentations on task force report, divestment
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, March 10, 2006
Even though denominational leaders generally urge commissioners to shun the influences of groups that lobby for or against the issues they will face, the planners for the 217th General Assembly have scheduled lengthy blocks of time to present the denomination’s spin on two of the thorniest issues before the assembly.
The only two pre-assembly events on issues before the national governing body are:
- Three hours and 45 minutes for the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity to present its case for its controversial report that recommends that ordaining bodies be allowed to decide on their own whether to ordain practicing homosexuals as deacons, elders and pastors.
- Three hours for advocates of the General Assembly policy calling for pulling Presbyterian Church (USA) money out of corporations that do business with Israel, without any comparable sanctions on Palestinians who sponsor terrorism against Israel’s citizens.
The two pre-assembly events are unique. There are no similar time slots – even brief – for other issues, including abortion, the possible repeal of the denomination’s property trust provisions, and nearly two-dozen overtures proposing the repeal of G-6.0106b, the constitutional requirement that prohibits the ordination of practicing homosexuals and adulterers.
Both of the pre-assembly events will be held on the morning of Thursday, June 15, before the General Assembly’s opening plenary session at 1:30 p.m. that day. The General Assembly committees do not begin meeting until Thursday night.
The two events overlap so that all commissioners cannot attend each at the same time. But many of the commissioners on the two committees that will consider those issues – and make recommendations to the full General Assembly – will likely attend the presentation about their issue and possibly be influenced by it before they hear testimony in their committee meetings.
The members of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity will present the case for their recommendations during a breakfast meeting that begins at 7:45 a.m. and ends at 11:30 a.m. The members of the task force will argue their case and answer questions. The agenda for the meeting does not set aside time for arguments against the task force’s proposal.
When commissioners serving on the committee considering the task force report begin their deliberations later in the week, they will face 15 overtures on the report. Fourteen of them call for slight or radical changes in the task force report. Only one affirms the report in toto.
The presentation on the Israeli-Palestinian issues will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. The General Assembly agenda declares that the event – planned by the PCUSA Israel/Palestine Project Team, “is not a forum for or against proposed items of GA business.”
But its Web materials for commissioners to consider regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict are a reiteration of denominational policies – including divestment – without any reference to the controversy over those policies or any possible modification of them.
They do not include, for instance, any of the criticism that erupted when three PCUSA delegations, including one led by the denomination’s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, met with a Hezbollah terrorist leader in southern Lebanon and offered words of encouragement to him. And they do not review the criticisms of the PCUSA policies from Jewish and Christian organizations.
However, at least one Presbyterian leader has had second-thoughts about the PCUSA’s Mideast policies. General Assembly Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase told the General Assembly Council in February that he was worried about the reaction to the divestment issue.
“With your permission and your blessing, I would like to engage many of you on the General Assembly Council and try to seek language that affirms our commitment to our Palestinian partners and our Jewish brothers and sisters,” he told the council.
Ufford-Chase’s ad hoc group will report back to the full General Assembly Council at its meeting in April. Presumably, the council will adopt a statement in response to the growing number of overtures on divestment – some asking the 217th General Assembly to rescind the action and others favoring the call for divestment or proposing nuanced changes.
But Ufford-Chase’s strategy is not listed on the agenda for the pre-assembly event.
The agenda says, “The program will include a current assessment of human rights; a panel of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders sharing their visions for a just peace; a description of Presbyterian ministry and mission; and time for general discussion. Confirmed speakers include Mr. Mark Pelavin, associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; Mr. Salam Al-Marayati, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council; Bishop Munib Younan, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.”
When commissioners on the committee considering the denomination’s policies in the Mideast meet, they will consider 12 overtures, none proposing that the divestment policy be aimed only at Israel.