Presbyterian UN representative
will join fete for Iran’s president
By John H. Adams, The Layman, September 25, 2008
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – who says the holocaust never occurred, calls for the annihilation of Israel and is moving toward a nuclear arsenal – is scheduled to be the guest of honor in Manhattan tonight at dinner meeting co-sponsored by the World Council of Churches.
Decision to attend dinner taken
‘very seriously,’ Hanisek says
Joel Hanisek”Believe me, we took this very seriously,” Joel Hanisek of the denomination’s UN office told The Layman this afternoon. He was responding to questions about why the Presbyterian Church (USA) decided to send three employees to tonight’s dinner honoring the president of Iran.
Joel Hanisek “We did a lot of praying, thinking and talking with prayer partners before decided,” Hanisek added.
One of the strongest arguments in favor of attending the dinner, he said, revolved around the arrest of an Irani minister who has close ties to the Outreach Foundation, an evangelical mission-sending agency.
“We will raise the issue of Rev. Soodmand,” Hanisek said, adding that he did not know the minister’s first name. “Rev. Soodman is being detained and is imprisoned by the Irani government. We are aware that the constitution of Iran grants freedom of religion.”
Nonetheless, Iran’s government will soon act on legislation that makes it unlawful to convert to Christianity.
Hanisek said the PCUSA delegation to the dinner will not overlook what Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said and done in his country, but “we’re there to announce there is good news in the world. With God’s help we can be unambiguously rejecting any kind of hate speech.”
Three employees of the Presbyterian Church (USA) – Joel Hanisek, PCUSA representative to the United Nations; Sara Lisherness, director of Peace and Justice Ministry, and Catherine Gordon of the PCUSA UN Office will be in attendance.
The WCC is part of a coalition of religious pacifists, including the American Friends Service Committee, the Mennonite Central Committee, the Quaker United Nations Office and Religions for Peace. Those groups have invited a number of “faith leaders” to meet with the Iranian president. The dinner is being held on Ramadan, one of Islam’s holy days and a time for Muslims to fast. But the sponsors of the event have declared the dinner an Iftar, an Islamic term for the meal that breaks the Ramadan fast.
‘Faith perspectives’
Officially, the WCC’s UN Liaison Office says tonight’s gathering is “aimed at exploring faith perspectives and the role of religion regarding global issues such as poverty, war and prejudice while deepening mutual understanding.”
But critics, including numerous Christian and Jewish organizations, have denounced the event because of Ahmadinejad’s threats against them and his own citizens.
Catholic League President Bill Donohue called on supporters to attend a rally to disrupt the “obscene” Ramadan event. “Ahmadinejad is a menace to freedom-loving people the world over, and the sight of religious groups embracing him is nauseating,” Donohue told UPI.
Agency France Press quoted Israeli President Shimon Peres as accusing Iran’s president of “taking the world for a fool.”
The Jerusalem Post quoted the Rev. Malcom Hedding, executive director of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, as saying, “While we welcome efforts to de-radicalize religious perceptions and create an atmosphere of tolerance and respect for our differences, it is outrageous that the main guest at this dinner is someone who so thoroughly mocks and loathes these valued ideals. He rejects everything that the United Nations Charter and genuine interfaith dialogue uphold.”
Cancellation urged
United Church of Christ renewal leader David Runnion-Bareford, executive director of the confessing movement in the UCC and president of the Association for Church Renewal, called on the sponsors of the dinner to cancel their plans.
“It is an outrage that Christian leaders would so abjectly sacrifice justice for peace by feting a known murderer, anti-Semite, and international criminal,” he said in a press release. “There is documented evidence that Ahmadinejad is a holocaust denier who has supported the killing of innocent civilians in Israel, killed and tortured political opponents personally, executed children and sponsored legislation about to be finalized this week which will criminalize conversion to Christianity in Iran.”
Runnion-Bareford also criticized some of the mainline denominations whose representatives will be attending the meeting. “The United Church of Christ, the United Methodists and the Presbyterian Church (USA) are already under indictment for entertaining anti-Semitic resolutions and ideologies promoted by opponents of Israel, this dinner only compromises our interfaith relationships even further,” he said.
Meeting with terrorists
Runnion-Bareford’s reference to the PCUSA might include an incident in 2004 when members of a delegation to the Mideast met in Syria with one of the leaders of Hezbollah, which the United States and Israel have listed as a terrorist organization. That meeting was covered by a Hezbollah-owned television station.
Translators of that coverage reported that, “During the broadcast, at least one member of the delegation was shown praising Hezbollah. Elder Ron Stone, who identified himself as representing the East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, said, ‘As an elder of our church, I’d like to say that, according to my recent experience, relations and conversations, with Islamic leaders are a lot easier than dealings and dialogue with Jewish leaders.'”
The Layman broke the story about the Presbyterian group meeting with Hezbollah and Stone’s comments. Hundreds of Presbyterians contacted the Louisville, Ky., headquarters of the PCUSA to denounce the delegation’s involvement with Hezbollah and criticism of Israel.
Embarrassed, denominational leaders publicly denied that the delegation members spoke for the PCUSA and fired two high-ranking PCUSA employees who were with the delegation to the Mideast. Even so, subsequent General Assemblies and Presbyterian agencies have become more forceful in denouncing President Bush because of the war in Iraq and his support of Israel, and the denomination’s long-time support for Israel has eroded.