By Presbyterians for Middle East Peace
The Presbyterian Church, USA has always been known for its strenuous debates of controversial issues. It has never been known for ideological purges. That changed a few weeks ago.
On April 1, 2014, after a thorough vetting of his abilities to be moderator of the GA committee on Middle East Issues, GA Moderator Neal Presa announced that Rev. Al Butzer, the widely respected senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Virginia Beach, VA, was appointed as the committee’s moderator. The appointment was hailed by centrists in the church who seek a more reasonable debate of the issues. Throughout his long career, Rev. Butzer has been found standing on the center ground in the church’s controversies, searching for consensus viewpoints between the extremes. He is also known for his ability to moderate a meeting in a fair and ethical manner, making sure that all voices are heard and all sides of a debate are treated equally.
However, advocates of the Israel-targeted Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement did not share the widespread approval of Rev. Butzer’s appointment. Instead, they questioned Rev. Butzer’s personal integrity by saying that he was incapable of leading a fair hearing on Middle East issues and demanded that he be replaced as moderator of the committee. Less than a week after his nomination, Rev. Butzer was forced to step aside when the GA’s Moderator and Stated Clerk succumbed to the lobbying from the BDS proponents.
During the week of April 1-6, BDS leaders told Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons and General Assembly Moderator Neal Presa that Rev. Butzer should be disqualified because he and Jewish clergy led two trips to Israel with congregants from Christian and Jewish congregations in Virginia. The trips were not political. They had the goal of helping participants discuss the places where Judaism and Christianity are similar and where they are different. As is not unusual in trips in which clergy act as leaders, none of the three clergy paid their own expenses. Clergy expenses were paid by the Jewish Federation of Richmond, VA.
Read more at http://www.pfmep.org/press-releases/145-after-pressure-from-bds-leaders-ga-middle-east-committee-moderator-is-removed
11 Comments. Leave new
“Clergy should not lead trips to the Middle East in which they travel with Jews from their own communities;
Clergy should not accept subsidies for leading trips with their congregations; and
Clergy should avoid interfaith celebrations such as shared Seder services.”
Excellent article! You could have shortened conclusions 1-3 above to
A clergyman representing the church on matters related to Palestine should not accept gratuities from one of the parties in the conflict.
Statement by the General Assembly Moderator denying the allegation that Rev. Butzer was asked to resign following partisan pressure.
http://www.pcusa.org/news/2014/4/23/statement-moderator-about-ga221-middle-east-issues/
It is hard to see how the Moderator’s statement and the testimony of Rev. Butzer could both be true.
http://pres-outlook.org/2014/04/moderated-committee-middle-east-issues-asked-resign/
Give me a break! The GA needs to work on healing and faith issues.
“I had traveled to Israel on two interfaith trips …intended to foster better relations between Christians and Jews.” Yes, Al. And unmarked green-clad men invaded Crimea and are creating havoc in Donetsk in order to foster bettter understanding between Russian and Ukraine. “there exists such distrust among brothers and sisters in Christ.” There’s no distrust. You had a nice trip to Israel, showed your slides to the committee, who realized you were in Israel’s pocket and forced you to resign. “most of whom would come to Detroit filled with energy and hope” Energy and hope? “The “peace process” has been going nowhere for thirty years and is now stalled by the Isaraeli refusal to negotiate. Unless you meant hope for the financial recovery of Detroit. That’s possible. “the daily threat of suicide bombings on busses or in crowded marketplaces” Daily? The last suicide bombing on a bus was ten years ago – Aug. 31, 2004 – in Beer Sheva. The site recording terrorist attacks closed down in 2008 for lack of business.
This was an exceptionally dishonest, tendentious, and mean-spirited response to Rev. Butzer’s article.
Pardon me, to the PMEP article. But this response does unworthily attack Rev. Butzer.
These ideological purges are why the PC/ USA has become a false religion. Conversation with self serving ideologues, bent on getting their way and destroying anyone who opposes them are a waste of valuable time. Progressives always think they alone have true knowledge (gnosis). Look at history! None of their teachings passes any of the tests John lays out in 1 John. Read 1 John and think about what is going on within this body. It’s decaying from within and I am listening to the voice of Revelation 18:4. It’s time for believers to leave the heretics, anti-christs, apostates and false prophets behind, now that they have unmasked themselves by their actions. Move on before they corrupt your mind toward God.
The PCUSA isn’t a “false religion,” John. It’s not a religion at all but rather a denomination – a body of like-minded believers. That’s why Palm Desert couldn’t muster up a quorum of members to vote for dismissal. The members were split about whether to leave the body of believers.
Thank you for the correction. The PC/USA is a denomination that is in the process of abandoning their historic roots in Reformed Protestantism. By so doing they are espousing new doctrine that is not scriptural and is therefore guilty of promoting false teachings. Teachings that will serve only to deceive immature believers, leading them away from God rather than closer to Him. I still stand by my position that these doctrines do not pass the tests John set forth in 1 John.
John, they won’t “deceive immature believers,” whom 1 John 3:18-21 assures:
“18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.”
The little children – no matter which way they turn with regard to the false doctrines – will find their hearts in a right relationship with God. That proximity will draw them nearer to God.
Yes, John (Erthein). Al deserves more credit than I gave him. He tells of hearing from a Palestinian about
“the day in the late 1940s when an Israeli tank commander rolled into the little town of Biram in Galilee… ‘We are here to protect the village. You have no business here anymore. This land is ours now,’ said the soldier pointing his gun at them… ‘No,’ said the Palestinian… But the soldiers would not listen. They arrested Chacour’s father and dragged him away.”
It took alot of courage for Al to hear that and then visit Palestine with the Israeli occupiers.