I was in Russia when the first sanctions against her were announced about two years ago, and looking back today, it’s far from clear those sanctions have “worked” in the way they were intended. Russia is still involved in Ukraine’s civil war because Ukraine has always been within Russia’s traditional
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It was late on the night of March 20 of this year, Palm Sunday. Father Vincent Machozi, an Assumptionist priest in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, was working on his laptop in a community center near the city of Butembo, where he taught in the seminary. Suddenly, a
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In Defense of “Israel-Palestine: For Human Values in the Absence of a Just Peace” In February of 2016, the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) released its report, Israel-Palestine: For Human Values in the Absence of a Just Peace, in fulfillment of the mandate given it by the 221st
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Creating Criteria for Corporate Engagement and Environmental Responsibility From the earliest days of the Reformed Tradition, we have understood ourselves to be political. As God is active in all spheres of life, so are we called to be engaged in the social polis. This is one of the most difficult
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The upcoming General Assembly (2016) will act on “Risking Peace in a Violent World and the Five Affirmations,” as recommended by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy. The Report and the Five Affirmations are a substantial move toward strengthening the PC(USA) witness for peace. The report has been six
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For more than a hundred years now, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its antecedent organizations have called for the use of economic pressures to challenge injustice, oppression, and other situations which they viewed as morally wrong. Examples include a call to the people of the church to “keep themselves financially
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A Primer on Healing and Reconciliation and The Presbyterian Church in Canada Editorial Note:This contribution speaks particularly to items 11-08 and 11-17 before the 222nd PC(USA) General Assembly, which call for an apology to First Peoples in the US and for a study of the Doctrine of Discovery, but it
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A Response to Dr. Barbara Wheeler Barbara Wheeler, former President of Auburn Theological Seminary has written an article in response to Overture 11-05 coming before the General Assembly this summer in Portland, an overture apologizing to LGBTQ/Q members of the PC(USA) for “harms done”. Wheeler does not contest the damages
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“They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying ‘Peace, Peace,’ when there is no peace.” -Jeremiah 6:14 A group of Presbyterians recently distributed a free, glossy, 80-page position paper entitled, Two States for Two Peoples. The paper advocates for a two-state solution as the best way to resolve
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This post was originally published as part of the Presbyterian Outlook’s coverage of the Foothills overtures at https://pres-outlook.org/2015/11/social-witness-of-the-church-commentary-on-foothills-overture-1/ We live in times of tremendous cultural change. We also live in times of high anxiety as a church, having lost so many congregations over the past two years. During these times,
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