This digest is a compilation of the social witness-related items that came before the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 220th General Assembly in 2012.
Keep ReadingIntroduction The Presbyterian Church (USA) has been engaged in a decade-long struggle to divest from companies that are profiting from the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. After an extensive corporate engagement process, the Committee
Keep Reading
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
More
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
More
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
More
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
More
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
More
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
More
“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
More
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,
More
A lot of Presbyterians affectionately refer to GA as a family reunion, even as we may groan about long hours, worry about contentious issues, pray for God’s Spirit to work in the stuck places, and occasionally feel overcome by bone-deep exhaustion. For me, it is indeed wonderful to see how
More
A Perspective from Fossil Free PC(USA) In the shadow of the Paris Accords, rising global temperatures, and changing climates, we are thankful for the many voices discussing climate change in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We recognize that our denomination has suffered and survived turmoil in the wake of the last
More
Unbound Social