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August 19, 2004
The Predictable PCUSA
The Presbyterians are at it again. I wouldn't post on this except that they are a large church and considered somewhat "mainstream." You'd never guess how leftist the national leaders were just from knowing the people at your local denomination.
The 216th General Assembly was held in Richmond VA in June 26 - July 3, 2004. From the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of the USA) website:
The paper on Iraq condemns the U.S. policy of pre-emptive military action against nations perceived as a threat to the United States as ethically indefensible and contrary to the “just war” theory that has been the basis of much Christian theology on warfare.
...
The paper approved by the Assembly calls the U.S.-led coalition's invasion of Iraq was “unwise, immoral and illegal,” and says further that, because it was not directly linked to the U.S. effort to deal with terrorism, it raises different moral questions than the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York City and Washington, DC.
It also demands that the U.S. government “internationalize” the reconstruction effort in Iraq; that the United Nations play a leading role in recruiting and training Iraqis to re-establish the rule of law in the country, and reducing the role of the U.S. military as much as possible; and condemns “in the strongest possible terms” the torture and abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody anywhere in the world.
Unfortunately the stance on the Iraq war is not surprising. After all, the PCUSA is a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), an organization that towed the Soviet line thoughout the Cold War. The PCUSA even links approvingly to an old WCC statement on the-then impending war in Iraq:
The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, meeting in Geneva 26 August to 3 September, 2002:Profoundly concerned and alarmed about the persistent efforts of the Government of the United States of America to gather international support for a new military action against Iraq with the stated objective of overthrowing the present government of Iraq;
The PCUSA, you see, believes that only the UN can authorize military action:
Remind President Bush that only the United Nations Security Council as a whole is capable of determining what qualifies as a breach of Security Council Resolution 1441 that provided for the return of weapons inspectors to Iraq.
They also advise young people to adopt "conscientious objector status" should the draft be reinstated (a singularly inappropriate concern for a post-Vietnam USA):
Tell young people about conscientious objector status. Use the resource Presbyterians and Military Service which is available online. There is no draft at the present time, however the process of establishing conscientious objector status can take time.I am not saying that the PCUSA must support the war. Nor am I saying that they should not discuss the moral and ethical issues of our time, such as war and peace. But if they're going to get involved in these issues, they need to at least address the issue honestly, and tell us what they would what would they do instead to rid the world of dictators such as Saddam Hussein. Unfortunately, a search of their website only reveals standard liberal nostroms, like "work for peace" - which means what? You can count on the PCUSA to take the liberal-left position on every issue.
Posted by Tom at August 19, 2004 8:20 AM
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