Sick.
Back in May the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) published a document acknowledging that anti-Jewish rhetoric had crept into its debate over Israel and Palestine. But, a few weeks later, the Presbyterian Church extensively revised the statement, prompting denunciations from Jewish groups.
Now the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is hearing pleas from committee members to declare its solidarity with the Palestinian Arabs and propose measures against Israel.
The New York Sun reported:
The Presbyterian Church is hearing impassioned pleas to declare its solidarity with the Palestinian Arabs by adopting a series of anti-Israel measures, including proposals for divestment and for backing a suspension of American military aid to the Jewish state.
At a session that began yesterday afternoon and stretched into the night, a church committee on peacemaking heard a range of public testimony on the measures, which may be referred on to the American church’s general assembly holding its biannual meeting here this week.
“The situation in Palestine is dire. The call from our Palestinian brothers and sisters has fallen on deaf ears,” a Presbyterian minister, Reverend William McGarvey of San Francisco, told the committee. “The American Christian church has largely watched this catastrophe continue as if we did not care.”
The Louisville-based Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) suffered its worst annual membership decline in decades last year according to the Courier-Journal. The denomination lost 57,572 members in 2007 and has 2,209,546 active and confirmed members, a drop of 2.5 percent compared to 2006.
Related… Palestinian terrorists broke down and fired missiles into Israel yesterday breaching a five-day-old ceasefire.
UPDATE: The Institute on Religion and Democracy has more on the Presbyterian meetings this week.
