lgf: Presbyterian Church Does Evil

This blog from Little Green Footballs brings to our attention the latest shame from the so-called "Christian" left: the leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are calling upon their member churches to divest of stock holdings which are tied in any way to Israel. The church has substantial stocks invested in employee pension funds, and is using their millions to blackmail 5 major companies into, effectively, handing Israel to the wolves.

The companies they are pressuring to stop doing business with Israel -- or else -- are the usual suspects, according to the linked article from the Houston Chronicle:
"The targeted companies are Caterpillar, Citigroup, ITT Industries, Motorola and United Technologies Corp.

The Presbyterians accused all except Citigroup of selling products such as night vision equipment, wireless communications and helicopters that the Israeli military uses to hurt Palestinians and bolster control of the territories."

(Funny how they don't say anything about, say, Hamas, or the rest of the Palestinians "hurting" Israelis. It's about those Jesus-killers, isn't it?)

(Oops. I spoke too soon. They do have a statement against the generic "Mideast terrorist groups", directed at one lonely little company, as follows):
"To demonstrate equal abhorrence of violence against Israelis, the panel accused Citigroup of being part of a conduit for funds used to support Mideast terrorist groups.

A Citigroup spokeswoman called the claim 'an outrage' and insisted the company worked closely with the U.S. government to help stop financing of terrorism.

Paul Jackson of United Technologies said his company was 'ethical and responsible' and fully complied with federal regulations on military programs.

Caterpillar insisted it was in no way linked to wrongdoing in the Mideast and had 'neither the legal right nor the tangible ability' to monitor how customers use its products.

'We have no intention of participating in a debate that appears aimed not at our company, but at the policies established and controlled by the governments of the United States and Israel,' the company said.

A spokesman for ITT said he had not seen the announcement and could not comment. A Motorola spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment."


I was not raised as a church-goer, except when we went to visit relatives, or was invited to accompany friends to their respective services. My parents expected me (and my siblings) to analyze the information I sought, decide for myself what was the truth, and so I came to my own conclusions (they are between me and the keeper of my soul, thank you very much).

But even without a church to direct us, we were raised to recognize moral choices, to understand the damage that a lack of morality might do. It seems that the mighty chieftains of the PCUSA have missed that lesson. They pursue a biased way, a way which encourages hatred, murder of Jews, and then they deny that there is such a bias. Why has there been no demand for accountability among the Sudanese, the Palestinians, the Russians, the Chinese, for overt acts of aggression toward their neighbors? When will they call for divestment from companies which do business there? Why choose to target Israel alone?

Where, in the Good Book, does it say that Christians must stand alongside the enemies of Jerusalem? Where does it instruct the followers of Christ that defense of Israel and its children is an affront before God, but blowing up Jews is right dandy? My copies of the KJV, the NRSV, and the Annotated Oxford don't have any such passages. It seems to me, in fact, they suggest the opposite.

Frankly, this blind, bigoted politicking at the highest levels of the church is part of the reason my father left the seminary the year I was born (despite the jest that my birth was the reason for his crisis of faith). That Dad is now a staunch atheist says much to the powers of persuasion of these so-called leaders.

The PCUSA leaders have become destructive of themselves, and are taking their followers with them. This anti-Semitism must be blocked from gaining a toehold.

Since my alma mater, Monmouth College, is a Presbyterian school, this has some direct impact on me and my community, as well. I will encourage my fellow alumnae and alumni to invest heavily in those companies which have been listed, and will ask that they start shopping for Israeli-made goods wherever possible.