For reasons having to do with work, family and a desire for tranquility, I’ve kept some mental distance during this year’s PCUSA divestment vote compared to previous General Assemblies. That said, I have participated in a couple of online discussions with religious bloggers over the last few days, one of whom has decided that the […]
Tag Archives | presbyterians
Presbyterian BDS-ja-vu
I was going to title today’s post “The Presbyterian’s Await,” until I realized that this title (and virtually everything I was planning to say as the Presbyterians gather in Detroit for their 2014 General Assembly) already appeared on this site in 2012. In other words, what needs to be said about the appalling situation in […]
PCUSA BDS – Dynamics
This entry is part 3 of 11 in the series Presbyterian Church 2014
There are a number of dynamics that make each BDS debate within the Presbyterian Church seem similar to the one that played out previously. First, there is the traditional BDS dynamic that says once an organization passes any type of divestment resolution, that organization belongs to the boycotters. So the PCUSA’s fate was really sealed […]
PCUSA – Stacking the Deck?
In 2004, the Presbyterian Church in the US (PCUSA) voted to begin a process of “phased, selective divestment” in companies doing business with Israel. Putting aside the fact that this vote was taken towards the end of the General Assembly (with even its proponents unaware of the significance it would have in energizing the global […]
PCUSA – Decline and Fall?
The Presbyterian Church represents an interesting case study on the degenerative impact of the embrace of BDS and similar strategies by institutions. In one respect, the church has clearly not developed the anti-bodies needed to defend against those who want nothing more than to leverage the reputation of the centuries-old church, to get their Israel=Apartheid […]
The Presbyterians Teach Us a Lesson
As promised, I’m laying off the Berkeley subject for a bit in order to focus on another upcoming matter: July’s gathering of representative voting members of the Presbyterian Church of the US at this year’s bi-annual PCUSA General Assembly (or GA). Long-term readers may recall a number of references I’ve made to a 2004 vote […]
Yurp and the “Big Mo”
September 3, 2009 in BDS, Church Divestment, Israel Boycotts, Israel Divestment, University Divestment 1
I’m occasionally asked about divestment activities that take place in Europe, such as the Norwegian government’s recent decision to divest a state pension fund from a specific Israeli company. I must admit that the focus of my work has been primary North America (with an occasional foray into Great Britain), although I have noted in […]
More good news!
In another important move within the Mainline Protestant community, the Lutheran Church (more specifically, the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or ELCA) voted to reject a series of resolutions that singled out Israel for criticism and instead voted in favor of a “balanced and fair-minded” resolution that took into account the […]
Is Divestment a Threat?
FAQ#10: If divestment has been so unsuccessful, is it really a threat? Despite divestment’s losing streak, calls for divestment have gained considerable momentum based on a single victory, such as the temporary support divestment had with the Presbyterian Church which was used to inspire hundreds of divestment projects between 2004-2006. Divestment programs also tend to […]
So where has divestment been successful?
FAQ#9: If divestment has failed at colleges and universities, has it been successful anywhere else? In 2004, a number of Mainline Protestant churches (notably the Presbyterians and Methodists) passed resolutions calling for divestment of their retirement portfolios from stocks identified by BDS activists as supporting the Jewish state. In fact, the success divestment had in […]
Thus Sayeth the Lord!
Divestment debates are ongoing matters at many “Mainline” Protestant churches. I’ve talked before about how anti-Israel divestment resolutions, begun by local churches, find their way to national forums (notably the Presbyterians and Methodists who meet every few years within quasi-democratic frameworks to vote on resolutions submitted from “the field”). While these resolutions get routinely voted […]
Church Divestment
Wow – Well last week got away from me! Time to catch up on another divestment-related issue that I’ve not talked about yet: the churches. A number of people have seen talk of Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) breaking out on many campuses, Web sites and other forums (including the upcoming Durban II, which promises […]