Jewish Groups Accuse Presbyterian Church of Facilitating Anti-Israeli & Anti-Semitic Sentiment

On February 11, 2012, in Uncategorized, by

At the same time people of diverse faiths are coming together on the issue of the contraceptive mandate, it seems there’s a divisive battle raging between Jewish organizations and the Presbyterian Church (USA). The problems between the two faith groups  center upon charges from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), among other groups, that allege that the Presbyterians, through their  Israel-Palestine Mission Network (a missions arm), have made anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish statements.

An allegedly anti-Israel screen shot of an image that was purportedly posted on the IPMN-PCUSA Facebook page (Image Credit: CAMERA)

The JCPA, which seeks to be a unifying voice for issues pertaining to Jews, put out a press release that made its qualms with the PC(USA) known. The document, which was issued on Feb. 6, begins : The Jewish Council for Public Affairs called on the Presbyterian Church (USA) to take concrete actions to address the anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and at times anti-Semitic content that has been all too common in the church’s Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN-PCUSA).  The Israel Palestine Mission Network of the PCUSA (IPMN-PCUSA) is a group chartered by the PCUSA General Assembly and advised by members of the denomination’s national staff.   IPMN-PCUSA’s policies, programs, social media and other communications are a wellspring of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel invective, according to extensive research conducted by the JCPA and the Israel Action Network, an initiative of The Jewish Federations of North America in partnership with JCPA. Naturally, one would wonder what evidence the JCPA has that its rival is being biased against both Jews and Israel. The release continues (you can read the full list of complaints and allegations  here ): For example, at an opening program of the IPMN-PCUSA annual conference, the Rev. Craig Hunter said “greed and injustice is a cancer at the very core of Zionism.”   In a 2010 letter to church delegates, the IPMN-PCUSA falsely accused the Jewish community of intimidating Presbyterians by sending a letter-bomb to the church’s headquarters and setting fire to a church. IPMN-PCUSA tweeted an article proclaiming “Jewish power + Jewish hubris = moral catastrophe of epic proportions.”  IPMN-PCUSA also has supported virulently anti-Israel resolutions including those equating Israel with Apartheid and has been a vocal supporter of the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanction movement.

Another alleged screen shot from the IPMN-PCUSA Facebook page (Image Credit: CAMERA)

“We have been concerned by the transformation of the IPMN-PCUSA into a gathering place for anti-Jewish tirades,” JCPA Chair Dr. Conrad Giles said in the statement . “We cannot remain silent while a group chartered by a mainstream church tolerates language that reflects the darkest times in the Christian-Jewish encounter.  These attitudes cannot find a home in the Presbyterian Church (USA).” The American Jewish Committee, another pro-democratic Jewish group, also sent out a similar release on the same day. “When American church leaders allow extremists in their own community to dictate the direction of church activity on an issue as complex as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they weaken the stature of the church in the eyes of all,” AJC’s director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations said in the group’s official response . IPMN-PCUSA, though, didn’t back down, retract or apologize as a result of these critiques. In fact, the group responded with a press release of its own on Feb. 8, writing : For the record, the Israel Palestine Mission Network is  not  an anti-Semitic organization. It does oppose Israeli government policy that sustains illegal occupation and violates Palestinian human rights every day. The IPMN is also a proponent of open dialogue and debate about the issues that prevent a just peace. The truth is that the JCPA, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and other “pro-Israel” organizations do not desire open and free discussion about these issues in America, and when they don’t want to talk about the facts on the ground, they resort to slanderous smear campaigns. This year the JCPA concern comes in trying to stem the unstoppable tide of a growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Presbyterians and Methodists are leading the way in the faith community, along with many other Christian, Jewish and secular grassroots organizations across the United States, to stop profiting from the Israeli Occupation. The BDS movement is saying the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is wearing no clothes; you can’t say you want a just peace and at the same time build settlements on Palestinian land at break-neck pace.

Another alleged screen shot from the IPMN-PCUSA Facebook page (Image Credit: CAMERA)

And this is only a portion of the scathing press release ( the rest can be read here ). So, with neither side willing to pare down the rhetoric and angst, it seems there is a stalemate. That being said, the controversial IPMN-PCUSA Facebook page has been shut down, causing some to claim that the Presbyterian Church was well aware of the improper and allegedly offensive content that was posted. In a statement published on its web site , the church arm responded to the closure, writing : IPMN has been a presence on social media sites Facebook and Twitter over the last eighteen months, providing links to stories on Israel and Palestine that are not easily found in the mainstream U.S. media. As our “fan base” has grown on Facebook to over 2100, so have the comments, both positive and negative. At present, Facebook does not provide a setting where fans can “like” and “share” links without posting comments that need to be monitored. Since IPMN has no paid staff, we will not be able to keep our Facebook page going, until such a time as new posting settings are made available. Until then, IPMN will post links to articles, commentary, videos, etc. on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/IPMN The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA)  recaps its version of the issues that have unfolded between the two sides, inevitably placing blame on the Presbyterians regarding how they’ve handled the situation: Presbyterian leaders were given multiple warnings about the problem before the JCPA went public with its concerns. Starting in 2009, CAMERA corresponded regularly with the denomination’s leaders in Louisville about this problem, but they did nothing even as the IPMN-PCUSA’s Facebook page became a focal point for anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic imagery and commentary. Eventually, the JCPA started gathering a collection of the hateful postings on the IPMN’s Facebook page for a report about the organization. The JCPA then started to distribute a draft version of its findings to members and leaders within the denomination, which apparently prompted the IPMN-PCUSA to delete its Facebook page. There’s not much room for agreement here, especially considering that both sides view their opponent as discriminatory and biased. In the end, the debate is certainly a grand one that requires more in-depth scrutiny. This latest spat, though, may be setting the stage for more drama to come.

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Jewish Groups Accuse Presbyterian Church of Facilitating Anti-Israeli & Anti-Semitic Sentiment

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Military Intervention in Syria

On February 10, 2012, in barack obama, Iraq, Uncategorized, by TwilaManozca764

From Michael Weiss, at The New Republic , ” Break the Stalemate! A Blueprint For a Military Intervention in Syria “: In the past several weeks, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other independent rebel brigades have made great strides: They have “liberated” key cities such as Zabadani, 20 miles outside of Damascus; set up checkpoints in restive areas throughout the country; and even begun to seize a few tanks and armored vehicles. For a network of ragtag militias, armed mainly with AK-47s and RPGs that defecting soldiers have given or sold them, the rebels have impressively taken the fight right up to Bashar al-Assad’s doorstep. But the rebels can only go so far. “If no one helps us, we can hit the regime painfully but we can’t topple it, not [when it has] jets and tanks,” Alaa al-Sheikh, the spokesman for the Khaled Bin Waleed Brigade in Rastan, told me. This is a fair precis of the current situation in the nearly year-long Syrian uprising, in which the Assad regime has killed 7,000 people and dispossessed and imprisoned tens of thousands more. The rebels are waging a guerrilla war of attrition designed to exhaust Assad’s army and security forces rather than defeat them: They hope that if and when external help comes, they can make quick work of whatever regime elements remain. In that way, it would be a mistake to describe the crisis in Syria simply as a humanitarian catastrophe. It is also a military stalemate—one that the West can decisively break in favor of anti-Assad forces by offering them military assistance. Going to war is a dangerous and risky business, and critics of Western intervention in Syria have understandably focused on three main hazards: the proliferation of jihadist groups, regional destabilization, and the rise of sectarianism (particularly between the Sunni majority and the Christian and Alawite minorities). But the worst fears of what might happen following an intervention have already come to pass and only threaten to grow worse with continued inaction. Continue reading . And here’s Weiss’ blueprint for intervention, ” Intervention in Syria? An Assessment of Legality, Logistics and Hazards .” The Los Angeles Times has an editorial out today opposing intervention, ” Avoiding the Syria Trap .” Check the arguments there. It’s obvious that “diplomacy” won’t work. And if the U.S. did intervene it would be against the wishes of Russia and China, and the West could risk a new Islamist regime coming to power in Damascus. But in the absence of regime change, it’s likely that Assad will continue to massacre his own people. There are no good options here.

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Military Intervention in Syria

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Obama’s fraudulent abortion mandate “accommodation” Updated: Prez condemns “cynical” opposition

On February 10, 2012, in Health Care, Uncategorized, by bt5iek

File under: “How to fake a walkback.” With its unconstitutional, coercive, discriminatory Obamacare abortion mandate under fire, the White House announced…nothing today. A supposed “accommodation” to the policy will result in no compromise in the impact of the HHS edict forcing religiously affiliated health care providers and employers to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives, abortifacients, and related services that violate the religious principles and freedom of the mandate’s targets. In fact, close observers say today’s announcement will make things worse. The deets : With the White House under fire for its new rule requiring employers including religious organizations to offer health insurance that fully covers birth control coverage, ABC News has learned that later today the White House — possibly President Obama himself — will likely announce an attempt to accommodate these religious groups. The move, based on state models, will almost certainly not satisfy bishops and other religious leaders since it will preserve the goal of women employees having their birth control fully covered by health insurance. Sources say it will be respectful of religious beliefs but will not back off from that goal, which many religious leaders oppose since birth control is in violation of their religious beliefs. White House officials are likening it to the so-called Hawaii compromise. Phony baloney, say Catholic bishops: It’s difficult to know what people may mean by the “Hawaii compromise.” But a central feature of the Hawaii law is that every religious organization that is eligible for the exemption has to instruct all employees in how they can access all methods of contraception and sterilization locally “in an expeditious manner.” Just a few days ago the White House was saying that this is just about coverage, that no one has to be involved in getting people to the actual services they object to. It would be no improvement to say: “Sure, you don’t have to include the coverage, you just have to send all your lay employees and women religious to the local Planned Parenthood clinic.” The Administration’s press release of January 20 hinted at such a requirement. That would not be a compromise. In some ways it would be worse. As usual, this defiant administration keeps digging itself deeper. *** The Hill calls Obama’s announcement a “retreat.” The White House will announce a retreat from its controversial rule requiring religious organizations like charities and hospitals to include contraception in their healthcare plans. President Obama has come under heavy criticism from the Catholic Church and other religious organizations, Republicans and even some Democrats over the issue, and Vice President Biden has suggested a compromise could be worked out. A White House official on Friday confirmed an announcement on changing the rule would be made Friday. The White House is referring to the change as an accommodation. It’s not a retreat. It’s a re-trick. It’s not an accommodation. It’s an abomination. *** Update 11am Weekly Standard reporter John McCormak is on a conference call with White House officials providing background on the policy head fake. He tweets … Sr. admin off.: “the insurance company, not the hospital, not the charity will be required to reach out” to women to provide contraception So religious groups will still be mandated to offer plans that cover contraception, and the abortion drug ella. Reporter asks if WH even consulted bishops before announcing ‘accommodation.’ Sr admin official won’t say. To clarify, religious groups have to contract with INSURERS who do offer the pills, then the insurers offers free pills to women. Update 12:26pm EST – From his brief press conference, Obama attacks “cynical” opponents of abortion mandate. He says “principle” of “access to free preventative care including contraceptive services” will stand. “Religious liberty will be protected.” Translation: You’re still screwed. *** Update: On Fox News, Kathleen The Shredder Sebelius attempts to defend the policy as a “no-cost strategy” by citing “actuaries” who claim that contraceptive coverage will actually “save money.” You know who she’s citing? The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. She repeatedly invokes “women’s health” to defend the edict. Sanger’s grim reapers have the rhetoric down pat. *** More from Steven Ertelt at Life News: Pro-Life Advocates Blast Revised Obama Pro-Abortion Mandate : Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations for the Christian Medical Association, called the revisions “offering a distinction without a difference to mute opposition.” He said the revision fits a pattern of contempt for conscience that includes how Obama “has gutted the only federal regulation protecting the exercise of conscience in health care, denied of federal grant funds for aiding human trafficking victims because a faith-based organization refused to participate in abortion; lobbied the Supreme Court to restrict faith-based organizations’ hiring rights; and issued a coercive contraceptive mandate that imposes the government’s abortion ideology on every American.”

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Obama’s fraudulent abortion mandate “accommodation” Updated: Prez condemns “cynical” opposition

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Europe’s German Future

On February 9, 2012, in Uncategorized, by NatK

From Christopher Caldwell, at the Weekly Standard , ” Über Alles After All “: Last week Germany reclaimed its status as the leading power in Europe. In the two years since it became apparent that Greece was, essentially, bankrupt, there have been dozens of emergency meetings of the countries that use the common European currency, the euro. Most of the euro-using states believe that Germany—with a booming industrial economy, vast trade surpluses, a reputation for fiscal probity, and a history that makes it reluctant to reject the counsel of France—ought to cover the bill. Germany has long argued that Greece must become competitive again by selling off state assets and cutting government handouts. More recently, Germany has added another demand—that EU authorities be empowered to discipline Greece and other delinquent countries. At the Brussels summit on January 30, the Germans won. Germany is fortunate to have, in the moment of its triumph, a chancellor who does not scare people. Angela Merkel is an East German intellectual, a physical chemist, the childless daughter of a clergyman. She mumbles. Her taste in clothing runs to pantsuits. She isn’t brawny and forceful like her Christian Democrat mentor Helmut Kohl, who presided over the reunification of Germany at the end of the Cold War. She isn’t eloquent and haughty, or tempestuous and randy, like her Social Democratic predecessors Helmut Schmidt and Gerhard Schröder, respectively. “This lack of a presidential demeanor is a big advantage,” says longtime Bavarian governor Edmund Stoiber, whom Merkel replaced as party leader. Germany’s economy naturally provides it with a leadership role, but its history means that that role is something Germany cannot be seen to claim. “Neither personally nor politically does she come off as wanting to blow her own horn, along the lines of ‘I am the leader of Europe.’ ” By “Europe” Stoiber means the 27 countries that make up the European Union. The EU was launched in the wake of the Second World War as a way to organize Europe through economics, not war. This is a polite way of saying it was meant to keep Germany from dominating Europe with its army. A decade ago, the EU acquired a common money, the euro, which replaced the franc, the lira, the peseta, and the super-strong deutsche mark. The new monetary regime was meant to keep Germany from dominating the continent with its currency. But the euro has backfired. In 1990 British trade secretary Nicholas Ridley was forced to resign for calling the EU “a German racket designed to take over the whole of Europe.” Ridley was quite wrong about Germany’s intentions, but he was right about the result. Joining Germany in a currency union meant playing by its rules. In fact, so big and rich is Germany—particularly now that reunification has brought its population to 80 million—that joining it in anything means playing by its rules. This is not Germany’s fault. It is the classic “German problem” that has confronted Europe for the whole modern era. It was camouflaged for six decades only by Germany’s reluctance to express any wishes whatsoever. As long as Germany wasn’t complaining, others could make free with Germany’s credit card. Once in the euro, Greece, Italy, Spain, and other countries that bankers used to consider reckless or unstable could borrow at the same rates. (The treaties that bound all these dissimilar countries together stipulated that there would be no bailouts for those who borrowed too much, but bankers obviously didn’t believe that.) A boom in lending pushed up wages and prices in those “peripheral” countries, rendering them uncompetitive. After the financial crisis of 2008, the countries that had overborrowed were saddled with more debt than they could comfortably repay. The eurozone’s Mediterranean members have come to think that Germany ought to rescue them. But the Germany to which they are addressing their petitions is not the penitent, diffident, and easily browbeaten land that they came to know over the last three generations. Germany has its own ideas about economics and morality, and it is ready to insist that its weaker neighbors adhere to them. That’s a great piece — pretty accurate all around. Continue reading at the link .

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Europe’s German Future

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Why Obama’s flip-flop on super PACs won’t matter (The Christian Science Monitor)

On February 7, 2012, in Uncategorized, by DUFFYAPRIL35

The Christian Science Monitor – President Obama’s flip-flop toward embrace of the “super PAC” formed to support his reelection campaign should come as no surprise.

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Why Obama’s flip-flop on super PACs won’t matter
(The Christian Science Monitor)

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Atheists’ Anti-Religion Billboard Campaign Targets African Americans

On February 4, 2012, in Uncategorized, by

An atheist group is launching a billboard campaign that targets African Americans — particularly those who may be seriously questioning their faith in God. These eye-catching conversation-starters will be posted in six U.S. cities. The atheist group behind the project,  African Americans for Humanism (AAH), has  strategically chosen church-populated locations  for the ads. In Dallas, Texas, for instance, at least 12 predominately-black houses of worship are stationed near the billboard. Aside from the location, the timing of the campaign was also planned to coincide, nationally, with Black History Month. In an announcement about the campaign, organizer Debbie Goddard wrote : Billboards and transit shelter ads featuring historic and contemporary black humanists are going up—in black neighborhoods!—in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington DC, and Durham NC. The ads highlight historic black humanists Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, as well as eight contemporary activists and organizers representing local  AAH-affiliated groups  in each city. The Christian Post further explains the billboards: Each billboard, poster or banner that goes up says “Doubts about religion? You’re one of many” and has AAH’s website printed on it. Each sign will also feature the image of a famous historic black freethinker – like poet Langston Hughes, social reformer Frederick Douglass or writer Zora Neale Hurston – across from the photo of a contemporary black atheist leader. At least one pastor in the Dallas area says that, though he disagrees with the message, he welcomes a debate with non-believers. Pastor David Lane of Marsalis Avenue Church of Christ — located just blocks from where the Texas billboard will be placed this upcoming Monday — maintains that faith is a cornerstone in African American heritage. Thus, he doesn’t seem too confident that people will jump onto the atheist bandwagon. “Traditionally African Americans come out of a tradition that is led and motivated by faith. We are where we are and we are who we are primarily because we’ve chosen to believe in a power that’s bigger than ourselves,” Lane explained. He went on to say that the close proximity of the ad will create a buzz in the community. The congregations close by, he contends, will be faced with a challenge by their atheist peers. This, too, will be the case in the five other cities where the billboards will be posted. Alix Jules, a member of AAH, maintains that the purpose of the billboards isn’t to cause trouble. Rather, he claims that the goal is to inspire those who may be teetering on the brink of skepticism to come out and fully question their beliefs. “It’s for the ones that really have doubt,” he said . “Understand you are not alone.”

Image Credit: African Americans for Humanism

Jules, though, has a personal stake in the campaign, as it is his face that will appear on a billboard in Texas, alongside Hughes. Jules was also featured in a July 2011 Ebony Magazine article about atheism in the black community. “Can I believe in a God that will help me find my keys and win a ball game but allows hunger in places like Africa?,” he said. “Those are really big questions the church does not have answers to.” It is these difficult and seemingly unanswerable questions that the AAH apparently hopes to capitalize on. (H/T: MyFoxDFW.com )

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Atheists’ Anti-Religion Billboard Campaign Targets African Americans

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Obama opens door to offshore wind power along mid-Atlantic coast (The Christian Science Monitor)

On February 2, 2012, in Uncategorized, by mrkeybiz

The Christian Science Monitor – The Obama administration today unveiled plans to boost US offshore wind power by opening up four new wind-leasing regions for wind turbine power generation.

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Obama opens door to offshore wind power along mid-Atlantic coast
(The Christian Science Monitor)

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Obama says his policies are extension of his faith (AP)

On February 2, 2012, in barack obama, Uncategorized, by ThresaFralin

AP – Blending politics and religion, President Barack Obama said his Christian faith is a driving force behind his economic policies, from Wall Street reform to his calls for the wealthy to pay higher taxes.

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Obama says his policies are extension of his faith
(AP)

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Michelle Obama: Why is she going on Jay Leno? (The Christian Science Monitor)

On February 1, 2012, in Uncategorized, by uwwalum

The Christian Science Monitor – Hollywood is getting ready for an Obama sighting.

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Michelle Obama: Why is she going on Jay Leno?
(The Christian Science Monitor)

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Florida primary smackdown: Have Gingrich and Romney forgotten Obama? (The Christian Science Monitor)

On January 31, 2012, in Uncategorized, by BojorquezLowry932

The Christian Science Monitor – In the runup to Tuesday’s primary in Florida, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich – and the super political-action committees that support them – have been smacking each other pretty hard.

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Florida primary smackdown: Have Gingrich and Romney forgotten Obama?
(The Christian Science Monitor)

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