The disconnect between the views of the leadership of mainline Protestant churches on the Middle East and those of the rank-and-file members of their congregations has been growing in recent decades. Activists and leading clergy of liberal Protestant denominations have embraced the Palestinian cause while most of those who attend their churches are, like most Americans, warm supporters of Israel. But in the case of at least one of these churches — the Presbyterian Church USA — the gap between those who speak in the name of these institutions and those whom they claim to represent has grown to the point where communal relations are at the brink of a breakdown. Institutions connected with the Presbyterians have become a font of anti-Israel invective that has crossed the line into outright anti-Semitism.
In the course of promoting their anti-Israel policies, church leaders have engaged in rhetoric that seeks not only to delegitimize the state of Israel but also the Jewish community. The actions and statements of the church’s Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN-PCUSA) have been so egregious that the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella network of Jewish community relations groups, has been forced to go public with their complaints in hopes that ordinary Presbyterians will do something about the epidemic of hate speech springing from church activists.
Even a partial list of offensive statements made by Presbyterian activists on Israel and the Jews ought to send a chill down the spines of church members who may be unaware of what is going on:
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. …
The IPMN-PCUSA Facebook page includes a cartoon of President Obama wearing weighty Jewish star earrings to suggest Jewish control of the American leaders, a common theme on the site. The IPMN-PCUSA has posted articles that accuse Jews of controlling Hollywood, the media, and American politics – and blaming Israel for the American housing and economic crisis. IPMN-PCUSA’s communications chair also posted her opposition to a two-state solution and the existence of a Jewish state, something which she terms “anachronistic.” The same IPMN leader, Noushin Framke, clicked “like” on the Obama cartoon with the Jewish stars and another post that Hamas should keep Israeli Gilad Shalit hostage until Palestinians are granted a right of return.
The idea that a mainstream American church would engage in this sort of abuse of Jews and the Jewish state is shameful. Moreover, this is not about church activists engaging in legitimate criticism of Israeli policies. By participating in a propaganda war against Zionism and the existence of Israel and its right of self-defense, these Presbyterian activists have crossed the line that separates criticism from delegitimization. Anyone who would deny Jews the same rights of self-determination and self-defense they would never think of questioning when it comes to any other country is engaging in bigotry. The church’s activities have nothing to do with the promotion of peace and everything to do with scapegoating Israel and the Jews.
While this has nothing to do with the beliefs, let alone the actions of the overwhelming majority of American Presbyterians, it goes without saying the responsibility for policing these institutions belongs to church members. Because Jewish community relations professionals have failed to get the church hierarchy to act on this question up until now, it is up to the rank-and-file to speak out against this behavior and see that it ends. Those Presbyterians who say they wish to live in fellowship with their Jewish neighbors are obligated to ensure their church does not engage in anti-Semitism or support an economic war on the Jewish state. On this point, there can be no middle ground. The church must repudiate these extremists who have appropriated their good name to promote a hateful cause.
Just once, instead of whining about "anti-semitism," will Commentary look at the reprehensible behavior of so many Jews? n nNaah.
You need a strong dose of Ex-Lax.
The idea that everything should be expected of Jews before anything is expected of anyone else is irrational and charges of anti-semitism are appropriate. The underlying notion that to be victims of discrimination one must be poorer or have browner skin is also irrational. n nThe hostility toward Israel that is coming from mainline Protestant churches in recent years is a valid concern. The number of mis-informed radicals in policy-making positions in these churches needs to be a concern for those of us who are members and don't want to see a repeat of the moral failure associated with our denominations during WWII.
Read the Goldstone Report to the UN. Written by a Jew (he's an alto now since the ZioNazi;'s castrated him), but, he not only got to visit his grandson (Whew!), but he was offered a job by Romney on the Mormon Tabernacle choir (as an alto, of course) where he now does Shabbot!, LOL!
So you've chosen the word ZioNazi? That clearly make you a MuslimNazi. Yet you've been printed here. Either this page is not moderated or Commentary wants to point out that great evil (that's you) still lurks out there.
Where are the discussions of: n n1. Madoff. n2. The prominent role of Jews in the Wall St scams that brought down the economy (Blankfein, Summers, Rubin) n3. The Rubashkin fiasco (animal cruelty, exploitation of illegal immigrants, cheating lenders) n4. Hiding widespread sexual abuse of children in yeshivas through "mesirah." n5. Using political contributions to promote uncritical support for Israel and war with Iran. n6. Orthodox rabbis trading in body parts and laundering money. n7. Jews prominent in the movement to normalize sodomy. n8. Jews prominent in the creation of the mass culture that has so degraded American life. n9. Jews promoting multiculturalism and immigration here, and Jewish ethnocentrism in Israel. n nThese are at least as significant as a few old-line Protestant uplifters saying unpleasant (and largely accurate) things about Israel and her supporters. A crying towel and an accusatory finger pointed outward are more congenial than a mirror and a mea culpa.
What more does one need to see than that Grumpy Old anti-semite accuses Jews of exploiting illegal immigrants on the one hand and promoting illegal immigration on the other. Is he concerned about the immigrants or just anti-semitic.
Hey Grump, and here I thought I was the only Goyim giving the local Jews colitis and diaherria of the mouth, jajajaja. Hey, keep it up. These Jews give 'free' tickets to do 'alyiah' to their 1/2 acre of Zionist hell since no one visits there too often,. – Perhaps we can 'both' go. I want to visit that beautiful Ben-Gurion airport – named for Israel's 1st war criminal president – perhaps we can visit 'Ol Sharon – and pull his life support air hose when no one is watching, huh? Hell, he's been in 'pergatory' for a while now. Bet, the devil is tired of dancing around his gurney waiting for the old war criminal (((fart))) to croak..
Not "Grumpy_Old-Man", or "…cowshit", just plain ol' Nazis.
It is not morally reprehensible to tell someone not to kill and it is not morally reprehensible to tell someone not to steal and it is most certainly not anti-Semitic to tell country of Israel not to continue with brutal and humiliating occupation of Palestinian people. n nThe morally reprehensible stance is to blindly support the country that is committing crimes against occupied population (and labelling resistance fighters against occupation terrorists) and to mourn the dead of one's religion while treating with disdain and indifference the dead of those whom Israel occupies and kills with impunity. n nWhen racist cries Anti-Semitism, do charges cancel themselves out?
The Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza have made a habit of attacking and murdering Israelis beginning long before Israel began occupying those territories, and continue in the case of Gaza after the Isrealis have withdrawn. The occupation and restrictions are the result of Arab violence, not the cause, and if the Arab attacks were directed toward any other country the response would be much more brutal than anything the Arabs have seen from Israel. n nArabs have repeatedly refused to accept and acknowledge the existence of Israel as a nation located in their historic homeland as approved by resolution of the United Nations in 1947. Israel agreed to the Partition plan that would have created a second nation for Palestinian Arabs. The plan was rejected by the Arabs. Offers to create a Palestinian state have continued to be made by Israel and rejected by Arabs with the latest in 2008.
It's called 'criminal trespassing' and if you came onto my property here in Tombstone, Arizona in a smoking D9R Caterpillaer bull dozer at 2:00 AM with a 3,000 year old 'expired' lease in your back pocket and you insisted your G-d had given you my house and land , you would be found at the county dump next night with a 'He died with his boots on,' final epitaph' carved on your forehead.
People who celebrate and make heroes of those who murder civilians and build and maintain a culture of racially and religiously based intolerance should be treated with disdain and indifference by those they target. In a better world the victims should expect and receive more support and assistance from the rest of us – at least that we be informed enough to know the difference between fact and fiction when formulating our opinions.
Hi Eva, nWhen was the last time u witnessed with your own eyes what happens in Israel with the Arabs?
What an ugly anti-semite this Eva is. Notice how she doesn't address any of the content of the article. She doesn't address the Jewish star earrings on Obama or the comments about "greedy Zionists" or the comments focusing purely on Jews and not Israel. She doesn't even address the issue of delegitimization with respect to Israel proper. And then she has the audacity to call others racist and post that heinous picture of herself to boot.
It's what is called an 'oxymoron,' LOL!
Another 'NAZI" commentator. This column abounds with them.
Great article, Jonathan. I see you've received some pretty acrid comments. Those are from those that do not recognize or understand the authority of God, and His Word. I believe in the literal boundaries of the Promised Land and will always support Israel as God's Chosen People. I pray the PCUSA (of which I am not a part of) will open their eyes to the Word of God and His promises. That's the bottom line!
Hey, G-d he don't like 'butchers of women and children (Operation Cast Lead) nor does he like 'Organ thieves,' and certainly, no bandit Jew that works on Wall Street, huh, 'Grumpy?'
The NAZI has spoken. He will rot in hell.
I am a Presbyterian (USA) Pastor who finds the denomination's obsessive focus against Israel (and the invective coming from radical activist groups like the IPMN) to be embarassing. In MY congregation we are praying for God to protect Israel from the threat from Iran. In our small way we are trying to make a difference.
Eva, there are a couple of metaphors regarding the Israeli/Palestinian issue, the most apt is the one that posits there is a great difference between the arsonist and the firefighter. Hopefully, that will make it easy for you to understand the situation. If not, I'll make it even clearer: the Israelis are the firefighters. n nSecond, there is less and less of an "occupation." The PA essentially runs the West Bank (brutally, I might add…you might want to look into that) and Hamas runs Gaza entirely. So tell me, where are the Israeli's "brutal and humiliating occupation?" Any crimes committed against the "occupied population" are by the Palestinians themselves; if Israelis commit any, they are adjudicated by Israeli courts and the perpetrators are held responsible. n nResistance fighters? Hardly. They're thugs and terrorists pure and simple. The Arabs could have had their own state at any time since the Peel Commission back in the '30s. Killing Jews is their raison d'être.
Hey, being a 'bible demon' doesn't make you no firefighter, jajajaja.
The NAZI has spoken again. He will rot in hell.
Where does PCUSA get its financial support? Petro$ perhaps? Who knows!
It is important to understand that there are about a dozen different Presbyterian and Reformed denominations in the United States. The largest is the Presbyterian Church (USA), which is extremely liberal and very anti-Israel. This denomination is losing about three percent of its membership every year and is rapidly getting smaller, because so many members view the denomination as apostate and corrupt.r nr nThe PCUSA does not represent the views of the other Presbyterian and Reformed denominations, which generally support Israel in its fight against annihilation by Muslim extremists.r nr nThe contributions to the PCUSA decline every year. Much of the money comes from a huge trust fund donated by the late Sam Walton, who started the Walmart stores.
wow, a lot of Jew haters on the boards tonite! were your Hitler Youth meetings all cancelled or something? n n
Senior Nazi's auxillery, actually. But, I get 'outranked' by the ZioNazi's on this site all the time, Mrs. Bubba… But, why call us Jew haters? Actually, I enjoy 'pulling your strings' and watching you dance like a Pima indian katchina doll with habenero chile peppers in your Prep-H suppository, jajajaja.
It appears the lobotomy was successful. You are now a full-time drooling idiot. Congratulations!
You have raised a painful topic for Presbyterians who fill the pews, Jonathan. The gap you describe between church members like me and the PCUSA leadership yawns ever more widely. We are not silent. The pro-Palestinian bias forces us to speak up. We take on the misguided local pastors and the idiotic national leadership, and yet the anti-Israel (and often anti-Semitic) speech springs up again with numbing persistence. Forums like IPMN and our governing organization cause us constant embarrassment. You are right in your impression that the overwhelming majority of Presbyterians in the pew lean markedly pro-Israel — a series of presentations by the JCRC at our PCUSA church created an excited and positive buzz in the congregation and occasioned muttering on the part of the pastors.
Two things are going on that perhaps observes cannot see. First, the stance on Israel is just one topic of many wherein we Presbyterians have deep disagreement with our leadership. Put another way, if a church member’s eyes are open enough to see how warped the PCUSA is about Israel, they can also see other areas where the denomination is off the rails. And secondly, the PCUSA is a shrinking, collapsing denomination as entire churches have pulled out. People’s eyes are indeed open. The thing to ask is where do Presbyterians go when they leave the PCUSA? They don’t sit at home on Sundays but instead find new church homes in other Reformed or Evangelical denominations. When it comes to taking the temperature of the nation I would ask my Jewish friends to notice that “mainstream denominations” are no longer such, that you have a large and enthusiastically supportive group of neighbors to your right, and that we are most certainly paying attention to the well-being of Israel and to how things are with her supporters.
Mr. Tobin is talking about one particular Presbyterian denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA). Yet, not all Presbyterians in America are members of that denomination. So, instead of saying "Presbyterians", Mr. Tobin (and others) should be saying "PCUSA members". That way Presbyterians outside of the PCUSA are not accused of wrong doing.
I imagine that's not especially comforting for readers of this blog to hear, David, even though you are of course factually correct. There are way too many instances of people saying “actions of people who are called by my name are not my concern and I insist that you treat me as separate” (c.f. the response of most Muslim organizations when a terror atrocity takes place). No matter which of the dozen brands of Presbyterian you happen to belong to (PCA, EPC, RPC, PCUSA, etc), the point is that the biggest wing of the Presbyterian Church is currently engaging in something evil vis-à-vis Israel and the Jews. The evidence that there might be other Presbyterians who don’t subscribe to such vile stuff is to be found in letting people know and see that we Presbyterians (all of us) are willing to own it, ready to denounce it, and are actively engaged in fighting it. This is no time to be insisting that we don’t know ‘em and we ain’t part of ‘em.
The leadership of the PCUSA left the scripture behind long ago. This is just a symptom of a problem with the leadership, not necessarily all of the rank and file. It is simply the practice of Replacement Theology, something that is not supported by either the Old or New Testament.