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2004-11-20 Home Front: WoT

US Churches Take Stand Against Israeli Occupation

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Posted by Fred 2004-11-20 10:04:01 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 If they were truly appalled by the Palestinians' living conditions, wouldn't a more constructive approach be to bypass the PA and do their own charity work?
Yeah, I know, it's so much easier to just call your broker while sitting on your fat butt making concerned noises about those poor people who had nothing to do with their current living situation.....sniff, sniff.....

Posted by Desert Blondie 2004-11-20 10:35:26 AM|| 2004-11-20 10:35:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 I was talking to a number of (solidly pro-Israel and pro-Bush) Arab-American evangelicals the other day. They were laughing at how churches run by the mainline denominations (Episcopal, Presbyterian, et al) were basically empty on Sunday, whereas the buildings themselves were ornate and, in some cases, over a hundred years old. Meanwhile, evangelicals were meeting in non-descript office buildings for cost reasons.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2004-11-20 10:39:17 AM|| [http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2004-11-20 10:39:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Although a Christian, I haven't been inside one of the "mainline denomination" churches in the last 40 years for other than a wedding or a funeral. I couldn't stand the smug, holier-than-thou hypocricy of the professional clergy. Where I grew up, the true test of a Christian was to walk the walk, to be the same man on Saturday night that you were on Sunday morning. I think that the clergy of the old denominations has been infiltrated and taken over by those whose agendas run the gamut from lavender to pink to red. The political activism of the clergy is one of the primary reasons that their congregations have been voting with their feet. The Presbyterian church, like Episcopalian church, used to be respectable. Anymore, they're both bad jokes and irrelevant to most Americans.

Posted by Random thoughts 2004-11-20 10:55:58 AM|| 2004-11-20 10:55:58 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Where I grew up, the true test of a Christian was to walk the walk, to be the same man on Saturday night that you were on Sunday morning

Can't do that without an open bar on Sundays. :o)

Posted by badanov 2004-11-20 11:14:11 AM|| [http://www.rkka.org] 2004-11-20 11:14:11 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 The sideline churches (used to be Mainline--since if you lived on Philadelphia's Mainline you went Presbyterian or Episcopalian, or Methodist but not Catholic or ((Shudder)) Baptist) are shrinking at a surprising rate.
One reason is that their hierarchies are no longer interested in religion for its own sake, but to make the church an instrument of social change--always to the left.
In addition, these folks get all hot and bothered by the revolutionary virility of terrorists and murderers. They have no backbone and no spine and wish they did, and those who don't give a damn make them crinkle in all those private places. And who gives a damn less than terrorists?
"Ooooh!"
They are anti-capitalist--see the recent meeting of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches--and anti-democratic--see their lack of interest in elections which might vote out, say, Castro.
The folks in the pews generally have no idea what their "leaders" are doing, although the shrinkage in membership is possibly due, in large part, to those who have figured it out and left.
The headquarters people lie. They cheat. They lie some more.
They maintain "advocacy" (lobbying) offices in Washington and members who pay attention write their congresscritters and tell them to pay no attention to the putative "advocates" who claim to speak on behalf of the church.
They get really good pay.
Many of the denominations in question are arranged so that a congregation which, over many years, builds a church, procures the grounds, keeps up the maintenance, doesn't own a thing. The denomination owns it.
Perhaps the leaders are planning on running off the members so that the remaining capital assets can be sold off and the headquarters folks split it up.
Hard to say it isn't a possibility.
Having said all that, it is true that the Presbyterian Church (USA) fired a couple of top staffers who promoted a meeting with Hizbullah during a Middle East fact-finding trip, wherein one moron, a retired seminary ethics professor (of course) praised the terrorists and said they were easier to talk to than those Jews.
Most of the members of the group were elected and may be diselected at the next General Assembly.
That's presuming the HQ doesn't grease some skids and figure out a way to get the topic buried.
Churches like this claim to oppose violence on both sides--for these folks moral equivalence is an improvement--but they don't mean it. No actions they take are aimed at inconveniencing terrorists.
The fun thing, though, is to watch them pretending anybody believes them. It's possible they think somebody does. Fools.

Posted by Richard Aubrey 2004-11-20 11:27:31 AM|| 2004-11-20 11:27:31 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 The sideline churches ... are shrinking at a surprising rate.

I know of one that's going to shrink by one more head in short order.

Posted by AzCat 2004-11-20 11:47:00 AM|| 2004-11-20 11:47:00 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 It also intends to identify multinational corporations âthat enable violence by either Palestinians or Israelis.â

And are they going to identify multinational/European corporations that enable Syria and Egypt to enable the violence by helping the arms smuggling and movement of militants/operatives/activists into Gaza?

Posted by Cynic 2004-11-20 12:04:13 PM|| 2004-11-20 12:04:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 One must wonder if these smarmy sanctimonious nitwits have ever paused to consider exactly how long any of them would last if they tried to set up one of their churches in the occupied terrortories.

Posted by Zenster 2004-11-20 1:09:07 PM|| 2004-11-20 1:09:07 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Cynic. No, they're not. It's already been suggested that UN, EU, and US money is funding terrorism, but the churches are not interested.
Churches in the occupied zone? You'll remember when the terrs occupied and desecrated the Church of The Nativity. Response from the sideline christian churches...? Zip.
Mosques, on the other hand, are a different story.

Posted by Richard Aubrey 2004-11-20 1:15:45 PM|| 2004-11-20 1:15:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Damnit RA!
You can't say any of this!
You're a bigot or a homophobe, or both.

What kinda church would have you?

/outaraged world council of nuttery

Posted by Shipman 2004-11-20 3:23:39 PM|| 2004-11-20 3:23:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Well, now, Ship. I'm an elder in the PCUSA. I'm about to end my second three-year term on our congregation's board.
I did spend a number of years on our presbytery's (next up governing body) Social Justice and Peacemaking Committee, who all had a hard time not calling me names.
And I guess some folks know of me at HQ.
Speaking of illegal occupations, can anybody find any reference to a sideline church suggesting Syria get out of Lebanon?

Dum de dum de dum dum......

Rented a tent
Rented a tent

Gettin' down with my funky bad self.
.........
Nope, black would be fine, thanks, with extra caffeine.

Dum de dum.

Gettin' down.....

Hey. Is this thing working?

Posted by Richard Aubrey 2004-11-20 3:56:19 PM|| 2004-11-20 3:56:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 crickets...Christian crickets...

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2004-11-20 3:59:15 PM|| 2004-11-20 3:59:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 ACLU action against churches making political action in 3...2...1...0... +1...+2...+3...... +485..... +38947......+93845763627...

Revoke their tax exemption and sic the IRS on them. Have then find out what terror really means.

Posted by jackal 2004-11-20 8:08:42 PM|| [http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2004-11-20 8:08:42 PM|| Front Page Top

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