Methodist Church Targets Israel

http://www.ifcj.org/site/News2?abbr=rabbi_&page=NewsArticle&id=18323&news_iv_ctrl=1481

I've spoken before about anti-Israel sentiment in "mainline" Protestant denominations like the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), the United Church of Christ (UCC), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and others. In recent years these groups have considered, and in some cases approved, measures that seek to punish Israel economically through divestment and condemn Israel's attempts to defend itself through construction of a security fence.

All of these measures follow basically the same strategy. Responsibility for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is laid at Israel's feet, while Palestinians are portrayed as innocent victims. The vicious campaign of Palestinian and Islamist terrorism against Israel, when it is mentioned at all, is justified as a legitimate response to Israeli "oppression" and "occupation." Much is said about Palestinian suffering, while little if anything is said about the thousands of Israelis who have lost their lives or loved ones to terrorism.

Recently the anti-Israel movement in the mainline churches, which perhaps reached its peak a few years ago, seemed to be on the wane. In 2007 the UCC, which has adopted some of the harshest anti-Israel measures, even took a positive step by approving a resolution that condemned the incitement of hatred against Israel ingrained in Palestinian culture and recognized the ongoing terror campaign against the Jewish state. If it wasn't the resounding statement of support for Israel and disavowal of previous anti-Israel stances that some wanted, it was at least an attempt to point things in a different direction - a small victory in the battle for fair treatment for Israel.

But apparently the anti-Israel camp in the mainline churches hasn't given up. In recent months, we've learned that the 8 million-member United Methodist Church (UMC) will be considering divestment resolutions and other anti-Israel measures at its General Conference that takes place in Texas April 23-May 2.

The resolutions are just part of an overall campaign by some in UMC leadership to spread misinformation and outright lies about Israel. A recent mission study published by the Methodist General Board of Global Ministries is vehemently anti-Israel, characterizing the founding of the Jewish state as Israel's "original sin," and saying that maltreatment of Palestinians has made Israelis "become monsters." A children's book published in 2006 by the United Methodist Church and intended for use in Sunday schools presents a view of the Middle East conflict that is deeply biased against Israel and will undoubtedly turn young minds against the Jewish state.

There is every reason to believe that the opinions expressed by Methodist church leadership are not shared by the average church member. A survey taken at the height of the PCUSA's divestment movement confirmed that 61 percent of Presbyterians did not even know about their denomination's decision to divest. One observer who has followed the divestment issue for years, Dexter Van Zile, Christian Media Analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, predicts a serious backlash against Methodist leadership from men and women in the pews. "Once the lay members of the United Methodist Church detect the anti-Jewish polemic in the narrative put forth by the activists and leaders of their denomination about the Arab-Israeli conflict, they will be outraged," he says.

As the time for the Methodist conference grows closer we will be keeping you informed about the situation in the United Methodist Church and telling you how you can fight these blatant examples of anti-Israel prejudice. In the meantime, I encourage you to learn more background on this important issue by reading the "white paper" on the mainline church divestment issue I prepared several years ago. And please take a moment to fill out a one-minute survey that will help us make our pro-Israel advocacy efforts more effective.

Thank you, my friends, for your bold willingness to take a stand for Israel - and you continued prayers for the peace of Jerusalem.

With prayers for shalom, peace,

Yechiel Signature Small Blue
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
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"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.

Clinton's Church

Personal Data:

Birth - October 26, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois

Education - BA from Wellesley College, JD from Yale University Law School, where she was on the Board of Editors for the Yale Law Review

Family - Married to William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President of the US; one adult child, Chelsea, to whom they are both devoted.
Faith - Christian, Methodist

http://usliberals.about.com/od/liberalpersonalprofiles/p/HillaryClinton.htm
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"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." -General George S. Patton

Psalm 82-8: Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You inherit all the nations.