10/21/2004: "Presbyterians attempt damage control"

Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk (roughly speaking, CEO) of the Presbyterian Church USA, can certainly spot trouble when he sees it. So when members of his denomination's Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) went to Lebanon to meet with and praise the work of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, he was quick to disavow any connection with them:

A group of Presbyterians currently visiting the Middle East has received media attention by international press, as well as reporters in the region about their visit with Hezbollah leaders in South Lebanon. The Presbyterian group consists of members of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) and staff support for the committee. ACSWP is an advisory committee that develops social witness policy for the PC(USA), which it in turn recommends to the General Assembly for action.

So far, the group�s itinerary has included stops in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. At the request of church partners, the group visited the Khiam Detention Center in South Lebanon, a former Israeli prison now controlled by Hezbollah, a group that has been associated with terror attacks.

Nice try on the damage control there. Hezbollah has not been "associated" with terror, they have committed terror attacks countless times over the last twenty years. They are responsible for the deaths of who knows how many innocents, and are officially designated a terrorist organization by the State Department. It's not like this is any secret�it's been in all the newspapers.

And who are the "church partners" who wanted the committee to visit such charming folks? And why didn't they just turn down the request, saying "we don't consort with terrorists?" Is Kirkpatrick saying he didn't know what their itinerary was? Was he going to say anything about it if news of it hadn't wound up on the AP wire?

The visit to Hezbollah and the comments on that occasion by members of this Presbyterian group do not reflect the official position of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on peace in the Middle East. The reports of this visit should not be interpreted in any way as lessening our deep commitment to continued Jewish-Christian dialogue, Muslim-Christian dialogue, or Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue.

The 216th General Assembly (2004) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) called "terrorism�whether state, group, or individual�immoral because it wrongfully and deliberately attacks innocent civilians," and is "a dead-end alternative to a negotiated settlement of the conflict."

We pray regularly for all those in the Middle East who live with the constant threat of violence. The Presbyterian Church (USA) continues to work for a just peace for all peoples, including Israelis and Palestinians.

It's amazing. He wants us all to know that the crackpots on display in Lebanon have nothing to do with "official" Presbyterian positions. Yet he can't bring himself to address what they had to say with any specificity. Ronald Stone is a recently retired professor of social ethics at Pittsburgh Seminary�doesn't his praise of one of the world's most notorious terrorist organizations, and his put-down of Jewish leaders, merit more than a "he doesn't speak for us"?