Presbyterian-Jewish Forum to Shape Understanding of Interfaith Relation

By Lillian Kwon, Christian Post Reporter Monday, October 30, 2006

The National Presbyterian-Jewish Dialogue is opening a public forum today reflecting on the past three years of interfaith dialogue.

The dialogue came out of a Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly vote in 2004 when it passed resolutions touching on relations between Jews and Christians. This included initiating the process of disinvestment intended to press Israel's government to change its occupation policies in the Palestinian territories. The public forum involves Presbyterian and Jewish leaders who will reflect on what they have learned together.

The General Assembly had approved to initiate the divestment process from multinational corporations that the denomination believed were unduly profiting form violence surrounding the Israeli government’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and from construction of the "security barrier" between Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The issue had sparked debate in the PCUSA and drew criticism from Jewish groups and Presbyterian opponents.

One op-ed article in the Los Angeles Times had called PCUSA's action a "grievous sin" as it contributed to anti-Jewish bigotry.

Reactions prompted the National Presbyterian-Jewish Dialogue which includes a series of three consultations and a concluding forum which is being held at Media Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania tonight. The dialogue, spearheaded by PCUSA's coordinator for interfaith relations – the Rev. Jay Rock – is a response "to review and strengthen its understanding of the Jewish-Christian relationship," according to the Presbyterian News Service.

In June, the 217th General Assembly reframed the divestment action for the 2.3 million-member denomination setting a church policy that "financial investments of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), as they pertain to Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank, be invested in only peaceful pursuits." It also affirmed that the "customary corporate engagement process of the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment of our denomination is the proper vehicle for achieving this goal."

"This statement reflects our historic commitment to the peoples of the Middle East in all their struggles toward peace," said the Rev. Gretchen Graf, moderator of the committee, according to the denomination's news service. "It also affirms the slow and careful process of corporate engagement led by our elected committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment, which recommends divestment only as a last resort."

The concluding forum will help shape revisions to a paper entitled "Toward a Theological Understanding of the Relationship Between Christians and Jews" approved by the 1987 General Assembly, reported the news service. The revision is tentatively scheduled for the 2008 assembly.