Religion

cbayer

(146,218 posts) Sun Jun 29, 2014, 09:05 AM Jun 2014

'Zionism Unsettled' Guide Is Removed From Presbyterian Church (USA) Website

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/28/zionism-unsettled-presbyterian-removed_n_5540039.html

Jaweed Kaleem
Posted: 06/28/2014 3:08 pm EDT Updated: 06/28/2014 3:59 pm EDT

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has removed a controversial publication from its website that was targeted by prominent Jewish organizations and church members as being an attack against Israel.

The 76-page booklet, "Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide," was released in January by the Israel/Palestine Mission Network, an independent Presbyterian group. Since then, it had increasingly become a focal point of criticism against the church in heated debates leading to a vote last week to divest from select companies whose products are used in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The guide, which was created as a resource for churches discussing issues in the Middle East, calls Zionism a "false theology" and was never officially endorsed by the church. Meeting in Detroit last week, the church's biennial General Assembly declared that it "does not represent the views of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)." But groups including the Anti-Defamation League, Union for Reform Judaism and American Jewish Committee had strongly criticized the document, particularly because the church was selling it despite distancing itself from its positions.

Anti-divestment Jewish organizations and Presbyterian groups had pointed to the guide's sale as evidence that the church had taken anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish positions.

more at link

9 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

'Zionism Unsettled' Guide Is Removed From Presbyterian Church (USA) Website (Original Post) cbayer Jun 2014 OP

cult behavior? "We are 'good', everything else outside is bad." Sunlei Jun 2014 #1

Presbyterians? Your description doesn't really fit them. cbayer Jun 2014 #2

looks like Corporation or a big-business behavior to me. Sunlei Jun 2014 #3

I don't think this is about competition. cbayer Jun 2014 #4

thats good, hope their church didn't pay for those materials,asked for their'good name' Sunlei Jun 2014 #5

It appears that it was an independent group that paid for the materials. cbayer Jun 2014 #6

what I mean is just removing that material from the Presbyterian Church website is not enough. Sunlei Jun 2014 #7

Ok, I guess. Seems like they responded appropriately once they cbayer Jun 2014 #8

Are you saing that the Presbyterians or the Israelis are cultists? kickysnana Jun 2014 #9

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)

1. cult behavior? "We are 'good', everything else outside is bad."

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 09:33 AM

Jun 2014

The rise of tax-free, Corporation Church Cults in America

cbayer

(146,218 posts)

2. Presbyterians? Your description doesn't really fit them.

Reply to Sunlei (Reply #1)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 09:38 AM

Jun 2014

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)

3. looks like Corporation or a big-business behavior to me.

Reply to cbayer (Reply #2)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 09:45 AM

Jun 2014

Religion shouldn't be in competition with other Religions like they are some brand of clothing or TV stations looking for viewers.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)

4. I don't think this is about competition.

Reply to Sunlei (Reply #3)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 09:52 AM

Jun 2014

It's more about politics and some underlying anti-semitism. At any rate, the people putting out this pamphlet are not representative of the Presbyterian church and their material has been removed.

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)

5. thats good, hope their church didn't pay for those materials,asked for their'good name'

Reply to cbayer (Reply #4)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 10:18 AM

Jun 2014

removed, and retraction materials sent out. And didn't use the church name to pay no sales tax on those materials.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)

6. It appears that it was an independent group that paid for the materials.

Reply to Sunlei (Reply #5)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 10:24 AM

Jun 2014

I'm not sure what you mean by having their "good name" removed and "retraction materials" sent out.

And one doesn't generally pay sales tax on things you produce yourself.

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)

7. what I mean is just removing that material from the Presbyterian Church website is not enough.

Reply to cbayer (Reply #6)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 10:33 AM

Jun 2014

action.

The church leadership/management should not have even allowed that kind of material to be placed on the churches official website in the first place.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)

8. Ok, I guess. Seems like they responded appropriately once they

Reply to Sunlei (Reply #7)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 10:50 AM

Jun 2014

started getting some negative feedback.

The site allows for a pretty extensive range of materials and perhaps they wish to use censorship rarely and thoughtfully.

kickysnana

(3,908 posts)

9. Are you saing that the Presbyterians or the Israelis are cultists?

Reply to Sunlei (Reply #1)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 10:51 AM

Jun 2014

Come to think of it corporations are pure cults, at least in the world today. They have made it their business to tap into people's faith pathways to sell their products.

The Pope, Israel, Presbyterian Church, Jewish faith all have high powered PR firms working their magic and what they say often has nothing to do with reality.

So which propaganda should we be listening to?

A knowledgeable, unbiased, discussion of what is happening in Palestine is very much every ones business just like what actually happened to the Jews in WWII and after was everyone's business.

Reply to this discussion