Interfaith Links

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is initiating new national conversations, begun in October 2008, with the Muslim community that has followed Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, the influential Muslim leader who died on September 9. The Muslim Journal calls it the "largest constituent of Muslims in America." There have been sporadic relationships with this community over the past 17 years. Presbyterians were a key component in a locally-based consultation between African-American Christians and Muslims of the San Francisco Bay Area in 1992, a gathering that had national participation and significance. Most recently, associate stated clerk Robina Winbush and interfaith relations coordinator Jay Rock visited the group's latest convention in Detroit, just days before the death of W.D. Mohammed. See the goals of the new conversations. See the PC(USA) stated clerk's statement after the death of W. D. Mohammed, a long-time supporter of interfaith relations. See also the letter of condolence from the National Muslim-Christian Initiative of which the PC(USA) is a part.

MORE on ecumenical initiatives with people of other faiths in the U.S. in which the PC(USA) participates

Presbyterians at the third annual Presbyterian Global Fellowship conference in August 2008 heard John Azumah of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana -- a scholar in Christian-Muslim relations born into a Muslim family -- tell them, “It is not our duty to judge, but to witness, to tell truthfully what we have seen. If only we can just mind our own business, then the Holy Spirit will do the rest of it.” He said witness involves knowing Muslims as individuals, engaging with them in love and respect, sharing personal testimonies of faith, then "waiting on the Lord" -- the last of these being very hard for North Americans, he observed.

Presbyterians and Jews are in flux

If a reading of press releases were to be the measure for the quality of relationships between Presbyterian Christians and Jews, they would readily be characterized as constantly shifting.

Following the PC(USA)'s 218th General Assembly (2008), nine Jewish organizations welcomed the Assembly's action -- the adoption of an overture from National Capital Presbytery, 11-06, that asks Presbyterians to be “nonpartisan advocates for peace who do not “over-identify with . . . Israelis or Palestinians" but "identify with the need for peacemaking voices." The action says, "We will avoid taking broad stands that simplify a very complex situation into a caricature of reality where one side clearly is at fault and the other side is clearly the victim."

Nonetheless, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) was not happy with the General Assembly's endorsement of the Amman Call of the World Council of Churches (in 11-01, which directs that the Call be "considered in any study processes of the church").

Not long before the General Assembly, New York's Jewish Week predicted there would be a "firestorm of dissent" at the Assembly over the revision of a document on the PC(USA) interfaith office's web pages -- a prediction not reflected in any official action. Vigilance Against Anti-Jewish Bias in the Pursuit of Israeli-Jewish Peace had been posted not long before General Assembly as an expanded version of an earlier May statement . The original document, which had admitted the existence of anti-Jewish attitudes among Presbyterians, was praised by the AJC's Gary Greenbaum when he said, “No other Mainline Protestant denomination has yet taken such a critical look at its own teachings and how Christian teaching can be horribly misused to demonize Israel.” But on June 13 the AJC and a dozen other Jewish organizations wrote that the

revision was "infused with the very bias that the original statement condemned."

The process leading to the May statement began almost four years ago with a local Chicago ad hoc dialogue group. The second version addressed two questions that had been raised by the first offering: How does concern for anti-Jewish bias affect our relationships with Muslims? And what about the search by Palestinian Christians for a theological understanding of themselves and their freedom in the face of current events?

Just before the convening of the 218th General Assembly, then-stated clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and General Assembly Council executive director Linda Valentine wrote to the heads of three congregational Jewish organizations inviting further dialogue on the issues.

In recent years, Presbyterian and Jewish leaders have encountered a series of mutual hopes and disappointments. In a December 2006 joint statement, Kirkpatrick and key Jewish leaders agreed to enter a new period of engagement with one another. Greenebaum said they would set a serious theological agenda. "If we just deal with politics, we’ll never get too far.” Indeed, Presbyterian-Jewish dialogue consultations looked at three key issues needing attention -- land, covenant, and evangelism. Nevertheless, the Forward of January 30, 2008 declared that Jewish relations with the PC(USA) were strained following "remarks by church officials criticizing Israel because of the Gaza closure." A dozen Jewish leaders complained to Kirkpatrick that “the anti-Israel tone of your statement calls into serious question whether the season of mutual understanding we welcomed in July 2006 has yet arrived.” Again, in the June 13, 2008 joint Jewish statement are the words, "The season for which we continue to hope has indeed not yet arrived." The Jewish daily Forward quoted Mark Pelavin of the Reform movement's interreligious office as saying, “We’re frustrated and angry, but that doesn’t mean we will walk away.”

Do you want to follow the work of Presbyterian mission around the world in interfaith efforts? Here are some sample people and institutions:
* Rebecca Young at the Jakarta Theological Seminary in Indonesia, working with students are want to learn about other religions in order to be equipped to dialogue with their adherents

* Bernie Risakotta-Adeney, serving as director of the innovative Indonesian Consortium on Religious Studies, and Farsijana Risakotta-Adeney, working with the Indonesian Women's Coalition, a primarily Muslim group

* Several institutions in South India to which Presbyterians in mission relate -- including the Henry Martyn Institute in Hyderabad and United Theological College in Bangalore -- described by an American doctoral student in interfaith relations, Douglas Norell

The World Mission '07 Celebration conference in Louisville had a plenary panel discussion on "Faithful Living Among Muslims" that included input from two participants from partner churches outside the U.S. It is now available for listening online.

Interfaith Movement Promoting Action Together (IMPACT), a grassoorts interfaith organization in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia, is the recipient of a $5,000 start-up grant from the community development portion of One Great Hour of Sharing. IMPACT was established to "empower local people of faith to do collaborative research on community problems and then to call on local decision-makers to implement recommended solutions." It has 28 congregations -- small and large, white and black, Protestant, Catholic, Unitarian, Jewish, and Muslim. Another Presbyterian grant went to Interfaith Action of Rochester, New York, which brings congregations and business alliances into a single organization seeking the common good.

"It's essential that we get the next generation. That we identify them, nurture them, and prepare them," Katie Cannon (pictured) told participants at a conference at Union Theological Seminary/PSCE in Virginia, where she teaches. Looking at pedagogies for African-American Presbyterians, she said that we now realize we no longer live in a Christian nation. "We have to know the world religions. . . . not to proselytize them, but to respect them, to be in conversation."

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Ecumenical & Interfaith Network - PCUSA

Ecumenical & Interfaith
Network - PCUSA