GA06048

Going global with justice

Social Justice Issues committee makes recommendations on globalization

by Corey Schlosser-Hall

BIRMINGHAM, June 17 — From a major study paper on globalization to the practices of a local pork-processing plant to the ways people get from there to here (immigration), the Social Justice Issues committee has been all around the world and back. And they are engaging it from every angle.

The Smithfield overture  elicited the strongest engagement and the slimmest vote margin by commissioners, yet Friday's actions also included recommending a major study paper called "Just Globalization: Justice, Ownership, and Accountability."

The thrust of the report by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) is to educate Presbyterians on the sweeping influence and implications of globalization on a number of levels: individual discipleship, implications for congregational and presbytery mission, international governance, trade practices and issues for development assistance.

The complexity of the report and what Leslie Day Ebert from Los Ranchos Presbytery called "one point of view" prompted commissioners to make a change. They included an item instructing ACSWP to prepare a study guide making the material more accessible, with responses from multiple perspectives.

Advocates for three separate overtures on immigration worked together to help craft one that satisfied all three advocates and the committee. An amended Item 09-15 will be recommended to the Assembly with the suggestion that overtures 9-12 and 09-18 be answered by this one.

The anti-torture overture from the Presbytery of San Francisco, known to many as the "no2torture" campaign, was recommended handily with a 57-4-1 vote. The overture calls for the PC(USA) to request that the U.S. Congress establish a commission similar to the Sept. 11th commission to investigate whether "any official or officer of the United States government bears direct or command responsibility for having ordered or participated in violations of law in the mistreatment of persons detained by the government of the United States." It also requests that the commission publish its findings widely.

On Friday, the committee unanimously approved an item calling for development of a social creed updated for the 21st century in celebration of the 100th year of a social creed adopted in 1908. A social creed is a statement to orient the church's witness in the world, like a theological creed orients the church's witness to the Triune God and the church.

While advocating for the resolution, the Rev. Daniel Davis, pastor from Northern Kansas Presbytery, remarked, "This has been the most compelling piece of business in the Social Justice Issues committee. I would hope we could pass this and it would be a document we could celebrate 100 years of." It was passed unanimously.

Another overwhelming vote came for an overture from New York City encouraging congregations to work toward ending homelessness. The overture affirms congregations engaged in ministries to people who are homeless, and challenges each Presbyterian congregation to embrace a comprehensive approach to ending homelessness.