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Ghost Ranch 2001 |
A report from Ghost Ranch
Crisis in Our Global Neighborhood
[8-16-01]
by Ross Kinsler
Anne
Barstow has provided a later report, with some more details of
plans developed during the seminar. [10-5-01]
Fifty-five people from across the U.S. gathered at
Ghost Ranch August 6-13 for an intensive seminar on the looming crisis
of economic globalization and militarism. The seminar was sponsored by
the Witherspoon Society, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, and
Presbyterians for Restoring Creation. The leaders were Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer
(writer-theologian), Alice Winters (Presbyterian missionary to
Colombia), and Rick Ufford-Chase (Director of Borderlinks in
Tucson/Nogales). Many of the participants have for years engaged in
justice and peace causes, and we came to the nearly unanimous conclusion
that there is what we have called a "Crisis in our Global
Neighborhood," and that this crisis calls for immediate, in-depth
response from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and other churches and
organizations.
One focus of this crisis and our response should be Colombia, where
violence and death are escalating through major U.S. funding and
military presence under the pretense of a "war on drugs."
Another is the U.S.-Mexico border, which is also being militarized under
the guise of the drug war. A third focus is the School of the Americas,
which has been renamed and is in the process of being decentralized.
Underlying these and many other places of conflict around the world is
the primary interest of corporate-led, market-centered, economic
globalization supported and promoted by U.S. foreign policy and military
prowess.
The "Crisis in our Global Neighborhood" calls for wide-spread
response from the Witherspoon Society, the Presbyterian Peace
Fellowship, Presbyterians for Restoring Creation and many agencies of
the church at all levels. This is an urgent need and an important
opportunity to educate ourselves in the face of misplaced and
misdirected policies and actions of our government that are allied with
selfish and harmful corporate interests in the U.S. and around the
world.
The Ghost Ranch seminar participants propose that our organizations
engage with corresponding national, regional, and local church partners
in an intensive effort to inform our constituencies and the wider public
about the current consequences and future dangers of these developments
and their underlying causes. Colombia and the U.S.-Mexico border call
for urgent response, and they provide significant windows into global
realities that people of conscience must understand.
"Crisis in Our Global Neighborhood" proposes
processes of information, education, biblical-theological reflection,
and action through immersion experiences in Colombia and along the
U.S.-Mexico border, newsletters and information packets, protest at the
School of the Americas, regional seminars, and contact with the media
and government offices.
Ross Kinsler
The author:
Ross Kinsler and his wife
Gloria were coworkers in mission for the Presbyterian church for over
twenty-five years as theological educators in Central America. They
recently retired from teaching at the Latin American Biblical University
in San José, Costa Rica and now live in Altadena, California.
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Visit
our lively
new website! |
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GA actions
ratified (or not) by the presbyteries
A number of the most important actions of the 219th
General Assembly have now been acted upon by the presbyteries,
confirming most of them as amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order.
We provided resources to help inform the
reflection and debate, along with updates on the voting.
Our three areas of primary interest have been:
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Amendment 10-A,
which removes the current ban on
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender persons being considered as
possible candidates for ordination as elder or ministers.
Approved! |
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Amendment 10-2,
which would add the Belhar Confession to our Book of
Confessions. Disapproved, because as an amendment
to the Book of Confessions it needed a 2/3 vote, and did not
receive that. |
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Amendment
10-1, which adopts the new Form of Government
that was approved by the Assembly. Approved. |
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
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John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
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Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
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