The divestment resolution offered a small step toward supporting Palestinian freedom from Israel's occupation. The resolution was narrowly focused to avoid entering a complex political issue with a simplistic solution.
As submitted, the resolution says:
"The 2012 General Conference calls on The United Methodist Church to end its financial involvement in Israel's occupation by divesting from companies that sustain the occupation. The 2012 General Conference:
"*calls for all United Methodist general boards and agencies to divest promptly from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and Hewlett Packard until they end their involvement in the Israeli occupation. These companies have been engaged repeatedly by the United Methodist general agencies, boards and annual conferences on this issue."
Unlike Candidate Romney, there was no off-handed display of ignorance. Instead, the resolution was a forthright request that United Methodist pension funds be withdrawn from three US companies which had refused to cease participating in the occupation.
The response from the financial committee -- I kid you not, gentle readers -- was to gut the original and deliver to the General Conference a resolution that sounds familiar from previous Protestant "go slow" resolutions:
"The 2012 General Conference calls on the General Board of Pensions and Health Benefits to explore serious peacemaking strategies in Israel and Palestine, including positive economic and financial investment in Palestine."
Delegates who shaped the original divestment resolution promptly brought back their original resolution as a minority report. The conflicting resolutions, the Financial Committee solution -- invest in Palestine, not divest from Israel's occupation -- and the original divest resolution, will do battle later this week.
President Jimmy Carter, by the way, has expressed his support for the original divestment approach. He is a Southern Baptist, which means he is not in attendance at the United Methodist General Conference. But his spirit remains with the divestment delegates.
Back on the political campaign trail, Mitt Romney continues with his personal attacks on President Obama, while the President uses Air Force One and his bully White House pulpit to strike back.
We can look forward to a long and hot summer of shallow charges and counter charges designed to play on the emotions of competing factions.
And, oh yes, don't forget to prepare for the next national religious gathering where another divestment resolution (citing the same three US companies) will be considered by the Presbyterian Church in the US.
The Episcopal Church will meet later this summer in its national gathering. Thus far, there is no sign that a resolution on divestments will trouble the Episcopal Church's sedate waters.
The photograph above of President Obama arriving in Afghanistan, is from the AOL home page.
*--The term "aid and abet," used in the opening paragraph above, is defined by West's Encyclopedia of American Law, as...
"To assist another in the commission of a crime by words or conduct. The person who aids and abets participates in the commission of a crime by performing some Overt Act or by giving advice or encouragement. He or she must share the criminal intent of the person who actually commits the crime, but it is not necessary for the aider and abettor to be physically present at the scene of the crime. An aider and abettor is a party to a crime and may be criminally liable as a principal, an Accessory before the fact, or an accessory after the fact."
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