Our readers have spoken – Those in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who favor divestment from Israel are NOT the majority, and they want us to know it.
Last week, United with Israel ran a story on this summer’s General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the fact that they have a history of anti-Israel actions, including divestment from companies who do business in Judea and Samaria as well as ties to the Hezbollah terror organization.
We reported that during the General Assembly, a resolution was proposed, although ultimately rejected, which tried to get the word “Israel” removed from the hymnal. The fact that it was rejected says something important, but the fact that it was even a proposed resolution, we believe, says something equally important and is cause for concern.
Since we ran that report, we have received literally dozens of emails begging us to recognize that PCUSA does not represent all Presbyterians. Indeed, the vast majority of Presbyterians are tremendous supporters of Israel.
We would be doing a grave disservice to those who have staunchly supported Israel not to mention them.
There are known to be at least 80 different Presbyterian Church denominations worldwide, nearly half of which can be found in the United States.
While the Presbyterian Church (USA), or PCUSA, is the largest of the Presbyterian denominations, with approximately 1.76 million members, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest denomination with approximately 367,000 members. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) with approximately 150,000 members comes in third with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which has approximately 75,000 members being the fourth largest Presbyterian Church in the United States.
While the PCUSA is by no means the only Presbyterian denomination, with an estimated 2.5 million Presbyterians in the United States, the PCUSA does make up a little over 70.4% of all Presbyterians in the United States. Therefore, the decisions they make about Israel are significant.
That being said, our readers have spoken – those in the PCUSA who favor divestment from Israel and a Palestinian state are not the majority, and Presbyterians who support Israel want us to know that they are here.
Our Readers Speak:
Here are a few quotes from our readers:
“Please remember that there are different Presbyterian Churches. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) is not connected with the PCUSA and doesn’t share their views.”
“It is like saying Westboro Baptist represents ALL Baptist Churches…I am a Presbyterian and we stand WITH Israel.”
“I belong to the Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland and I support Israel 110%.”
“This is something unique to America, we don’t hear about it in Canada”
“I am a Presbyterian from Malawi (Africa). I am shocked to read this post. I and the church I belong to know the true position of Israel and our faith….It is shocking that other denominations calling themselves Presbyterian would say Israel should be wiped off the map.”
“Those who said that did so on behalf of their congregation and not me.”
To all our readers, Presbyterian or otherwise, who support Israel, we want to say thank you! Thank you for your support and thank you for speaking out!
Author: Penina Taylor, United with Israel
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