BIRMINGHAM — Ann Philbrick, moderator of the General Assembly committee on Social Justice Issues, invited the commissioners to take a late-night trip around the world on the assembly’s final evening– paying attention to concerns ranging from immigration to torture to globalization.
It was late, after midnight by the end, and the commissioners were weary — but the matters before them were of the kind that matter deeply, night or day.
Torture
In response to an overture from San Francisco presbytery, the assembly has decided to send petitions asking Congress to create an investigative body, with powers similar to the September 11 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 at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib prison or elsewhere, or in transporting persons into detention with known records of brutality and torture.”
And it asks that a special counsel be appointed to investigate and prosecute such cases.
Some commissioners questioned whether the overture might be questioning the veracity of Americans who serve in the military.
But Richard Safford, a minister from Mission presbytery who served on the committee, said a military chaplain spoke to the committee and said such an investigation could “free the military from a cloud that is hanging over it.”
And Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 2004 General Assembly, said he favors “holding our country accountable to the highest possible standards” regarding torture — and he thinks many Presbyterians agree with that.
The assembly voted to pass the overture 318 to 157.
It also passed, by a margin of 402-55, a “Resolution on Human Rights in a Time of Terrorism and Torture,” recommended by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy.
And it affirmed that the PC(USA) opposes torture and all forms of “cruel, inhuman, or degrading” interrogation by representatives of the U.S. government and added language opposing such actions by foreign governments or combatants as well.
In discussing this, a commissioner asked the assembly to pray for two American soldiers, captured this week in Iraq and beheaded, and their families.
Immigration
Responding to several overtures regarding immigration, the assembly voted to challenge congregations and presbyteries to “embrace a comprehensive approach to advocacy and welcome” for immigrants.
That would include, among other things, pushing for “an opportunity for hard-working immigrants who are already contributing to this country to come out of the shadows, regularize their status upon satisfaction of reasonable criteria, over time, pursue an option to become lawful permanent residents and eventually United States citizens.”
The assembly also is asking for “border protection policies that are consistent with humanitarian values.”
Among other items, the assembly:
- Challenged congregations to work to end homelessness through advocacy and “compassionate responses to immediate human needs.”
- Passed a commissioners’ resolution declaring suicide bombing a crime against humanity.
- Pledged support for an ongoing partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Campaign for Fair Food. The Coalition has pushed for higher wages for migrant workers who pick tomatoes — and succeeded through a boycott in convincing Yum! Corp., the parent company of Taco Bell, to increase the amount it pays suppliers for the tomatoes it uses, and to pass that increase on to the workers. The Coalition now is working to convince other fast-food companies — particularly McDonald’s — to do the same.
