| August 11, 2004 Dear Members and Friends of Fourth Presbyterian Church, The recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), made up of 580 elected commissioners from our denomination’s 170 Presbyteries, took several actions that have raised many questions among our members and our Jewish friends and neighbors. The General Assembly, as Presbyterian General Assemblies and other denominational governing bodies have done, again criticized the policies and behavior of the government of Israel in relation to the Palestinian people. The Presbyterian position is based on our commitment to human rights and hasn ever questioned Israel’s right to exist in safety and security. The General Assembly was particularly critical of Israel’s construction of a security barrier. The Assembly took the further step of approving a recommendation to study the possibility of selected divestment of church investment funds from multinational corporations that do business with Israel. In a different but related matter, the Assembly voted not to discontinue funding of a new church development project of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, Avadot Yisrael, which seems to target Jews for conversion. In response to those three actions, there have been angry editorials in the Jewish and secular press, including the Wall Street Journal, a news item in Time magazine, a letter distributed by Jewish neighbors to Fourth Presbyterian Church worshipers on Sunday morning, and a statement delivered to me by our friends at the Chicago branch of the American Jewish Committee, an organization with which the Presbytery of Chicago and Fourth Presbyterian Church are in conversation and with which we plan further joint programming. In response to the statement from the American Jewish Committee, a copy of which is attached for your information, I am sending you my personal response, which, I hope, captures the spirit of Fourth Presbyterian Church. Faithfully, John M. Buchanan |