wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] ACSWP reviews draft policy documents

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #9004 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05591
Nov. 1, 2005

ACSWP reviews draft policy documents

Papers on Social Security, energy, mental illness readied for '06 GA

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) 
got updates on several proposed policy documents, including four to be
presented to next year's General Assembly, during a recent meeting here.

	ACSWP, which develops social witness polices for the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.), heard presentations on three papers, on energy, economic
security for older Americans and lending laws.

	The documents and recommendations are subject to ACSWP review and
revision before they go to next summer's 217th General Assembly in
Birmingham, AL.

	"All of those papers are still in draft form," said Gwen Crawley,
interim coordinator of ACSWP. "There is still some work that the committee is
doing on all of them before they go to GA." 

	During the Oct. 20-22 meeting, the committee discussed a proposed
policy statement on ministry to people with disabilities and a referral
concerning a study paper on the value of human life.  
 
	ACSWP also welcomed its new coordinator, the Rev. Christian "Chris"
Iosso, and honored Crawley for her work as the committee's temporary leader.

Energy

	Pamela P. McVety, a retired environmental administrator from the
Presbytery of Florida, conducted the briefing on a 39-page energy document
titled "A Christian Witness on Energy." She helped develop the paper as
moderator of ACSWP's Resolution Team on Energy.

	Also taking part in the presentation was another team member, Jan
Sharpless, a Presbyterian elder, past member of ACSWP and former commissioner
of the California Energy Commission, who participated by telephone.

	The document is the first to address the PC(USA)'s energy policy
since 1981, when a paper titled "The Power to Speak Truth to Power" was
approved jointly by the former Presbyterian Church in the United States and
United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. That policy
statement was prompted by energy shortages in the 1970s and ecumenical
discussions of sustainability and energy sufficiency. 

	The 2002 Assembly ordered an update, calling on the church to address
energy issues in light of current national and international concerns about
production, consumption, cost, patterns of distribution and energy security.

	"It's more of a lifestyle issue, and not as much a social policy,"
said the Rev. Gary Cook, the PC(USA)'s associate director for Global Service
and Witness.

	The draft says Americans are consuming energy at "grossly
unsustainable levels"; distribution is "dramatically inequitable"; and
current policies cause environmental damage.

	According to the document, more than half of Presbyterians surveyed
in August 2004 had not taken even the "simplest steps to decrease their
energy usage," and the vast majority of congregations hadn't implemented
conservation programs. 

	The paper says there is a "strong scientific consensus" that current
energy practices are changing the global climate, and global warming has
caused widespread harm that disproportionately affects the poor.

	It blames the warming trend on the burning of fossil fuels that
release excess greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, noting that the United
States is the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases. 

	Pointing out that Christians are called to care for God's creation,
the paper calls on Presbyterians to conserve energy and try to reduce their
contributions to emissions of harmful pollutants.

	"We want all members, from the pew to the pulpit, to use less
energy," said McVety, an elder who is also a stewardship of creation enabler
for Florida Presbytery. "The severity of this problem requires a bold
response."

	The draft document calls on Presbyterian families, congregations and
governing bodies to become "carbon neutral" by reducing the use of energy,
especially fossil fuels.

	To help guide this process, the draft resolution recommends the
appointment of a project team to devise a churchwide plan to improve energy
efficiency.

Social insurance

	The 17-page draft ACSWP document on policies affecting seniors and
older adults was written in response to an overture from last year's Assembly
reaffirming the importance of the nation's social insurance systems,
specifically Social Security and Medicare. 

	The committee and the PC(USA)'s Office of Health Ministries were
asked to review and update a 22-year-old church position paper titled
"Economic Security for Older Persons" in light of changes relating to
mandatory retirement and pension policies.

	Lou Glasse, an elder at First Presbyterian Church in Poughkeepsie,
NY, and a former director of the New York State Office for the Aging, served
as a consultant to the writing team and made the presentation.

	Last year's Assembly, noting the imminent retirement of millions of
"baby boomers," warned that "radical ideas" were being promoted that would
severely damage Social Security, arguably the most successful government
benefit program in U.S. history. 

	Social Security needs adjustments to accommodate the boomers, the
largest generation in American history, the draft says, noting that the ranks
of Americans older than 65 will swell to 75 million, from the current 35
million, by the year 2030. 

	The proposed diversion of Social Security taxes to personal
investment accounts would weaken the system, the paper contends.

	Among its key recommendations: reaffirming the importance of Social
Security and Medicare and assuring a guaranteed income and health care for
American retirees.

Usury

	The presentation of a draft document on state and federal lending
laws advocates stricter interest limits; enforcement of laws protecting
borrowers from excessive credit costs; and efforts to improve the financial
knowledge of PC(USA) members and others.

	It proposes ethical criteria for evaluating usury laws and other
lending-related legislation concerning payday loans, sub-prime loans,
predatory lending practices and cash-back tax preparation arrangements.

	The presentation was made by D. Cameron Murchison Jr., the dean of
faculty and executive vice president of Columbia Theological Seminary in
Decatur, GA. He served as a consultant to the advisory committee that drafted
the proposed resolution.

Disabilities
 
	ACSWP also discussed a proposed policy on the PC(USA)'s treatment of
people with disabilities, "Living Into the Body of Christ: Toward Full
Inclusion of People with Disabilities."

	The paper challenges the church to prophetic witness on issues
relating to disabled people, recognizing that some disability concerns are
matters of social justice; and urges advocacy at all levels of church and
society on behalf of people with disabilities.

	"It's not only talking about physical access, but it's also talking
about access in all areas of church work and responsibility," Crawley said.

	The report and recommendations are being prepared in response to a
referral from the 211th General Assembly in 1999.

	The draft of the disabilities paper was presented to ACSWP during its
meeting in July. The update allowed members to incorporate suggestions made
during a synod consultation in Louisville last month.
  
Social creed
       
	Committee members discussed a GA referral directing ACSWP and the
Office of the General Assembly to initiate ecumenical conversations to
prepare for the centennial of the 1908 Social Creed of the Federal Council of
Churches, now called the National Council of Churches (NCC).

       The 1908 "social creed" is a statement of principles created by a
number of Protestant denominations that helped end child labor and
incorporate Christian values in workplaces. Over the years, churches acting
on its 14 principles have worked for improved wages, regulation of
sweatshops, Sabbath rest, abatement of poverty, and old-age pensions.

       The GA asked ACSWP to survey key Christian principles to guide
21st-century Presbyterians and others in addressing major social-justice
concerns, such as lack of health care coverage, outsourcing of jobs to
countries without human rights or environmental safeguards, and growing
economic inequities.
The committee is also proposing ways to commemorate the original social creed
and preparing to recommend to the 2008 Assembly a social creed for the
current century.

Serious mental illness
 
	The committee received an update from its Task Force on Comprehensive
Serious Mental Illness, which is developing a policy for church ministry to
people with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar
disorder.

	The 12-member task force held its first meeting last spring. Its
report is to be presented to the 2008 Assembly.

	The 211th General Assembly (1999) directed ACSWP to develop a
serious-mental-illness policy. In November 2003, an ACSWP-approved prospectus
guiding the work of the task force was sent to every PC(USA) presbytery and
synod, and to the libraries of PC(USA)-related seminaries.

       The prospectus says people with serious mental illnesses are often
oppressed in American society - denied jobs, housing and access to quality
treatment, while bearing the burden of a "stigmatized illness." As church
members they often are denied access to decision-making bodies and unable to
find pastors and caregivers qualified to minister to them.

	One subject the new policy is to address is full participation by
mentally ill people in the life of the church and in society.  

The value of human life 

	The committee discussed a referral from the 212th General Assembly
(2000) calling for an update of a paper on "The Nature and Value of Human
Life" adopted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the
United States in 1981. It says human life is a value of the first order and
human beings are God's representatives in the care of creation.

Thanks and farewell
 
	The committee recognized Crawley for her nine months of service as
interim coordinator, giving her a certificate of appreciation in recognition
of her "individual commitment and outstanding contribution to the
Presbyterian Church."

	Crawley, a longtime official in the PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries
Division, will finish her work with ACSWP on Nov. 4. 

	She thanked committee members for giving her another opportunity to
serve the PC(USA).

	"It has been a wonderful experience for me," she said. "I have
enjoyed all of you and being back in the building with a lot of my old
friends."

	The Rev. Nile Harper, the ACSWP chair, conveyed the committee's
gratitude for her "wonderful positive spirit" and "marvelous sense of humor."

	Iosso, a former pastor of Scarborough Presbyterian Church in New
York, became the permanent ACSWP coordinator on Oct. 17.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, please send an email to
pcusanews-subscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org or
pcusanews-unsubscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org

To contact the owner of the list, please send an email to
pcusanews-request@halak.pcusa.org