American churches back away from divestment

By Reuters CHICAGO - Some U.S. Protestant churches are turning their back on the idea of dumping investments in companies profiting from Israel's West Bank occupation, people involved in the issue said yesterday. Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, along with a debate over whether divestment is the right move in the first place, may have helped cool what looked like a growing trend just a few months ago. "My reading, as a central Jewish player in this, is that there never was a [general] move toward divestment," said David Elcott, director of inter-religious affairs for the American Jewish Committee. "Here is the reality: No church in the U.S. except the Presbyterians has voted for divestment," he said, and the only place where divestment looked like it was moving forward may have been in the media," he said.

U.S. Episcopal Church leaders recently rejected divestment in favor of corporate engagement, and another major denomination, the United Church of Christ, turned down divestment at its convention last summer. The 2.5 million-member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the largest body of that denomination, approved in 2004 a "phased, selective divestment" involving its $8 billion portfolio beginning in July 2006.

The Presbyterian church said divestment was only a last resort that may be considered if "progressive engagement fails." Barry Creech, church spokesman on the issue, said the matter is still on course and "we're not in a hurry" to get to the point of divestment before the church's membership meets again next summer.

The Rev. William Harter of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, a force behind Presbyterians Concerned for Jewish and Christian Relations, which opposes divestment, said, "As people look at this with clear heads and understand what's really involved, there's a growing awareness that this was a major mistake. It won't work. There's no way what's being proposed is going to have an impact on decisions that the Israelis or Palestinians make about peace and certainly not the U.S. government," he said.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the 2.3 million-member U.S. Episcopal Church recently chose a different path: to use the church's $3.6 billion portfolio as a tool "for selected companies to change behavior resulting in a more hopeful climate for peace." Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles said: "I think as the concerns of the Jewish world become known and as people began to see that these moves do not improve the lot of Palestinians, there is a move to go in a slightly different direction ... investment in positive things that will benefit Jews and Palestinians in general."

For further information about PCJCR please email Charles Henderson.