With the Church of Scotland 2013 General Assembly beginning on Saturday I hope to complete a few more posts about the Assembly and its business later this week. For the moment, the big news headline was a meeting last week between representatives of the Church of Scotland and various Jewish groups. From this there was a softening of the stand and a rewrite of the controversial report. Some of the headlines:
The Inheritance of Abraham? A report on the ‘promised land’ – Press release from the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland Agrees to Amend Controversial Report on Israel – from The Altemeiner
Kirk and Jewish leaders hold talks in bid to mend relations – from The Herald
It also caught my attention that the news had spread beyond Scotland and the UK to some American news sources:
Church of Scotland Report Angers Jewish Community – picked up by ABC News from an AP report
Church of Scotland report angers Jewish community – picked up by the Miami Herald from the same AP story
The Church of Scotland’s Less Than Awesome Report on Israel – from The Daily Beast
And there are still some critics of Israel, like The Very Reverend Gilleasbuig Macmillan, who spoke out this week. (Polity note: Rev. Macmillan holds the position of Dean of the Thistle which is one of three positions in addition to being a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland that gets the title “The Very Reverend.”)
Leading Church of Scotland minister slams Israel’s treatment of Palestinians – from the Daily Record
In other news…
Presbytery of Chicago is forced to sell a camp due to financial needs, partly caused by an abuse case settlement.
Abuse case leads to dunes camp sale – from WOOD TV
Don’t Destroy ‘Thin Place’ – letter to the editor of the Commercial Record
Five years after the collapse of the Presbyterian Mutual Society in Ireland six of the directors have settled legal proceedings by agreeing not to act as corporate directors for up to six years (despite what that first headline says):
Collapsed Presbyterian Mutual Society chiefs will not become company directors again – from the Belfast Telegraph
Six Presbyterian Mutual Society directors agree to stand down – from the BBC News
Programming note: Because the Church of Scotland General Assembly will be in full swing next week it may impact my time to put together this headlines post. We will see.