A Badly Flawed Document For Study

At the coming 218 General Assembly the Advocacy Committee on Racial Ethnic Concerns is offering Rec-046, Resolution to study the Belhar Confession for inclusion in the Confessional Documents of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The Belhar Confession was adopted by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in 1986 as a statement against apartheid in South Africa. It was “drafted under the leadership of Allan Boesak."

The ACREC among other recommendations has suggested that Presbyterians utilize several resources in their study of the Belhar Confession. One of the recommended papers is the (Report of the Task Force to Study Reparations) Minutes, 2004, part I, pp. 701-20.” This has the text of the Belhar Confession and can be found at www.pcusa.org/reparations/

As I was studying this recommended document I found a serious flaw in the rationale section. Quite a long reference is made to a United Nations Conference in Durban South Africa. The authors of the Reparations document write, “A noteworthy example of reparation and restoration was taken in Durban, South Africa, during the United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance in September 2001.

A great deal is quoted from a declaration on racism formulated by the Conference and brought back by a Presbyterian delegation to the 214 General Assembly. In a seeming 'wise,' aside, the authors write, “Unfortunately, the official representatives of the United States government walked out of the conference on the first day. Nevertheless, it is significant that the world community felt it appropriate to stay, participate, acknowledge and confess its complicity in such ‘crimes against humanity’ as the transatlantic slave trade, and seek opportunities for reparation and restoration.”

So why did the United States government and (not mentioned) the government of Israel walk out on this supposedly race free conference? It was Anti-semitism. Horrid Anti-semitism. At the Jewish Virtual Library which is a division of The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, there is a report about this conference by Elihai Braun. I quote some of his report here.

“The United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance met in Durban, South Africa from August 31 to September 8, 2001. The UN General Assembly authorized the conference in Resolution 52/111 in 1997, aiming to explore effective methods to eradicate racial discrimination and to promote awareness in the global struggle against intolerance.

Yet the noble goals of the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism were undermined by hateful anti-Jewish rhetoric and anti-Israel political agendas, prompting both Israel and the United States to withdraw their delegations from the conference. Participants revived the scurrilous charge that "Zionism is Racism" and used false and hostile allegations to delegitimize Israel.

In the weeks prior to the conference, the United States had warned organizers that it would withdraw from Durban if the early anti-Jewish charges and the condemnations of Israel remained unchallenged. After four days of fruitless negotiations, the U.S. delegation withdrew on September 3, midway through the conference, unable to turn the focus of the conference back to its original goals. The aim to combat discrimination and intolerance worldwide was ironically superceded by a bigoted campaign to single out one nation for criticism.

The September 3 statement of withdrawal of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell read:

'Today I have instructed our representatives at the World Conference Against Racism to return home. I have taken this decision with regret, because of the importance of the international fight against racism and the contribution that the Conference could have made to it. But, following discussions today by our team in Durban and others who are working for a successful conference, I am convinced that will not be possible. I know that you do not combat racism by conferences that produce declarations containing hateful language, some of which is a throwback to the days of "Zionism equals racism;" or supports the idea that we have made too much of the Holocaust; or suggests that apartheid exists in Israel; or that singles out only one country in the world--Israel--for censure and abuse.'

Copies of the anti-Semitic work, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, were sold on conference grounds; anti-Israel protesters jeered participants chanting "Zionism is racism, Israel is apartheid," and "You have Palestinian blood on your hands"; fliers depicting Hitler with the question, "What if I had won?" circulated among conference attendees. The answer: "There would be NO Israel and NO Palestinian bloodshed."”

If the authors of “Report of the Task Force on Reparations,” as well as the new call for the study of the Belhar Confession want to be taken seriously perhaps they should clean up their materials and allow the reader to believe they really do care about tolerance for everyone.