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The Institute on Religion and Democracy has released a report that all but accuses mainline churches of being anti-Semitic. The argument is this: Of all the human rights criticisms given by mainline churches and groups such as the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Episcopal Church, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), along with the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches, only 31 percent of 197 statements were directed at countries other than the United States or Israel. Criticism of Israel amounted to 37 percent while statements leveled at the United States totaled 31 percent.

In addition, only 19 percent of criticisms were directed at nations considered to be "not free" according to Freedom House. IRD says, "Many of the countries rated lowest by Freedom House—such as China, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia—were not criticized even once. Of the fifteen worst human rights abusers listed by Freedom House, only five received any criticism during the four years studied."

In a statement about the report, IRD President Diane Knippers said, "An extreme focus on Israel, while ignoring major human rights violators, seriously distorts the churches' message on universal human rights. We cannot find a rational explanation for the imbalance. We are forced to ask: Is there an anti-Jewish animus, conscious or unconscious, that drives this drumbeat of criticism against the world's only Jewish state?"

Most recently, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted "to start a process of a phased and selective divestment" from companies doing business in Israel and the occupied territories, such as Caterpillar. Church leaders are currently meeting with Jewish leaders to discuss the resolution. Another PCUSA resolution called for Israel to halt construction on its West Bank security wall.

According to The New York Times, "Jewish leaders say they were stunned by what they saw as the one-sided language and focus of the resolutions, particularly the fact that only Israel was singled out for economic sanctions. 'Our people were deeply appalled by the message,'" said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. Yoffie said he did not thing the amount divested would be significant.

The Times continues, "Interfaith dialogue between Jews and American Protestants has waned over the last few years, in great part because of tension over Israel's policies, said Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, assistant general secretary for international affairs at the National Council of Churches."

It is more than tension over policies driving mainline Protestant criticism of Israel, says IRD, which accuses mainline churches of pushing a Leftist secular agenda and works to reform those churches. "That excessive criticism, paired with the fact that none of the churches or groups that we studied criticized human rights violations by the Palestinian Authority or other neighboring governments, certainly raises concerns about a prejudiced double standard," said Erik Nelson, an IRD staffer who was the primary researcher for the report.

In response, the NCC says the IRD report is "fatally flawed." In a press release not yet available on their website, the NCC says, "The report assumes that all that the National Council of Churches USA does or says about human rights gets reported out in resolutions and news releases. It ignores the NCC's sound, comprehensive policy base on human rights."

The NCC also accuses the IRD report of bias. "The ideologically conservative IRD cannot claim to have produced an objective report, having among other things used another ideologically conservative group, Freedom House, as its barometer on human rights."

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September (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48