Opposition
Jan. 19, 2007
NOTE: Photographs are available
at http://umns.umc.org.
A UMNS Report By
Kathy L. Gilbert*
A group of United Methodist clergy and lay people have
launched an online petition drive to pressure Southern Methodist University to
drop its bid for the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
But others in the
denomination do not agree with that position. "What is now political controversy
will, in a short time, become historical study," said one United Methodist
bishop in response to the petition drive.
In a letter, Scott Jones, bishop of
the Kansas Area and a former SMU faculty member, said, "The proposed
relationship between the Bush library and SMU is an important step forward for
the university."
Opponents have said that Bush, a United Methodist, does not
uphold United Methodist principles in his policies and that the university
should not host his library.
Jones conceded that the president's church
membership "has been controversial for some in our church who disagree with his
policies," but he lauded the "wide spectrum of political views" within the
denomination.
"I am grateful that the UMC includes both Sen. Hillary Clinton
and President Bush as active, faithful members. At times I disagree with both,
and at times I agree with both. But they are my sister and brother in Christ,
and I claim them as part of my United Methodist family," the bishop said.
The
university was named the finalist for the presidential library Dec. 21, but a
final decision about the location will not be made for a few more months.
Southern Methodist University is one of 123 educational institutions related to
the United Methodist Church. First lady Laura Bush is an SMU
graduate.
"Because SMU is owned by The United Methodist Church, the
imposition of a George W. Bush library, museum and think tank at SMU will
irreparably connect the denomination with this presidency," said the Rev. Andrew
J. Weaver, one of the organizers of the "Protect SMU" petition drive and a
graduate of SMU's Perkins School of Theology. "Members of the UMC, therefore,
should be able to express their opinion on this matter before a final decision
is reached."
As of Jan. 19, 10 bishops, including Joe A. Wilson, Hope Morgan
Ward and Alfred W. Gwinn Jr., have signed the petition, as well as five clergy
and three church members.
Southern Methodist University released a statement
saying, "The opportunity for a group of United Methodist ministers to circulate
a petition reflects the tradition and values of the church for open dialogue on
important issues. Embracing those same values, we at SMU respect their right to
express their views.
"As we have indicated, the presence of the Bush Library
and Institute at SMU would support education, research and discussion on the
important issues of this era - all activities that reflect the United Methodist
heritage in higher education. The South Central Jurisdiction of the church
organized SMU as a Texas nonprofit organization under the management and control
of a board of trustees. Fifty percent of the board's membership is United
Methodist, including three bishops and two ordained clergy."
The
petition - www.protectSMU.org - is being
circulated online with a goal to make the petition available to all members of
The United Methodist Church, Weaver said.
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News
Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L.
Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.In favor
Regional bishops back SMU process on Bush library
Feb. 7, 2007
NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.
A UMNS Report By Linda Green*
Bishops representing United Methodists in eight south central U.S. states affirmed the process by which Southern Methodist University is seeking to host the George W. Bush presidential library and policy center.
Ten of the 11 active bishops of the South Central Jurisdiction voted Feb. 5 in favor of a resolution to affirm the board of trustees of the United Methodist-related university for its process aimed at bringing the library to the Dallas campus.
"We believe Southern Methodist University's trustees and administration are acting responsibly and in good faith," the College of Bishops said in the resolution. The body praised SMU President Gerald Turner's "careful stewardship and advocacy of the historic relationship between the university and the church" throughout the process.
A presidential library site selection committee announced Dec. 21 it would negotiate exclusively with SMU for the Bush library, prompting some faculty members, alumni and United Methodists to raise sharp questions about identifying SMU with the Bush presidency. Much of the opposition centers on Bush's foreign policy, mainly the war in Iraq. Other critics say a presidential library belongs at a public university - not a private, church-related one.
"We understand the controversy involved in this proposal," the bishops' resolution stated. "Our action today is focused on the process in which SMU has been engaged. SMU has been forthcoming and transparent in its dealings and communication with us."
Arkansas Bishop Charles Crutchfield proposed the resolution "because I thought we needed to affirm the process and procedures of the board of trustees" in the wake of much debate and discussion. "The resolution is not about the library coming to campus. It is about affirming the process of the board of trustees," he said.
SMU trustees passed a resolution in 2001 fully endorsing the school's quest for the library. Fifty percent of the trustees' membership is United Methodist, including three bishops and two pastors of large church congregations and the former dean of Yale Divinity School.
Kansas Bishop Scott Jones, also a trustee for SMU, called the bishops' resolution "an important affirmation of the integrity of SMU's trustees and administration in pursuing the Bush Library.
"This is not a partisan issue," Jones said. "It is an issue focused on how SMU can best accomplish its mission as a top-ranked Christian university. Our college strongly supports SMU's mission and recognizes SMU's leadership for their pursuit of excellence."
Another university trustee, Nebraska Bishop Ann Sherer, said the College of Bishops wanted to affirm "Dr. Gerald Turner … and the cooperative spirit he displays in relationship to The United Methodist Church."
First lady Laura Bush is a graduate of SMU and serves as a trustee, but has not been part of the board's library discussions, according to school officials. The Bushes are members of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, near to the SMU campus.
One petition being circulated, which has drawn approximately 10,000 online entries including the signatures of 600 United Methodist clergy, says linking the Bush presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is "utterly inappropriate."
Crutchfield said much of the current debate is not about the proposed library, but about the policy institute that would be connected to the library. "I personally feel that in the marketplace of ideas, SMU is strong and it has a wonderful faculty and the library will be an important addition to the campus," he said.
Oklahoma Bishop Robert Hayes says SMU and The United Methodist Church have had a "unique" relationship since the church founded the school in 1911. The university's bylaws occasionally require approval by the South Central Jurisdiction on actions involving the sale or lease of property.
Hayes said the regional bishops sought to "leave the arena of politics outside" its action because the body is responsible for maintaining the bylaws and the church's relationship with SMU. "This is the discipline and order of the church working at its finest," he said.
The South Central Jurisdiction represents 1.8 million United Methodists in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas and includes approximately 6,400 local churches.
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. The article was adapted from a news release by Stephen Drachler, press officer for the United Methodist Council of Bishops.
News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
1 comment:
Methodism, Torture and the Presidential Library
Anyone who thinks that the name Methodism or Southern Methodist University should be associated with George W. Bush needs to read the book, Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity, and the War on Terror by Dr. Steven Miles, professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota.
Professor Miles has based this volume on painstaking research and highly-credible sources, including eyewitness accounts, army criminal investigations, FBI debriefings of prisoners, autopsy reports, and prisoners’ medical records. These documents tell a story strikingly different from the Bush administration version presented to the American people, revealing involvement at every level of government, from the Presbyterian Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to prison health-care personnel. The book also shows how the highest officials of government are complicit in this pattern of torture, including Episcopal Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, United Methodist Vice President Dick Cheney and United Methodist President George W. Bush.
While much of the use of torture by the Central Intelligence Agency and Special Forces troops remains concealed, Dr. Miles documents how nineteen prisoners have been tortured to death by American military personnel. The book tells of an Afghan prisoner named Dilawar, an innocent 22-year-old, who drove his taxi to the wrong place at the wrong time. At the U.S. detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan, in December 2002, Dilawar was smothered, shackled and then suspended by his arms. When he was beaten with a baton, he cried out “Allah, Allah,” which amused the soldiers and triggered more merciless blows. The official report reads that he was beaten over a five day period until his legs were, in the words of the coroner, "pulpified." He was then chained to the ceiling of his cell, where he died. Although an autopsy stated that Dilawar's death was a homicide, General Daniel McNeil told reporters that Dilawar had died of natural causes on the grounds that one of his coronary arteries was partly occluded. The words "coronary artery disease" were typed in a different font on the prisoner's death certificate.
Up to 90 percent of the prisoners detained in the Bush “war on terror” have been found to be unjustifiably imprisoned and without intelligence value. In addition, much of the hideous work of torture is out-sourced by the Bush administration to countries like Uzbekistan, Syria and Egypt, where torture is a long-standing and common practice. In July 2004, the British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who grew up in a devout Methodist home, protested the Uzbek intelligence service's interrogation practices: "Tortured dupes are forced to sign up to confessions showing what the Uzbek government wants the U.S. and U.K. to believe. . . . This material is useless -- we are selling our souls for dross."
Torture is a crime against humanity and a violation of every human rights treaty in existence, including the Geneva Conventions which prohibit cruel and degrading treatment of detainees. Torture is as profound a moral issue in our day as was slavery in the 19th century. It represents a betrayal of our deepest human and religious values as a civilized society.
David Hackett Fischer describes in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Washington's Crossing, how thousands of American prisoners of war were “treated with extreme cruelty by British captors,” during the Revolutionary War. There are numerous accounts of injured soldiers who surrendered being murdered and Americans dying in prison ships in New York harbor of starvation and torture.
After crossing the Delaware River and winning his first battle at Trenton, New Jersey, on Christmas Day, 1776, George Washington ordered his troops to give refuge to hundreds of surrendering foreign mercenaries. "Treat them with humanity," Washington instructed his troops. "Let them have no reason to complain of our copying the brutal example of the British army."
Contrast this with the September 15, 2006, Washington Post lead editorial titled “The president goes to Capitol Hill to lobby for torture.” “President Bush rarely visits Congress. So it was a measure of his painfully skewed priorities that Mr. Bush made the unaccustomed trip yesterday to seek legislative permission for the CIA to make people disappear into secret prisons and have information extracted from them by means he dare not describe publicly.”
If the Bush Library and think tank are placed at SMU, The United Methodist Church should withdraw its association from the University and demand that the good name of Methodism be removed from the name of the school. If The United Methodist Church cannot take a stand against the use of torture and those who employ it, including President Bush, what does it stand for?
Andrew J. Weaver, Ph.D., is a United Methodist minister and research psychologist living in New York City. He is a graduate of The Perkins School of Theology, SMU. He has co-authored 12 books including: Counseling Survivors of Traumatic Events (Abingdon, 2003) and Reflections on Grief and the Spiritual Journey (Abingdon, 2005).
Fred W. Kandeler M.Div. is a retired United Methodist pastor living in New Braunfels, Texas. He was the founding pastor of Christ UMC in Plano, Texas and a United Methodist District Superintendent. He is a graduate of the Perkins School of Theology, SMU.
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