January 22, 2010: ACSWP

Acronym of the Day: ACSWP

The General Assembly is filled with acronyms. There is a page dedicated to all the different shorthand references on the denomination's site. I am going to (try to) go the acronyms most often heard/used at General Assembly in alphabetical order.

Today's acronym of the day deserves its own posting: the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy = ACSWP.

ACSWP is currently in the news because of its handling of the opening meeting policy. (Now, I have known Carmen Fowler for more than a decade. It is incomprehensible to me that ACSWP would treat her -- nevermind any other interested observer -- with such overt paranoid hostility. Now, I am also acquainted with Ron Kernaghan and am surprised that he would not be able to have a better perspective on this issue.)

The reason ACSWP wants this un-open meeting policy implemented is because of the huge gaffes ACSWP has made in the past. This may seem like ancient history but in 1998, the General Assembly was presented with a report entitled "Building Community Among Strangers." In short, ACSWP original study paper included, among other things, this statement about the Great Banquet: "The greatest surprise occurs when the food is blessed, not only in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, but also in the name of Allah, the Lord Krishna, Siddhartha Buddha, and the Goddess Gaia!" The uproar was overwhelming and the 210th General Assembly (1998) sent it back for a re-write with instruction to make sure it was consistent with the Reformed tradition.

The revised version without the "scandalous banquet" text and with other changes was approved by the next year's Assembly. But the furor the original draft caused -- and several similar occurances since -- is the real reason for this policy. ACSWP has not been misunderstood; it has been caught.

So, going back to the Open Meeting Policy; I guess it is fair to say that I view anything produced from ACSWP with as much suspicion as they would view me coming to their meeting.

There are four pieces of business due from ACSWP. In the report it will say something to the effect that "the General Assembly asked ACSWP to undertake a study of ..." Technically accurate, it is somewhat misleading. ACSWP has self-generated topics to study and make recommendation. I will look at each of these studies in a future post, but for today, it is sufficient to note what this Assembly will be asked to approve:

• Gun violence: a comprehensive study. . . [that] articulate a Reformed Theology of proactive, constructive nonviolence way of life and tactical method for bringing God's justice and peace to our communities and around the world; assess the social and economic costs of gun violence; explore how gun violence fits into a larger national culture of violence, and identify ways that the church can effectively address gun violence issues domestically and internationally, and to report these findings along with proposed action items to the 219th General Assembly (2010)”;
  
  
• HIV/AIDS: “a comprehensive study on HIV and AIDS for the PC(USA), recommending compassionate action and giving prophetic witness regarding issues related to people living with HIV and AIDS in the U.S.A. and around the world, and report to the 219th General Assembly (2010)";
  
  
• Public education: “study the church’s policies on public education in relationship to the issues of desegregation, affirmative action, faith-based initiatives, home schooling, charter schools, and the No Child Left Behind law, with attention to class as well as race; making appropriate recommendations that would be presented to the 219th General Assembly (2010), and, if appropriate, subsequently preparing a study guide for individual and congregational use”; and,
  
  
• Theology of compensation: “update the PC(USA)’s 1983 “Theology of Compensation” report (Minutes, 1983, Part I, pp. 82, 116, 689−704) to provide theological guidance to church and society with regard particularly to the impact of secular market assumptions on the compensation practices of the PC (USA)."

ACSWP also is one of the agencies that will be evaluated for how it relates and functions within the General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC). Some of that work is being done in Louisville this weekend.

It is tough to assess the value of a "prophetic" ministry within an institutional structure. These reports cost money, require time and energy, and are produced and debated at each General Assembly. However, their reach and impact is not clear. The ACSWP folks perceive themselves "speaking truth to power," yet there is a sense in which "speaking" is all they are doing. This small group makes pronouncements in the name of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and to the Presbyterian Church, but who is listening? There is an index full of statements and studies that have been produced; how many can you name?

That's it for now. Have a good weekend.

 

 

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