I dagens The New York Times kan man på:
<
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/18/international/europe/18rabbi.html>
se en artikel om den engelske kirkes synode, hvor man har besluttet at
arbejde for at »af-investere« i Israel. Beslutningen var støttet af
ærkebiskoppen af Canterbury.
Det viser faren ved en statskirke med egen synode; den kan begynde at
føre sin egen udenrigspolitik. Det samme er sket i Sverige, hvor
medlemstallet da også rasler ned; enhver der er uenig med kirken i dens
PC-beslutninger melder sig jo ud.
Artiklen har i øvrigt som udgangspunkt den britiske overrabiners
protester mod beslutningen, som han mener yderligere vil puste liv i
antisemitismen i landet. Der er 300.000 i landet, altså 100 gange så
mange som i Danmark [vi har 3.000 jøder tilbage; jøderne flytter jo i
høj grad til Israel, og så som følge af den stigende antisemitiske i
Europa].
==
Mideast Dispute: The Rabbi vs. the Archbishop
By ALAN COWELL
Published: February 18, 2006
LONDON, Feb. 17 — At a time of heightened religious tensions across
Europe, Britain's chief rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, assailed the Church
of England on Friday for supporting divestiture from companies whose
products support Israeli policies in Gaza and the West Bank.
Sir Jonathan said the move "will have the most adverse repercussions on
a situation over which it has enormous influence, namely
Jewish-Christian relations in Britain."
The unusually sharp protest by Sir Jonathan, in an article in the weekly
Jewish Chronicle, followed a vote this month by the Church of England's
synod to "disinvest from companies profiting from the illegal
occupation, such as Caterpillar Inc., until they change their policies."
Caterpillar bulldozers have been shown on British television demolishing
Palestinian homes. The Church of England has a reported $4.25 million
stake in the company.
The synod resolution was not binding, but the Most Rev. Rowan Williams,
archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the world's 77 million
Anglicans, was one of those who supported it.
Since then, the archbishop has sought to avert confrontation with
leaders of Britain's 300,000 Jews, saying in a letter to Sir Jonathan,
published on the church's Web site (
www.cofe.anglican.org) that "much
distress has been caused, especially to our Jewish friends and neighbors
here and elsewhere. This distress is a cause of deep regret."
He insisted the significance of the synod vote was "emphatically not to
commend a boycott, or to question the legitimacy of the State of Israel
and its rights to self-defense; least of all is it to endorse any kind
of violence or terror against Israel and its people, or to compromise
our commitment to oppose any form of anti-Semitism at home or abroad."
In response, the rabbi noted events in the Middle East and Britain that
Jews found troubling.
"The Jewish community in Britain has contributed immensely to national
life, yet after 350 years we still feel at risk," he wrote in The Jewish
Chronicle.
"The vote of the synod of the Church of England to 'heed' a call to
disinvestment from certain companies associated with Israel was ill
judged, even on its own terms. The immediate result will be to reduce
the church's ability to act as a force for peace between Israel and the
Palestinians for as long as the decision remains in force."
The issue is likely to be discussed again in May by the church's Ethical
Investment Advisory Group, which has opposed divestiture in the past.
==
--
Per Erik Rønne
http://www.RQNNE.dk