Spring Break
Slavery, torture and Methodist DNA
Issue date: 9/25/07 Section: Opinion
Documenting this disgrace, on Sept. 15, 2006, the Washington Post published a lead editorial entitled "The president goes to Capitol Hill to lobby for torture." The Post reported:
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.
Torture is not a Methodist value; it is a crime against humanity and a violation of every human rights treaty in existence. It represents a betrayal of our deepest human and religious values as a civilized society. (See books below for full documentation).
Because of this and other instances, immoral conduct from Bush, in February of 2007, clergy and laity of the UMC began a petition. It calls for the SMU trustees and the UMC to reject the Bush project, especially the partisan institute over which the university or UMC will have no oversight. That petition, at protectSMU.org, now has the signatures of 16 UMC bishops, two former presidents of the New Zealand Methodist Church, a former president of the Irish Methodist Church, several hundred SMU alumni and more than 10,800 Christians (mostly United Methodists) and persons of conscience calling for the rejection of the Bush partisan institute.
Here are three comments among the thousands made by petition signers you can read at protectSMU.org:
Michael Fuller, Methodist: "I hold an undergraduate and MBA from SMU. I sent both my boys to SMU. They hold undergraduate degrees and the youngest holds an additional Masters in Math. I have SMU in our family Trust and intended to leave money to the school for scholarships. If the Board of Trustees go through with this, I will change my plans. I cannot support this move to tarnish my school and its reputation by linking to this criminal."
Kimberly Zeller, M.D. former President's Scholar (SMU '89): "I write, not from the point of view of a Methodist, but as an SMU alumnus. I would hate to feel shame to admit that I began my education at SMU, but the establishment of library in the name of a president who has firmly established himself not only as anti-intellectual but as lacking in moral integrity would be unseemly. The name and reputation of SMU would be irreparably tarnished."
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.
Torture is not a Methodist value; it is a crime against humanity and a violation of every human rights treaty in existence. It represents a betrayal of our deepest human and religious values as a civilized society. (See books below for full documentation).
Because of this and other instances, immoral conduct from Bush, in February of 2007, clergy and laity of the UMC began a petition. It calls for the SMU trustees and the UMC to reject the Bush project, especially the partisan institute over which the university or UMC will have no oversight. That petition, at protectSMU.org, now has the signatures of 16 UMC bishops, two former presidents of the New Zealand Methodist Church, a former president of the Irish Methodist Church, several hundred SMU alumni and more than 10,800 Christians (mostly United Methodists) and persons of conscience calling for the rejection of the Bush partisan institute.
Here are three comments among the thousands made by petition signers you can read at protectSMU.org:
Michael Fuller, Methodist: "I hold an undergraduate and MBA from SMU. I sent both my boys to SMU. They hold undergraduate degrees and the youngest holds an additional Masters in Math. I have SMU in our family Trust and intended to leave money to the school for scholarships. If the Board of Trustees go through with this, I will change my plans. I cannot support this move to tarnish my school and its reputation by linking to this criminal."
Kimberly Zeller, M.D. former President's Scholar (SMU '89): "I write, not from the point of view of a Methodist, but as an SMU alumnus. I would hate to feel shame to admit that I began my education at SMU, but the establishment of library in the name of a president who has firmly established himself not only as anti-intellectual but as lacking in moral integrity would be unseemly. The name and reputation of SMU would be irreparably tarnished."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Tony Clark
posted 9/25/07 @ 7:35 PM CST
Thank God that you have the freedom to express yourself in this country even though you are obviously ignorant of all the important concepts which made it possible. (Continued…)
Post a Comment