 Ufford-Chase to head peace activists By Parker T. Williamson The Layman Online Sunday, June 18, 2006
Accepting his new assignment at a General Assembly breakfast event, Ufford-Chase told the group that he owed the peace activists several debts of gratitude. "When I was 18 years old, I became a conscientious objector to war, and PPF supported me," he said. That support was again extended to him when he announced his objection to paying taxes that support the United States military, he said. Later, PPF backed him when he began working with illegal Mexican immigrants. Ufford-Chase told the group that he had been agonizing over what he would do when he was no longer moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA). "Now, I know," he said. During its breakfast meeting, PPF gave special recognition to those participating in its Colombia Accompaniment Program, members of the Israel-Palestine Mission Network who defend the denomination divestment actions against companies doing business in Israel, and PPF member Don Beisswenger, whom they call "a prisoner of conscience" because he was jailed for repeatedly trespassing on United States military property during demonstrations at Fort Benning, Ga. The featured speaker at the PPF breakfast was Rev. Alice Winters, a Presbyterian mission co-worker who teaches at a Presbyterian school in Colombia. "This is not just a Presbyterian university," she said. "It is ecumenical, because it has more students from other denominations than from the Presbyterian Church." Winters said that her students are pastors who have no formal theological education. "I teach an exegesis course," she said. "That means, I teach them how to interpret the Bible." Winters named some papers written by her students who have been reading the Book of Esther. One paper was titled "Faithfulness to God in the Midst of a Pagan Society." She explained that while there is much "religiosity" in Colombia, true religious faith is in short supply. "Christians in this country live with uncertainty. Our system of government oppresses us and forces us to do its will. Our political and business leaders are puppets of those who exploit and oppress us. This situation makes us think of Esther." The second paper to which Winter referred was "Courage and Responsibility in the Face of Death." She said that death is an event that every Colombian knows close-hand. Assassinations are a common event, and many of her students have faced such threats. "Yet, life goes on," said Winter. "There is joy within the Colombian church. The ever-present threat of death makes the gospel all the more exciting to us." The third paper was titled "Strategies of Domination and Control in Colombian Society." Winter said that she works with her students to discover "what is the structure of economics and politics that makes these threats happen to us?" Such questions, said Winter, lead her students to an awareness of global economic systems and the oppressive complicity of the United States government. "Most Americans do not understand the role our country plays in international structures of economic power," she said. Winter said that Colombia is a wealthy land. Among its assets that she mentioned were oil, emeralds, an area close to the Panama Canal that may be used for expansion, and a strip of space that would allow for a highway connecting Brazil to the Pacific Ocean. "These are the major areas of violence," she said. "Economic interests of an international economic order are at work here. The want to get rid of the people in their desire to build a highway, expand the canal and search for oil … Strategies of control are an important part of the Book of Esther." A fourth paper was titled, "Strategies of Resistance in an Oppressive Society." Winters lifted up a dominant theme of liberation theology, a form of Marxist ideology that has been nurtured by Presbyterian mission workers in several areas of Latin America. "Resistance is a value in itself," she said. "Colombian people are giving expression to their faith in the form of resistance." Turning to her PPF audience, Winter said, "You are all a part of this. You are being faithful in a pagan society. You are among those who are willing to go to jail for the oppressed. You are struggling against international economic and political structures." |
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