Your Opinion: Presbyterians, peace and the Mideast crisis

Note: See the correction posted below this letter.

Dear Editor:

I found the article "Faith, prayer have no bounds" interesting that the First Presbyterian Church was featured hosting a prayer service for peace and reconciliation around the world. I say this because the Presbyterian Church seems to be on both sides when it comes to actions that may be fueling just the opposite to peace and reconciliation.

I call your reader's attention to an article "Presbyterians dump companies they say are tied to Palestinian occupation" ( http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/21/us/presbyterian-church-palestinians/ )

I quote the referenced article: "In a close vote at its annual assembly in Detroit on Friday (June 20), the church voted 310-303 to divest $21 million from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions.

The church says Caterpillar supplies products to Israel that are used to destroy Palestinian homes, Hewlett-Packard provides logistics and technology to help enforce the naval blockade of Gaza, and Motorola Solutions provides military and surveillance systems in illegal Israeli settlements.

But immediately after the vote, church leaders said the decision was not a judgment against Israel. "In no way is this a reflection for our lack of love for our Jewish sisters and brothers," Moderator Heath Rada said. Yeah, right!

I wonder how God feels about a Christian church organization of about 1.76 million members voting to reduce Israel's ability to fight an aggressor whose charter calls for the elimination of Israel and the Jewish people?

I would hope the hierarchy of the Presbyterian church would read the 22 verses about Jews as God's chosen people ( http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Jews-As-God~s-Chosen-People ) and consider another vote that I feel would please God more. Isn't it about time to give up on this misguided '60s generation ideology of tolerance of everything, including evil, to attempt to prove that the Bible is wrong about the existence of Satan (i.e. evil)? Until we revert back to the days of steadfast teaching and necessary support for all of God's Word there can be no peace and reconciliation.

"For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." (Isaiah 62:1)

Correction, posted Sept. 4, 2014: In the original version of this letter published Aug. 28, quotation marks placed around the phrase, Yeah right!, incorrectly attributed it to the previously quoted speaker rather than the letter's author, Harold Horstmann. The text above has since been corrected.