OPW at GA

The Office of Public Witness at the 221st General Assembly

OPW Staff and Summer Fellows in the GA Exhibit Hall

The staff members of the Office of Public Witness were busy at the General Assembly (GA), which took place June 14-21, 2014, in Detroit, MI. While Director for Public Witness J. Herbert Nelson and Representatives Catherine Gordon and Leslie Woods attended the GA as resource people for various committees (5 committees amongst us), our Summer Fellows served the Assembly as Student Assistants. Three of them were assigned as committee assistants, so if you visited or served on the committees on Middle East, Marriage, or Mission Coordination, you probably met them! And our recent seminary intern, Sabrina Slater, represented Princeton Seminary as a Theological Student Advisory Delegate.

It was a busy week for us. Even as we supported the commissioners, advisory delegates and corresponding members with our prayers and expertise, J. Herbert Nelson also made five speaking appearances. We had a great time connecting with old allies and new partners for justice all over the place – from the Exhibit Hall to the committee room to the Plenary floor. Here are just a few highlights:

GA Plenary

The Rev. J. Herbert Nelson addressed the General Assembly during the Friday afternoon plenary. In his address, he reminded us of the long Presbyterian tradition of engaging in public life, from John Calvin’s advocacy with the leaders of 16^th century Geneva, to John Witherspoon who signed the Declaration of Independence, to Stated Clerk Eugene Carson Blake who marched with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. He quoted current Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons who wrote in 2009 “So, on one hand, it would appear that those of the Reformed tradition have been defenders of the role of government, and on the other hand, disturbers of governments.” Rev. Nelson remarked, “this paradoxical call places us in a significant position to love our nation while possess a willingness to make it better.” Nelson concluded his remarks to the GA by saying, “We cannot remain silent in these troubling times. The world needs the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to stand up and be the Church. Join me in making a difference in this sin sick world. We can do it together.  Thank you and God Bless!”

New Education Initiative

J. Herbert Nelson and Frank Dimmock

Compassion, Peace and Justice Ministry, together with World Mission, announced a new “Educate a Child, Change the World” initiative that seeks to provide quality education to one million children worldwide by the year 2020. This joint partnership was approved the General Assembly and launched at a lunch event where Frank Dimmock, World Mission’s catalyst for poverty issues, and J. Herbert Nelson, each discussed the critical issues of education as a tool to create equality. Education transforms lives,” Dimmock said, “empowering girls and women particularly … for leadership … for economic opportunity … for better health.” The children who be reached by the education initiative “are children of God and our children,” Dimmock continued, “providing them a quality education is not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.” Both speakers emphasized the fundamental truth that “every child can learn.”

CPJ Meal and the Reverend William Barber

The Reverend Dr. William Barber

At the Thursday evening meal, Compassion, Peace and Justice Ministry welcomed the Reverend William Barber, President of the North Carolina NAACP and leader of the growing Moral Monday movement. Barber, whose presence is powerful and inspiring, challenged us to take the on the special interests that use private money to create public power. He said, “Never before have we seen so much money spent to oppose equality.” He went on to profoundly disturb us with the observation that “we live in an age when corporations are treated like people and people are treated like things.” Barber challenged the church, at large: “if we claim to believe in the triune God, then we have to oppose the triune evils of racism, classism, and militarism… how can we oppose Rome when we have become Rome?” We left the evening feeling energized, but convinced of just how much work there is still to do in the cause of God’s justice in our public places. “Never forget,” Barber said, “when you pray ‘God bless America,’ that God is not the property of just one nation.”

Gratitude for the General Assembly

The Office of Public Witness gives thanks for the work of the General Assembly, for the commitment of the Commissioners and Advisory Delegates who did the hard work of discerning the will of the Spirit, and for all the OGA event planners, student assistants, volunteers, and COLA folks without whom the Assembly would not have been possible. As the voice of Presbyterian public policy, tasked with representing the social witness policy of Presbyterian General Assemblies, the Office of Public Witness pays close attention to the GA. We have come home with a lot of new work to do! Join us in the struggle for compassion, peace, and justice in our public lives.

Save the Dates for CPJ Day and EAD 2015

Advocacy Training Weekend: Save the Dates!

April 17, 2015 – PC(USA) Compassion, Peace and Justice Training Day

April 17-20, 2015 – Ecumenical Advocacy Days

Breaking the Chains:

Mass Incarceration & Systems of Exploitation

Come to Washington, DC, April 17-20, 2015, for the 13th Annual National Gathering of Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice titled, "Breaking the Chains:  Mass Incarceration and Systems of Exploitation."  

Join over 1,000 Christian advocates in building a movement to shake the foundations of systems of human exploitation (Acts 16:16-40), including a prison-industrial system that incarcerates millions of people in the U.S. and abroad.  A world that incarcerates so many and allows some to profit from the exploitation of slave, trafficked and forced labor remains far from the “beloved community” which we are all called to seek.

The U.S. makes up only five percent of the world's population yet holds nearly a quarter of the world's prisoners.  Still, “imprisonment” is a worldwide problem and takes various forms, as everywhere people around the world remain trapped in detention centers, prisons, factories and drug wars that bind and dehumanize individuals for political or economic profit. 

Lamentations asks, “When all the prisoners of the land are crushed under foot, when human rights are perverted in the presence of the Most High, when one’s case is subverted – does the Lord not see it?” (Lam. 3:34-36)  Do we?

As people of faith, we denounce the elements in our world that justify such systems of exploitation and mass incarceration.  At EAD, we will confess our personal and corporate failure to break the chains of poverty, racism, and greed institutionalized in our laws, economy, and social behaviors that collude to perpetuate such human exploitation and strip civil and human rights. 

As people of Hope, we are reminded that Jesus' radical message was one of liberation
for all and restoration of right relationships. Through prayer, worship, advocacy training,
networking and mobilization with other Christians, we will face the reality of mass incarceration and corporate exploitation, and call for national policies that bring liberation both to the prisoner and to a world in need of restoration – all culminating with EAD’s Congressional Lobby Day on Capitol Hill.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is proud to sponsor and collaborate in planning this conference that seeks to build a movement to shake the foundations of systems of exploitation (Acts 16). We further invite you to arrive early and attend “Compassion, Peace and Justice Training Day,” an opportunity for Presbyterians to gather, reflect, educate, network, fellowship, and be in prayer together. Together we can build a movement to Break the Chains!

JHN Joins Action for Better Jobs

Reverend J. Herbert Nelson Joins Workers and Faith Leaders in Demanding Better Jobs for Low-Wage Workers

J. Herbert Nelson addresses the crowd of striking workers and
religious advocates. We live in a world of abundance!
Photo Credit: Good Jobs Nation

On Tuesday, July 29, 2014, The Reverend J. Herbert Nelson, II, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Director for Public Witness, joined with workers and other leaders in the faith community, including Presbyterian minister Michael Livingston of Interfaith Worker Justice and Reverend Sèkinah Hamlin of the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative (formerly NCC Poverty Initiative), in an action of nonviolent civil disobedience to urge President Obama to improve jobs for millions of workers. Together, workers and faith leaders asked the President to sign a Good Jobs Executive Order that require federal contractors to bargain collectively with their employees, pay living wages and benefits, stop wage theft, and limit excessive CEO pay.

Of his commitment to get arrested as part of the nonviolent action, Rev. Nelson said, “In the church, we believe in the inherent dignity of work and that God has called each of us to a vocation. Workers have a right to be compensated for their work with a fair wage that provides a living. One of the best ways to improve jobs is to give workers the leverage to organize for better pay, working conditions, and benefits. We have allowed greed to perpetuate a class of working poor in this country, even though there is easily enough for everyone to have what we each need. Worker pay has stagnated while productivity and wealth have skyrocketed. This is our shared failure and it is a sin.”

Nelson walks with partner clergy at the head of the march of
striking workers.

The action focused on our shared conviction that God has provided enough for everyone. Rev. Nelson and other faith leaders, together with workers, surrounded a common table with shared bread for all. Clergy and workers then shared the bread among the crowd. Nelson concluded, “We believe God has provided enough, and workers’ wages and compensation should reflect that reality. We need executive action from the White House that will set a federal precedent in the marketplace to strengthen jobs, workers, and their families.  A job should keep you out of poverty, not trap you in it.”

This action follows up on the interreligious community’s successful campaign work with Good Jobs Nation that urged the President to sign an executive order requiring a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour for workers under new federal contracts. In February 2014, President Obama signed the $10.10 executive order, which is a good start to restoring the quality of jobs in the U.S., but it is only enough to bring a family of four just above the poverty line. Workers need living wages to support their families and the leverage to bargain collectively for fair pay and working conditions. With the stroke of a pen, the President can ensure that all federal contract workers receive fair and just compensation.

Workers' Children Join the Strike

Of the action, the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson said, “In our capitalist society, payday is always a good day. There is a sense of pride in earning a living and having the means to build a better life. For those of us who take a paycheck for granted, let us be reminded and in solidarity with those persons who, after receiving their paychecks, still cannot meet their basic needs, including food, housing, health and child care, much less a family outing for dinner or a Friday-night movie. Let us not forget the father or mother in despair, because there is never enough to make ends meet, even after working multiple jobs or overtime.”

President Obama signs "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces
Executive Order"

Two days later, President Obama signed a new executive order (EO), the “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order,” which requires companies bidding for federal contracts to disclose their recent compliance with labor and employment laws and instructs federal agencies to consider this compliance, or lack thereof, in the process of awarding federal contracts.  One in five U.S. workers is employed by a firm that receives at least one federal contract, so this will have strong and rippling effects throughout the labor market, not just for those workers directly employed through government contracts. 

As the President noted in his speech before the signing, taxpayer dollars should provide good jobs with decent wages and safe working conditions.

Of the President’s Executive Order, Rev. Nelson said, “the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness (OPW) is pleased that the President is addressing this issue. It is good for workers, for law-abiding employers, and for U.S. taxpayers. The OPW has been advocating for greater enforcement of existing labor law for some time and only two days ago, I risked arrest in order to move the President to take actions such as this one. I rejoice that the President is hearing the voice of Presbyterian public witness and other partners in the faith community.”

J. Herbert Nelson on the Killing of African American Boys and Men

A CALL FOR MORE THAN JUDICIAL REMEDIES TO THE KILLING OF AFRICAN AMERICAN BOYS AND MEN

By the Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II

Director, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness is the voice of Presbyterian public policy and advocates for the social justice policies approved by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

“In each time and place, there are particular problems and crisis through which God calls the church to act. The church, guided by the Spirit, humbled by its own complicity and instructed by all attainable knowledge, seeks to discern the will of God and learn how to obey in these concrete situations…”

-- The Confession of 1967, 9.43

Let me begin by expressing my deep sympathies to the families and all persons adversely affected by the killings of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and the many others whose lives have been unjustly and too early taken by the scourge of gun violence. To the families who suffer needlessly from the loss of loved ones due to murder and gun violence in the United States, I can only convey the Spirit of our faith in the words of Jesus, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

THE KILLING OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN AND BOYS

On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner, an African American man was seen on a cell phone video being choked to death, ostensibly for selling single cigarettes, by New York City police with what appeared to be excessive force.

On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, a 18-year-old African American boy in Ferguson, Missouri, was shot while holding his hands in the air indicating that he was unarmed. Both killings were perpetrated by White police officers. The PC(USA) Office of Public Witness in Washington, DC, has been inundated with requests to sign and release statements regarding the shooting of Michael Brown. After taking some time to pause and reflect, I am releasing this statement.

The killing of African American males by Whites, and others, seems to be trapped in legal standards that justify such violence by giving persons the right to defend themselves with excessive force, even when it seems unwarranted. On July 13, 2013, a Florida jury exonerated George Zimmerman, a mixed-race man, of all charges related to the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. The George Zimmerman trial and verdict brought to the forefront the “Stand Your Ground” law which, in principle, gives a person the right to use deadly force in self-defense if he or she feels that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.[1] 

In November 2012, Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old African American and resident of Jacksonville, Florida, was killed by Michael David Dunn, a 45-year-old White man, for playing his music too loudly while sitting in a car. Dunn was convicted of attempted murder. He was not convicted of murder due to a hung jury. The “Stand Your Ground” defense was used in the Dunn case.

In July 2012, Chavis Carter, a 21-year-old African American who was handcuffed in the back of a police car in Jonesboro, Arkansas, is alleged to have shot himself in the head with a concealed weapon while handcuffed. Questions remain as to the validity of police reports in Carter’s alleged suicide.

Oscar Grant was a 22-year-old African American man on a subway platform in Oakland, California. He was apprehended by police and shot dead while in custody on January 1, 2009. The White police officer was exonerated after saying he thought he had pulled his Taser.

The litany goes on and on. These high profile cases leave very little confidence in a rule of law or its capacity to examine the facts fairly and prosecute White police officers for murder. Therefore, residents of Ferguson, Missouri, engage in a peaceful resistance movement to demonstrate their deep anger, fear, and frustration over the police-killing of a 17-year-old African American boy.

OUR CALLING TO ADDRESS RACISM

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called through our confessional documents to be the Church of every age. “God’s reconciling work in Jesus Christ and the mission of reconciliation to which he has called his church are the heart of the gospel in any age. Our generation stands in peculiar need of reconciliation in Christ.”  (The Confession of 1967, 9.06) It is not enough for us as Christians to be appalled or sad while viewing Ferguson, Missouri, as a place beyond our own reality. We must be clear that the issues of this shooting are deeper than anything one trial can resolve. Yes, it is about the shattered hopes of a family that has lost a loved one, a loss which will reverberate for generations. But it is also deeply and truly about the social sin of prejudice, bigotry, and institutionalized racism, which is imbedded in our social structures, our justice system, and the laws by which we claim to offer freedom to each other.

As Presbyterians, we must stop giving lip service to a new Church while failing to confront the vestiges of racism in our Church and Society. Our work on racism in the United States is historic in some instances, but insignificant at many recent junctures in our social history. Most often our preference has been to wait for General Assembly statements or involvement from other entities of the denomination to provide litanies, prayers, and words of confession or healing. However, it is imperative that local congregations not remain silent and idle amid community strife. Nor can we be out of touch with the realities of racism, which still exist in the United States.[2] The 211^th General Assembly (1999) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved a policy document Facing Racism: A Vision of the Beloved Community. In it, the collected discernment of the Spirit offered this wisdom:

The PC(USA), and indeed the Christian community, must recommit to the struggle for racial justice. Churches must provide a moral compass for the nation by getting involved in shaping public policies that will move our nation towards justice, peace, and reconciliation. As we stand on the verge of a new century, racism remains resilient and resurgent. While the social policies and pronouncements of denominations continue to emphasize inclusiveness and justice, these do not translate in the hearts and minds of Christians who participate in the electoral and political process. Christians are passive in the face of attacks on affirmative action and the adoption of regressive social policies at the local, state, and national levels. There is a growing awareness that a new understanding of racism is needed that takes into consideration the centrality of power in the institutionalization and perpetuation of racism. There is also an awareness that the methodologies that brought us to where we are will not take us where we need to go in the next century. If we are to build on past accomplishments, we must do a new analysis of racism within the current context of the nation. This will inform the direction we must take in the next century and provide guidance as to how we might get there.[3]

It is imperative that we go deeper than pulpit exchanges once each year to satisfy the call of celebrating Racial Justice Sunday. A once-a-year celebration of justice and advocacy work is no more theologically correct than a belief that Christmas or Easter is celebrated only once a year. For people who really read the scriptures and know Jesus’ call to justice work, we know that it is a lifetime commitment to righting the ills of our society and world. The PC(USA), and indeed the Christian community, must recommit to the pursuit of and struggle for racial justice. Churches must provide a moral compass for the nation by getting outside their buildings, engaging in their communities, and shaping public policies that will move our whole nation towards justice, peace, and reconciliation for all people.

OUR CALLING TO ERADICATE GUN VIOLENCE

The African American community is the hardest hit by gun violence, as I have suggested earlier. The deterioration of social trust and the consolidation of poverty in inner-city neighborhoods has spawned a culture of violence in which guns have become the “symbols and tools,” not so much of freedom as of survival. The result -- the firearm death rate for African Americans is twice what it is for White Americans. Although African American males only make up six percent of the population, they account for 47 percent of gun homicides. Young African American men (aged 15–34) are more likely to die by a bullet than by disease, accident, or suicide. This is not true for any other demographic.[4] 

Gun violence permeates every aspect of our society. Thirty-thousand people are killed in the United States each year by guns. It is difficult for some of us to view police officers as perpetrators of gun violence. Many of our historic views of police are shaped by “Officer Friendly”[5] and/or the sacrificial efforts of first-responders during the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center. However, let us not forget that police are human beings who face all of the fears, uncertainties, struggles, pains, prejudices, and frailties as every other human being. Their jobs are demanding and accompanying pressures from home or other parts of their lives are not always compartmentalized. Each time an officer fires a gun a potential act of gun violence is occurring. During the writing of this statement, press reports indicate that Michael Brown was unarmed and walking away from the officer with his hands raised in the air when he was killed. If these news reports are correct the police officer murdered a 18-year-old boy.

The 219^th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved Gun Violence, Gospel Values, which begins with a call for the use non-lethal weapons by police.[6] Earlier this week the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness joined partners in the faith community by signing a faith letter developed by the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). The letter calls for police in Ferguson, Missouri --

“[to] stop treating the people that they are supposed to serve and protect as the enemy. Armed with weapons and riot gear, the police officers look like they're coming from a war zone. Their equipment did. The Ferguson Police Department received military-grade equipment -- free of charge -- from the Pentagon as part of the 1033 program. And they've been using the weapons and gear against protesters following the police shooting of Mike Brown, an unarmed 17-year-old.”

Community cannot be built with the threats of extreme force and military-grade weapons. Community is established through respectful dialogue, intentional relationship building, and interpersonal engagement. We must demilitarize our local police forces.

Churches are communities. Churches are also in communities. We in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) must become proactive in calling people together to address the violence that is evidenced in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, and each time a person is killed in our local communities. The epidemic of deaths due to gun violence in our country – 30,000 per year – is representative of a war zone every day.

Congregations that seriously desire to curb gun violence must be willing to advocate for Common Sense Gun Laws at the state, local, and national levels. We have and must continue to call for –

1. A ban on all assault weapons. These are weapons of war and there is no reason for common citizens (including local police) to purchase or possess them. We do not use AK-47’s to hunt deer or to keep the peace! Therefore, we must advocate for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, which lapsed in 2004.
2. We are calling for universal background checks. Presently, there is no federal requirement of a background check for the purchase of a firearm and some states do not require them at all. Therefore, persons that are struggling with mental illness, or do not know how to handle a gun safely, or possess criminal records can make gun purchases.
3. Gun trafficking should be made a federal crime. Currently, prosecutions only occur under a law that prohibits the sale of guns without a federal license, which carries the same punishment as trafficking chicken or livestock. We must empower law enforcement to investigate and prosecute straw purchasers, gun traffickers, and their entire criminal networks.
4. We must advocate for an end to straw purchases of guns. No one should be allowed to purchase a gun for someone who legally cannot purchase one for him/herself.[7]
5. We must call on the Pentagon to end the 1033 program, which arms local police forces with the weapons of war. Surplus weapons of war have no place in our local communities or in the hands of law enforcement. They are not soldiers.

CALL TO ACTION

So, the response must be multi-faceted. It isn’t enough to feel outrage, but do nothing. Or to feel fear, but do nothing. Or to feel utter, bone-crushing grief, but do nothing. We must institute policies that limit access to guns. Weapons of war have no place in our homes, communities, or law enforcement. But more than that, we as Church must confront the social sin of racism head-on. We must get outside our church buildings, beyond our comfort zones, and say loud and clear, “this is my brother and I will not accept that his life is less valuable than mine. The violence has to stop.” We must be willing to challenge the culture that tells African American boys that their lives are worth less than the lives of White boys. We live in a culture that attempts to justify itself by claiming “self-defense” when we really mean fear and bigotry, or pride, or individualism. But all of this is sin. Our faith reminds us that God is all sovereign and that “God calls us to love our neighbors, not protect ourselves against our neighbors.”[8]

PRAYERS FOR THE DAYS AHEAD

Let us pray

that Jesus’ love will comfort those in Ferguson, Missouri, who feel anger and sorrow.

that healing comes to all persons mourning the loss of someone who tragically died by gun violence.

that God will assist the legal system to hear the truth in all cases involving injustice, without biased ears and predetermined agendas based on bigotry and racial domination.

that we in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be sensitized to the daily violence that permeates our society and do something about it in our efforts to build community across the lines that divide us.

that we will be the instruments that end bigotry and hatred, challenging the false construction of race in our nation and world, so that we can see one another with hearts of love and not simply skin color.

that the Church will lead us with courage into a new day with the guidance of the Holy Spirit

that we will come to understand that love wins and God is in charge of this world - not us.

Amen

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Reverend J. Herbert Nelson, II, is the Director for Public Witness at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness in Washington, DC.

Correction: The initial statement, based on media reports at the time, stated that Michael Brown was shot in the back. New reports show that he was shot in the front and the head. The initial statement also put Michael Brown's age at 17. He was 18.

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[1] “In the United States, stand-your-ground law removes a duty to retreat from the elements self-defense. The concept sometimes exists in statutory law and sometimes through common law precedents. "Stand Your Ground" laws effectively extend the Castle Doctrine to any place someone has a right to be. Forty-six states in the United States have adopted the castle doctrine, stating that a person has no duty to retreat when their home is attacked. Twenty-two states go a step further, removing the duty of retreat from other locations. "Stand Your Ground", "Line in the Sand" or "No Duty to Retreat" laws thus state that a person has no duty or other requirement to abandon a place in which he has a right to be, or to give up ground to an assailant. Under such laws, there is no duty to retreat from anywhere the defender may legally be. Other restrictions may still exist; such as when in public, a person must be carrying firearms in a legal manner, whether concealed or openly.” Definition cited from the Wikipedia article, “Stand-your-ground law,” accessed on Aug. 20, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law.

[2] See “Two Churches in Missouri are filled with faith, but common ground remains elusive,” by Emily Wax-Thibodeaux and DeNeen Brown, The Washington Post, Aug. 17, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/community-turns-to-prayer-for-officer-in-fatal-shooting/2014/08/17/e7580d2a-2636-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html

[3] See Facing Racism: A Vision of the Beloved Community, approved by the 211^th General Assembly (1999) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), developed by the Initiative Team on Racism and Racial Violence. Available for download at: http://www.pcusa.org/resource/facing-racism-vision-beloved-community/

[4] Race Matters, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993). “Nihilism is to be understood here… (as) the lived experience of coping,” quoted in Gun Violence, Gospel Values: Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call, p. 16, approved by the 219^th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). http://www.pcusa.org/resource/gun-violence-gospel-values-mobilizing-response-god/

[5] “Officer Friendly is a model program to acquaint children and young adults with law enforcement officials as a part of a community relations campaign. The program was especially popular in the United States from the 1960s to the 1980s, but it continues in some police departments.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officer_Friendly

[6] Gun Violence, Gospel Values: Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call, approved by the 219^th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). http://www.pcusa.org/resource/gun-violence-gospel-values-mobilizing-response-god/

[7] Ibid.

[8] Quoted, James Atwood, author of America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, Presbyterian activist on gun violence and contributor to Gun Violence, Gospel Values: Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call.