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Anne,
I
understand the passion and the reason for it but I think it would be very wise
to check the facts before you respond so strongly. Dean was not invited to a
little tet a tet with the US President. He was invited to sit in the part of the
audience that was reserved for non parliamentarian attenders. He asked if it was
possible to send an alternate eg the past president and was told that the
invitation was only to the person directly invited.
The
event that Gordon says he was so priviledged to participate in was not one that
was the event that Dean declined. Dean did not pass up an opportunity to
confront the US President with the opinions of the UCA. What he refused to do
was to be part of the landscape of christendom and give the tenor of the
church's acceptability to the civic authority. I am proud of a President who
considered it more important to live out our convictions to the marginalised
rathe than bask is some reflected glory amid the decaying ruins of Christendom.
I for one think it is a great witness to be able to say where the priorities of
our church are - illustrated by the actions of our
President.
On
another note I recall a report from Gordon that he had breakfast with the Prime
Minister one morning. When it was followed up by the media it was found that he
was at a fundraising breakfast with 700 other people. He also mentioned in
that press release how he had made his views known to the Prime
Minister. Mmm makes me wonder. I would like to hear from anyone who
might be able to corroborate Gordon's report.
Terence Corkin
-----Original
Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Ann
Wansbrough
Sent: Wednesday, 29 October 2003 2:13 PM
To:
Stephen Webb
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re:
uniting church minister meets us president
I am extremely disturbed (a) that the President
of the UCA declined the invitation and (b) that some of my social justice
colleagues agree with him. Part of our role as a church is to be a voice for
the voiceless in the "presence of the powers that be". During George Bush's
visit, almost every Australian was rendered voiceless. Apparently those
invited to the meeting that Gordon Moyes attended, and the UCA President
declined to attend, were allowed to voice the issues that they considered
important. In my view, if the President of the UCA was invited to speak
to the US President, then the President of the UCA should have accepted the
invitation. Even the leaders of his own church, the United Methodist Church of
the USA, have not been able to meet with Bush about the war in Iraq. Some of
them went to gaol after being arrested in demonstrations. The Methodist and
other church leaders in the US resorted to a full page advertisement calling
on him to repent, because they could not address him directly. I want to
weep. I feel betrayed. I am angry. I think the whole church has been
betrayed.
So often in the past twelve months I longed for a
church leader to have the opportunity to tell Bush face to face about the
church opposition to the war on Iraq and the way he is conducting the
so-called war on terrorism, and to object to his assumption that God is
guiding him. The UCA President had the chance, and he turned it
down. I'm sorry, but meeting with people in WA could be done on other days.
Talking to the US President could not. For a church leader, being prepared for
the Kingdom of God, being spiritually alert, is about being ready and able to
take this sort of opportunity when it offers. Not accepting the
invitation is an utter distortion of the solidarity model - a betrayal, a
refusal to use the representative role and power that the church has
given him and the government acknowledged by this invitation.
Dean could have made his agenda to mention:
church and community opposition to the war on Iraq, our concern about the US
doctrine of pre-emptive strikes and the way they have undermined the UN, our
concern about US not understanding the way developing nations view the WTO and
the free trade agenda, our concerns about the USA-Australia FTA, our concern
about the US reneging on nuclear disarmament agreements and
re-igniting the arms race. And so on. He might not have
got through all these, but he could have tried. Why do we bother doing all our
research, listening, reflection, writing and advocacy on global issues, when
our UCA President fails to take the opportunity to meet with the single most
powerful individual in the world, who has so much power over so many aspects
of global violence and injustice? How can we expect President Bush to respond
to our views if we refuse to meet him to put our views to him? I feel betrayed
and disillusioned. The Methodist Church in the US might well feel betrayed as
well. According to the God of Ezekiel, by failing to be a prophetic voice when
we had the chance, we share the responsibility for the harm that Bush and the
US continue to do and God will hold us accountable. By failing to speak to
him, blood on his hands becomes blood on our hands.
Ann
(Rev. Dr.) Ann Wansbrough UnitingCare NSW.ACT PO Box A 2178 Sydney
South 1235 Phone (61) (02) 8267 4280 Fax (61) (02) 9267 4842 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 12:38
PM
Subject: Re: uniting church minister
meets us president
Rosemary says:
I was with Revd
Dr Dean Drayton last week when the US president was here in Australia. We
were in Port Hedland visiting with the congregations both in the detention
centre and in out.
The detention
centre congregation were thrilled to hear Dean say he had been invited to
hear the speech in parliament, but he had another, more important engagement
and that he chose to visit this congregation rather than meet with Mr Bush.
cheers
Rosemary
Rosemary Miller (Social Justice)
Stephen Webb
wrote:
Quote from Wesley Mission Church Bulletin - 26 October, 2003
THE SUPERINTENDENT WRITES:
The "Great South Land of the Holy Spirit" this week became the meeting place
for the President of the most powerful nation on earth at the beginning of
the twenty-first century, and the President of the nation which will be the
most powerful nation on earth at the end of the twenty-first century.
President George W Bush and President Hu Jintao flew into Canberra to
address both houses of Parliament in joint sittings.
I was there. I sat in a reserved section for twelve people who had been
requested by Mr Howard to meet Mr Bush personally and to discuss issues on
their minds. The twelve were an impressive group of Australian leaders.
I was honoured to go to the Cabinet room and to meet and discuss issues I
thought were important with the President.
Issues like Iraq, free trade, international relations, Australian prisoners
in American prisons were on the agenda.
When President Bush heard I was from Wesley Mission, he offered that he was
a Methodist and attended a Methodist Church. I encouraged the President to
push through his reforms involving "faith based initiatives". He replied
that the legislation on faith based initiatives was the most important on
his domestic agenda and he was determined to use state funds to help
churches and synagogues run social programs meeting community needs.
I told him I had been reading a publishers preview copy of a new book "The
Faith of George W. Bush" (Pan/Charisma) by Stephen Mansfield. He asked me
how it had treated his faith and I told him and Laura that the author and
his team of researchers had uncovered some fascinating and little-known
information about Bush's conversion, his sense of divine calling and how
faith helped him overcome his drinking habit.
People are interested in the President's faith, but they also have a lot of
questions that need to be answered. He knew about the book.
I told him this book, due to be released on Nov. 11 includes the fact that
Bush first heard the call to run for president during a sermon by the Rev.
Mark Craig at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas. Craig
described Moses' reluctance to lead God's people, and Bush's mother,
Barbara, turned to him and said, "He was talking to you." Laura Bush
immediately told me that was true.
I mentioned that before Bush announced his candidacy, he invited Texas
evangelist James Robison to meet with him for prayer. That was also true.
Bush is a close friend of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, also a
committed Christian. The two have shared Scripture and prayed together.
George W. Bush has attempted to apply faith to presidential leadership. He
asked me what I felt the book would do to his standing among Christians and
I replied, much to his and Laura's delight, that it would help him get
re-elected next year. I stressed the need for more openness in his
commitment to Christ.
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