G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times
Sister Ruth Lautt’s Christians for Fair
Witness on the Middle East sometimes
puts her at odds with her fellow
Christians.
Posted on 06/15/2008 2:42:50 PM PDT by forkinsocket
Sister Ruth Lautt works from a single room on the 19th floor of the God Box. Such is the nickname for the Interchurch Center, the office building on Riverside Drive in Manhattan that is the closest thing to a Vatican for America’s mainline Protestant denominations. Indeed, Sister Ruth’s fellow tenants include agencies of the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Wearing the tapered suits left over from an earlier career in law and the crucifix of her more recent life as a Roman Catholic nun, Sister Ruth cuts an inconspicuous figure at the elevator bank. And on many of the issues that animate the mainline churches — ecumenical outreach, social justice — she makes a perfectly companionable neighbor. On the subject of Israel, however, she qualifies as something more like the enemy within.
Through the organization she founded three years ago, Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East, Sister Ruth has frequently and sharply clashed with the very denominations housed under the God Box’s roof. When they have proposed divestment from Israel or more generally condemned its actions against Palestinians, she has fought against those positions, vociferously speaking out for Israel’s right to self-defense and security.
In the rancorous and relentless debate on the Middle East conflict, Sister Ruth stands as a sui generis player. She has little contact with Jewish advocacy groups, none with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobby. She disassociates herself from Christian Zionists of the theological and political right. Even while defending Israel’s defensive measures, including the separation barrier, she openly criticizes its occupation of the West Bank and laments Palestinian suffering.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
A joke just waiting to happen
I used to live right by there.. they are pretty much all communists. No wonder mainline protestantism is in such decline (well, that and forming religions on the vanity of any dude with a slightly different interpretation of a passage in the bible than another).
It could be worse.
Nun turned lawyer.
Talk about a fall from grace.
Ping
Sister Ruth Lautt’s Christians for Fair
Witness on the Middle East sometimes
puts her at odds with her fellow
Christians.
good post
But not as starkly as her peculiar belief in the Divinity of Christ.
There has never been any separation of church and state on Riverside Drive.
She supports Israel's right to exist, and knows that entails supporting the necessary preconditions for that survival.
Dominican. Order of Preachers. Figures it out with her own brain. Speaks up clearly and pays up personally. Hey, I like this gal.
Good for her.... and Israel. Does she drink at cocktail parities?
Thank you Sister Ruth. that ridiculous stance of the Methodists is something I challenged lously in California at the National United Mehtodist Womens meeting. the Programmers had actually brought in “missionaries” who had been working with the Palestinianians and who accused the Israelis of war crimes. When I asked for examples, they couldn’t come up with any. When I illustrated Palestinian actions of hiding comabtants among women and children juman shields, they were stunned that we weren’t swallowing their story hook line and sinker. There were a number of other former US military women in the UMW and that makes for a more intelligent informed United Methodist Woman. there is hope. Keep up the good work.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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Ping!
And I thought inter-denominational relations among Jews were confusing.
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