Obama = better ear for mainline denominations

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) believes the Obama Administration seeks "more counsel from mainline denominations than its predecessor."

More "than at any time in recent memory."

Response includes:

A number of other ACSWP papers ― on the Iraq war, human rights in Colombia and the Philippines, the Middle East, problem pregnancies and healthcare reforms ― await updating based on very different approaches the Obama administration is expected to take in contrast to the Bush administration.

The committee also plans further study of "just peacemaking" and is "inviting Glen Stassen of Fuller Theological Seminary and Walter Wink, professor emeritus at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, who have both written recent books on the subject to come talk with the committee at its May meeting in Washington, DC."

Among the other topics on which work is being done are:

• HIV/AIDS.
• Gun Violence.
• Immigration/detention.
• “The Nature and Value of Human Life.”

Progress will be slowed, the committee noted, by the global economic meltdown. But some work will proceed. It seems plain that after having been sidelined for so long by the Bush administration's marked preference for the evangelical right, the PC(USA) hopes again to have a well-heard voice.