Indulging in one of his periodic tirades against Christians who have the bad form to call attention to the widespread human rights abuses of the Israeli occupation, Marty Peretz inveighs against those perfidious Methodists, noting with apparent satisfaction a drop in church membership:
Nearly 70 years ago, in 1940, when the US had 100 million people there were less than a million Methodists. Today, when the US has about 300 million people, the Methodists have, well, less than a million communicants. This is not a growing church, and its message has been waning even with this drop in its numbers.
Interestingly, the JTA news report that got Marty’s blood up had this to say:
Two of the 11-million member church's regional groupings, in New England and Virginia, have recommended divestment from companies that allegedly are complicit in Israel's West Bank occupation. [emphasis mine]
Okay, so he was only off by more than ten million. But that's not the issue! What's the issue, Marty?
It's the fixation of Israel by various Protestant churches that is at issue. They don't seem too much to notice true persecution by other states of large parts of their populations.
Interestingly, the JTA report:
The weekend meeting, in Fort Worth, Texas, also considered divestment from other nations, including Sudan. [emphasis mine]
You know what I find helpful sometimes? Reading the whole article. Not being a monomaniac helps, too. Happy Monday!
--Matthew Duss