THE Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church approved a motion decrying the war in Gaza on Saturday, but only after a clause about disinvestment had been excised, and a new sentence drafted hastily on the floor of the Synod.
Canon Nicholas Taylor (Glasgow & Galloway) proposed the motion, saying that it concerned the “prophetic vocation” of the Church, and was intended to indicate that the Synod supported the Bishops and the Primus in their public statements on Gaza.
The motion called for a ceasefire, and a “just peace in Israel-Palestine”, and expressed solidarity with Christian communities in the region.
Canon James Currall (Moray, Ross & Caithness) seconded the motion, and made an impassioned speech over a recording of Karl Jenkins’s The Armed Man, a mass setting dedicated to peace.
The drum rolls which accompanied the start of his speech might have caused some to wonder if the PA was malfunctioning, but Canon Currall explained that he planned to speak only briefly, and to give over most of the five-minute speech limit for members to reflect on the music.
He said: “On Thursday, in his charge, the Primus urged us to be prepared to stick our heads over the parapet [News, 13 June]. My name is on this motion because I believe that the killing of innocent men, women, and children is wrong and contrary to the teaching of our Lord and Saviour.”
An amendment to the motion was moved by the Revd Amanda Fairclough (Argyll & The Isles). “I want peace,” she said, “but, as the motion has been formulated, I cannot in all conscience vote yes to it.” She described two of the clauses as “admirably non-partisan”, but the final clause “introduces partiality”, and she moved to remove it. The clause sought to ensure that the SEC’s investments would “in no way benefit from the exploitation, oppression, and dispossession of the Palestinian people”.
Robert McDonald (Argyll & The Isles) seconded the motion, saying that it was “too specific”, as the type of exploitation it identified occurred elsewhere in the world. If such guidance was to be given to the Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG), it should be more general, he said.
The Bishop of Brechin, the Rt Revd Andrew Swift, who sits on the EIAG, said that he “appreciated the sentiment of the amendment”, but, none the less, was “comfortable” keeping it in. It was a public statement that this was something about which the Church was concerned, and any practical difficulties that EIAG might have in putting it in practice could be “coped with”.
David Stevenson (Edinburgh) spoke in favour of the amendment, suggesting that it was too subjective and open to interpretation. Some, for example, would see the existence of the state of Israel as oppressive, while others would see Palestinian politicians as culpable for the current situation.
Hugh Morison (Moray, Ross & Caithness) said that “nothing which we say should be capable of being interpreted as anti-Semitic,” but he was concerned that, as it stood, the motion could be interpreted in that way.
The Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, the Very Revd Kelvin Holdsworth (Glasgow & Galloway), also said that he could not support the motion unless the clause was removed. Discussions could continue in the EIAG regardless of its inclusion, he said, and the Synod could back the motion with a much stronger voice if it were excised.
Canon Taylor, responding, said that there was “nothing anti-Semitic or Islamophobic” in the conception of the amendment. Ms Fairclough countered that “simply by it being there, we invited people to suggest that we are partial”. She urged people to vote against it so that the Synod could endorse the rest of the motion.
The Synod voted 65 to 19 to remove the clause, with eight recorded abstentions.
A second amendment was then moved by the Revd Denise Herbert (Brechin), which would have added a clause three: a tribute to “the Jewish people who lost lives in the October attack”, and a prayer for “those who have endeavoured to work alongside Palestinians for social justice and support”.
An objection was aired by Victoria Elliott (Edinburgh) that this amendment was too specific. Mr Morison noted that, when combined with the removal of clause four, it meant that Jewish people were mentioned, but Palestinian people — both Christians and Muslims — were not.
The amendment fell, with 16 votes for and 80 against, with eight recorded abstentions.
In a debate on the motion as amended, without the original final clause, the Revd Bonnie Evans-Hill (St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane) said that her “gut” told her support the motion. “I want to vote for the motion, but I also need to express some disappointment,” she said, about the lack of consultation with the interfaith relations committee, which she convenes.
The committee has been working on the Israel-Palestine conflict since before the current war, but had not received funding for some of the work they had intended to do. The motion was just words, she said, and, while she welcomed them, “we need to educate ourselves first about the history, our own culpability, and how that culpability continues to this day.”
Canon David Paton-Williams (Edinburgh) said that the motion did not go far enough, and that, if it was reported in the media, might seem “fairly anaemic” in the “context of 40,000 deaths”. He would vote for it, but feared that it was a “missed opportunity”. Ms Elliott agreed, and suggested that the Synod might want to attempt a last-minute amendment.
After a show of hands indicated some enthusiasm for a further amendment to be considered, a break was taken, during which various members gathered with the Primus and the Secretary General.
After about 15 minutes of discussion, an amendment was tabled by Canon Paton-Williams and Ms Elliott, adding an expression of “profound grief and horror at all the violence and suffering experienced by people in Israel-Palestine over many years”.
The amendment was accepted by the proposers of the original motion, Canons Taylor and Currall, and so did not need to go to the vote.
The motion as amended did, and passed with 93 votes in favour, four against, and with two recorded abstentions. The Primus thanked members for the manner in which they had conducted the business.
The final motion read:
That this Synod
1. welcome and affirm the recent Statement of the College of Bishops calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and a just peace in Israel-Palestine, and the nomination of Friends of the Holy Land as recipient of the Synod Offering;
2. call upon the College of Bishops to continue to speak boldly in the name of this Church on matters of justice and human rights;
3. express its solidarity with the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East, and other Christian communities in Palestine-Israel; and its profound grief and horror at all the violence and suffering experienced by people in Israel-Palestine over many years.”