Title: Assembly calls for close of School of the Americas
Date: October 9, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
99f-66
Cincinnati General Assembly
October 8-12, 1999
Cincinnati Convention Center
Room 233
(513) 784-6014
CINCINNATI (DNS) - - Shut it down, voting representatives at the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) demanded here today of the controversial School of the Americas.
"It is a school of assassins, right in our own back yard," says the Rev. Ken Kennon, Tucson, Ariz., member of the Disciples Peace Fellowship. The retired Disciples minister was arrested and imprisoned for demonstrating at the U.S. Army-run school at Fort Benning, Ga. The military claims the institution trains Latin America and Caribbean military and police in counter-terrorism techniques. Church opponents say those skills too often are employed to control and destroy grass roots movements for change.
The Rev. Linda McCrae, pastor of Wood Memorial Christian Church, Van Buren, Ark., a former missionary in Guatemala, acknowledged that not every graduate of the school is an assassin, but she charges there "is too much overlap" linking Ft. Benning alumni to death squads. Indeed, graduates' fingerprints seem to be everywhere:
*three of the four officers involved in the killing of El Salvador's Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero,
*19 of the 26 officers involved in the killing of six Jesuit priests,
*the general in charge of the estimated 30,000 killed or made to "disappear" in Argentina,
*the general in charge of purging political opponents in Guatemala - - an estimated 200,000 murders and disappearances.
The assembly resolution asks that government funding be cut off, it averages about $2 million annually, and that the monies be used for humanitarian programs. Local churches are asked to call their representatives in Congress to support the assembly action, while a letter from Disciples general minister and president Richard L. Hamm, calling for the shut down, will go to President Clinton.
There also was sharp disagreement over this vote with a sizable minority voting against the proposal. Opponents claim there is no hard evidence of abuse. "How would you like it if somebody did a profile of every graduate of your college and then blamed the institution?" asked the Rev. Tim Griffen. He is pastor of First Christian Church, Snyder, Texas.
In taking such action, the General Assembly speaks only for itself and to the churches, not for them. And such action is always grounded in scripture. Delegates noted that "the gospel clearly calls Christians to work for peace and justice, and Jesus Christ lived and died to bring God's shalom to this broken world."
- - end - -