Presbyterians elect new leaders, skip fossil fuel divestment
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was marked by several firsts: it elected a black man for the 1.6-million-member denomination’s top leadership role, chose comoderators for the general assembly, and added a confession from the Global South to the church’s Book of Confessions.
Meeting June 18–25 in Portland, Oregon, delegates also voted 490-91 against immediate divestment from fossil fuels. Instead, they chose selective, phased-in divestment paired with corporate engagement.
And they also opted for a study of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement in the Israel-Palestine conflict, including opposition to it, rather than calling for an end to any support of BDS.
