Members of the congregations of Manor Road and Leaside United Churches may be pondering tonight how the agenda of their national church sits with them. The Church’s General Council, meeting in Otawa, has declared itself — on behalf of all its congregations — against the idea of an oil pipeline to the west coast. They’re about to decide on a motion to boycott products from Israeli settlements. That comes Friday. Either way, the actions of the church mean very little to either the sale of such products or the reconciliation of the peoples living in that part of the world. It’s a bit like the motion to stop members from gossiping. Why. Ordinary awareness will tell us that gossip is usually true. Reporters call their work tidied up gossip. Surely what the United Church thinkers are saying to us is that we should avoid being mean or vindictive. Sometimes people are like that. But that has less to do with gossip than simple decency. If Mary has left her husband for the pool man, there’s nothing especially saintly in not talking about it. This motion seems oddly out of touch with the things that make us human.
