Adopting Belhar, the 222nd General Assembly makes history
Seattle Presbytery
June 23, 2016 by Jill Duffield, The Presbyterian Outlook
PORTLAND, Ore. – The 2016 General Assembly made history by voting June 22 to add the Belhar Confession – a moving call for reconciliation, and a condemnation of racial injustice written in the crucible of the struggle over apartheid – to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Book of Confessions. Belhar becomes the first confession from the global south the mostly-white PC(USA) has ever adopted – and the PC(USA) has done so at a time when racial tension, injustice and violence in the United States make headlines nearly every day.