A California-Nevada clergyman who is a key organizer behind the campaign to prevent President George W. Bush from getting a half billion dollar presidential library at Southern Methodist University (SMU) has explained the motivation behind his campaign – which includes a condemnation of Bush’s endorsement of torture. The Rev Dr Andrew Weaver told Ekklesia this weekend that he hopes British Methodists and their ecumenical partners will join the protest, which includes an online petition. He and other United Methodist Church (UMC) members in the USA, including a dozen bishops so far, consider the recent proposal to place the library and think tank at the Texas university bearing the Methodist name ‘nothing short of a disgrace.’ The Perkins School of Theology graduate has been widely interviewed by radio, TV and newspapers since his ‘Protect SMU’ campaign started gathering steam. He says that in the first day the petition was online, the number of signatures reached nearly 2,000. In an interview with Instant Connection, Dr Weaver explained why he is so vigorously seeking to prevent the library from landing at SMU – as previously reported on Ekklesia. ‘Methodists have a long history of social conscience, so questions […]