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| A woman cries outside the historic Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City after an Israeli attack last October. |
Palestinian Christians Suffer—and Many American Churches Don’t Care
We share the beliefs and traditions of Christians everywhere. Why do so many Western churches ignore us?
I
have recently returned to the United States after completing a tour in
the Middle East, which involved visits to Palestine, Jordan, and Egypt,
focusing primarily on leading prayer summits for peace in my beloved
homeland. The tour was in large part a crucial component of my
ministry’s continuous work in the region. Almost everywhere we went,
during the prayer events in Bethlehem, Amman, and Alexandria, fellow
Arab Christians confronted us with a persistent question: Where does the
church, especially in the West, stand in response to the injustice and
carnage inflicted upon the innocent Palestinian people?
I am a Palestinian American Christian, born and raised in Bethlehem, and my wife was born and raised in Gaza. We both advocate for peace, and our loving families still residing in the West Bank and Gaza share the same pro-peace stance as do millions of Palestinians.
It
was challenging to face this question, knowing very well that, while
various opinions exist in most American and Western churches, a
significant group either remains indifferent or unconditionally supports
the modern state of Israel and many of its dehumanizing policies.
Adding insult to injury, certain Christian evangelical leaders have
employed the Bible to justify and rationalize the war in Gaza, as if it
were a conflict between biblical Israel and God’s enemies. Some leaders
have gone so far as to promote political ideologies and disguise them in
biblical language. Furthermore, some have even outright dismissed and
discredited the voices of Christian Palestinians... READ MORE https://newrepublic.com/article/179758/palestinian-christians-suffer-american-churches-dont-care
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
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