There was a time when American clergy were the nation’s conscience. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many abolitionist Protestant ministers were leaders in the movement to end slavery. Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards, Jr. (1746-1801) was among the many outstanding voices in the Abolition Movement.
Since World War I, few members of the clergy have shown the courage to speak out against the socio-economic evils of the day, such as our corrupt system of capitalism. Fewer still have shown the courage to oppose our national addiction to war; instead, they pray for the troops. During the American War on Viet Nam, Catholic priests like the Berrigan brothers, Phil and Dan, awakened people of all faiths to the crimes of the United States.
Today, amidst the U.S. backed slaughter in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, and elsewhere, the complicity of silence of U.S. clergy is shamefully ubiquitous. Has our national conscience been numbed and desensitized by our acceptance of government-led violence that incinerated multi-millions of German, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Afghan and Iraqi civilians?
Americans have little hope of seeing the likes of an abolitionist clergy movement or droves of Catholic priests to end United States support of Israeli terrorism. Silence is complicity, said Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., many times in the 1950s and 1960s, before he was silenced by gunfire.
The U.S. supports Israeli terror in Gaza with almost total support of the religious community. Pope Francis was outspoken in his condemnation of the Israeli killing of Palestinians in Gaza and called for an international investigation to determine genocide, but few of his bishops or priests speak to this from the altar.
Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, seems willing to take a stance. It is highly unlikely, however, that Catholic clergy will change their devotion to the flag over any plea to follow the non-violent Jesus. Catholic priests, like most loyal Americans, have been indoctrinated to accept U.S. government killings, not as murders, but as a way to keep Americans safe and secure. The U.S. flag is embraced by clergy more than the symbolic cross of the loving, non-violent Christ. (more...)
Clergy Complicit in U.S.-Israel Genocide and Mass Starvation
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