More Presbyterians and other Christians must bravely speak truth to power with our voices and bodies to end the Gaza genocide. This begins with challenging Christian Zionism and the leaders of our churches who remain complicit.
It has been 673 days since October 7, 2023.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. When it comes to words, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has many. Alongside its Book of Confessions and Book of Order, there are countless policies and overtures, Bible studies, and white papers from 226 (and counting) General Assemblies, all with a message that speaks to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Yet the two pictures above could not send more opposing messages about the Presbyterian witness in the face of what is happening in Gaza. Just what are Presbyterians and other practitioners of the Christian faith to make of the messages sent by these pictures, and how do they relate to the PC(USA) policies on Israel/Palestine? What is our witness to be?
The first picture represents the culmination of two days of actions undertaken this month by Interfaith Action for Palestine (IAP) to disrupt Washington lawmakers who continue to send billions in US tax dollars to fund Israel’s bombing and starvation campaign in Gaza and to give an alternative witness to Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a 10-million member pro-Israel lobby group, who were also in DC for their annual convention and lobbying day on Capitol Hill. Rev. Domske, myself, and a dozen or so other PC(USA) clergy, many of whom are members of Christians for a Free Palestine and The Palestine Justice Network, were just a few of the eight hundred clergy, multi-faith leaders, and faith-rooted activists who made up Interfaith Action for Palestine’s in person and online events. Yet again, we came together because we are “sickened that our elected leaders are fulfilling the goals of a far-right Christian Zionist organization” which believes that “all Jews must move to Israel and ethnically cleanse all Palestinians from the ‘holy land’ in order to hasten the “end times” and the return of Jesus Christ.”
Our message was delivered through nonviolent actions—like those taken inside and outside the Gaylord Convention Center where CUFI’s conference was underway, including praying, marching, and holding or dropping banners with messages like “CUFI Kills,” “No God Bombs Children,” and “People of Faith Against Starvation,” and those taken in the congressional cafeterias, including shutting down the check out line by praying, chanting “Congress doesn’t eat ‘til Gaza eat,” and joining hands to sing songs, including the traditional Palestinian Christian song “Yarabba ssalami (God of Peace).” We came together to say what hasn’t been said enough: that Christian Zionism is a dangerous violent theology that kills through funding both the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine, all while using Jewish people as pawns to fuel the overall Right Wing agenda underpinning the current administration policies of the United States. (more...)
Seeking a Presbyterian witness amid the genocide in Gaza
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