Weekly Action: Petition for Ceasefire
This blog has recently joined the Weekly Action Coalition. More on that later. Here’s the action:
We received this e-mail from our Weekly Action Coalition partner, Thoughts of an Average Woman.Dear friends, Right now a tragedy is unfolding in the Middle East. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed or wounded in the bombings in Lebanon, Palestine and Israel and the death toll is rising every day. If the US, Syria or Iran get involved, there is a chance of a catastrophic larger war. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for an immediate ceasefire and the deployment of international troops to the Israel-Lebanon border, and been strongly supported by almost every world leader. This is the best proposal yet to stop the violence, but the US, the UK, and Israel have refused to accept it. I have just signed a petition calling on US President Bush, UK Prime Minister Blair, and Israeli Prime Minister Olmert to support Kofi Annan’s proposal. If millions of people join this call, and we advertise our views in newspapers in the US, UK, and Israel, we can help pressure these leaders to stop the fighting. Go to the link here and sign up now!
Arab Christian Leader: Errant Bible Reading Misleads U.S. Christians
Dr. Martin Accad, the Dean of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut, has been stranded in the U.S. since the Israeli/Lebanese war started. As rep0rted earlier in this blog, he has written two heart-rending accounts in Christianity Today about the way Christians in the Middle East are abandoned by U.S. Christians who uncritically support Israel. Now, in an article for Ethics Daily.com here: http://ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=7693, Dr. Accad says that one problem for U.S. Christians is a widespread misinterpretation of Scripture: Confusing biblical Israel with the modern political state of Israel. The “new Israel,” Accad reminds readers is the universal Christian community and not ANY political entity. I would add that even in the Hebrew Scriptures, the prophets had no trouble criticizing biblical Israel.
Accad rightly criticizes “Christian Zionism” (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism ), a widespread belief in U.S. folk theology that believes the modern state of Israel’s founding in 1948 was the fulfillment of prophecy. This leads to an incredibly uncritical support of Israel that discounts Israel’s victims, whether Muslim or Christian. Accad also has strong words against U.S. foreign policy, showing why its Middle East militarism and economic imperialism is perceived throughout the Arab world (both by Muslims and Christians) as a new crusade. Because the U.S. and Israel are so close as allies, this leads Arabs to respond to Israel not as a nation of refugees with an inherent right to exist in security, but as a pawn in Western, especially American, imperialist moves.
There is plenty of blame to go around. I will certainly not hesitate to criticize Arab autocrats or Muslim fundamentalists, especially groups using terrorist tactics. But Accad is right that it is very difficult for Christian leaders in the Arab world to confront Muslim leaders over the violent ideologies of (some versions of) Islamic teaching when they can point to uncritical Christian support of American and Israeli violence. Until American Christians repent of our violence addictions and return to the nonviolence of Jesus and the early church, we will have a very hard time talking about others’ violence without smelling of hypocrisy. The belief that Christians can kill people is another “errant Bible reading.”
About
Michael L. Westmoreland-White, Ph.D. I live in Louisville, KY USA with my wife, Kate, and our two wonderful daughters. My wife, Kate, is a Baptist minister who works at a Catholic charity (the Society of St. Vincent de Paul) to provide assisted housing to homeless people. Our daughters are Molly (’95) and Miriam (’99). I am a former soldier converted to gospel nonviolence and a once (and future?) academic theologian turned peace activist, author, and peace educator. Contact me at [email protected]
The Levellers were a 17th C. movement during the English Civil War. They were a religiously-inspired political movement for democracy, human rights, justice for the poor, and peace. Their strongest leader was Richard Overton, a pacifist General Baptist influenced by Dutch Mennonites. Although I write on a wide range of topics, most often this blog deals with the intersection of faith, especially Christian faith, and work for social justice and peace. So, I have named the blog and dedicated it to the spirit of Richard Overton and the 17th C. Levellers.
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