Condi and Holy Land Christians (by Deanna Murshed)
An open letter to Condeleeza Rice regarding her recent diplomatic trip to Israel/Palestine in an effort to re-ignite the peace process.
Dear Condi,
I couldn't help but wonder what was going through your mind as you stood in the midst of some of the "living stones" of the Holy Land last week. Hearing the stories of fellow Christians who have carried on the teaching and ministry of Christ since antiquity – holding firm and weathering the elements of history for the sake of the church's witness. For what it's worth, I commend you for breaking from your diplomatic meeting schedule to sit down with top religious leaders – Christian, Jewish and Muslim. I read that you listened as leaders spoke about "real life" complaints such as the failure of Israeli authorities to recognize the Greek Orthodox patriarch.
But were you surprised to find that so many of your own Christian brothers and sisters are Palestinian – and suffering as a result of the occupation, and less than enthusiastic about the U.S.'s role in the matter? You don't often hear about these folks in American media.
I caught one photo of you and your entourage ducking to get into the church of the nativity (traditional site where Jesus was born) by entering through the low and narrow Door of Humility. Was the irony lost on the U.S. delegation? You remarked to the media that "being… at the birthplace of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has been a very special and moving experience." I hope that you were able to make some connections between the Jesus of history and the Jesus of the present. As I blogged about last year, were you aware that Bethlehem, a town once consiting of a Christian majority, is being choked because the new Israeli "security wall" does not exactly encourage tourism – Bethlehem's economic lifeline? Or that the U.S.'s foreign policy stance in the region (since it is so often framed in religious/moral language) sometimes makes Muslims suspicious of their own Protestant Christian neighbors and confuses for them the image of Christ?
Please forgive my boldness. I don't mean to be a downer. You are a fellow sister in the body of Christ and I do believe that you are a person of faith and integrity. You come from a lineage of spiritual people whose faith sustained them through their own season of oppression – both your father and grandfather were Presbyterian ministers in the segregated south of Alabama. You referenced this experience on your trip as a gesture of empathy. You can relate. This is positive.
I also know that you are a member of National Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C., sponsor of the annual Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation conference that I attended last year where Christian leaders from the Holy Land come to plead with their American brethren for support and acknowledgement of their existence in the body. In fact, it's going on again this weekend.
So then, Condi, do you feel the tension? The tension that all Christians should feel, if they are living out of a healthy theology? That to be a Christian is – above all else – to be a sojourner, a pilgrim: in the world but not of the world? That no matter what our national stripe, our allegiance is ultimately to Christ and his church for the purposes of redeeming all of humanity?
My prayer for the church in America and everywhere is this: God, until your kingdom comes, help us feel the tension.
Deanna Murshed is director of integrated marketing for Sojourners.
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Comments
I can't help but wonder what it means when Deanna Murshed protests the failure of the State of Israel to "recognize" the Greek Orthodox patriarch? Does the state of Israel recognize other religious leaders? Is this recognition formal or informal? What are the criteria for this recognition? (And does the patriarch meet them?) What rights does this recognition confer?
Wolverine
Posted by: Wolverine | October 23, 2007 12:40 PM
And I'm not at all sure that the plight of West Bank Christians is all Israel's fault. From what I hear, persecution by Muslim Palestinians is a major factor in their leaving the area.
Posted by: dovid | October 23, 2007 1:01 PM
"From what I hear, persecution by Muslim Palestinians is a major factor in their leaving the area."
But the Jewish power structures taught them the lessons of oppression. They are only doing what Isreal taught them to do.
Posted by: kevin s. | October 23, 2007 1:16 PM
Remember, the Palestinian and other Middle Ease Christians are for the most part Catholic and Orthodox. The Christianists who run the Bush regime do not consider them Christian as such.
Kim M
Posted by: Anonymous | October 23, 2007 1:56 PM
That was beautifully written, Deanna. Thank you!
Posted by: Rachel | October 23, 2007 2:48 PM
Posted by: | October 23, 2007 1:56 PM
Kim M
'The Christianists who run the Bush regime do not consider them Christian as such.'
Bull! Bull and More Bull!
You have to be a Bible thumping whatever. (to call you a Baptist would be insulting to Baptist)
What is your proof for saying this. I know that Bush has Catholics in the White House. He has a Catholic incharge of Faith Based In.
As a conservative - I would never say that about any elected person or their administration. Not even Wallis would say this and he has said a lot.
whatever -
.
Posted by: Moderatelad | October 23, 2007 2:52 PM
Seeing Condi next to our orthodox family is definitely interesting and odd. Thanks for the post.
p
Posted by: payshun | October 23, 2007 3:31 PM
Kim M said
The Christianists who run the Bush regime do not consider them Christian as such.
I do not not if your a Sojourner or just a pagan troll . Either way , you disagree with the unity that the writer attempted to aspire to , despite some strong world views that are different .
Posted by: Mick Sheldon | October 23, 2007 3:32 PM
I know that there are complaints about the route of the wall around Bethlehem, but what are the reasons for it being there in the first place? Were there snipers or suicide bombers using this route? If this is so, then the complaints are bogus.
Posted by: Ben Wheaton | October 23, 2007 3:37 PM
I have often wondered how Palestinian Christians read God's promise to Isaac regarding the ownership of "the land," and yet continue to resist the expansion of Eretz israel. I do not doubt that Israel has a moral obligation to treat people, including the 'outsider,' in a moral way, and I do not doubt they have often failed in this respect; but I cannot for the life of me understand the continued insistence of Palestinian Christians, that they somehow must share in the ownership of the land itself. Do they think God put a statute of limitations on His declaration of ownership?
Posted by: joekc | October 23, 2007 3:39 PM
joekc wrote:
I have often wondered how Palestinian Christians read God's promise to Isaac regarding the ownership of "the land," and yet continue to resist the expansion of Eretz israel. I do not doubt that Israel has a moral obligation to treat people, including the 'outsider,' in a moral way, and I do not doubt they have often failed in this respect; but I cannot for the life of me understand the continued insistence of Palestinian Christians, that they somehow must share in the ownership of the land itself. Do they think God put a statute of limitations on His declaration of ownership?
Well, to my knowledge there are several ways around this issue. Disclaimer: I am not a Palestinian Christian.
First, there is the argument rightly or wrongly that the Jews were unfaithful enough that the land being stripped from them is just punishment.
Second, there is the NT's "neither Jew nor Greek" passage suggesting that Jesus abolished the distinctions between Jews and Gentiles.
Third, there is the argument that modern-day Israel is not, and should not, be treated as the continuation of biblical Israel.
BTW, IIRC the promises to Abraham, which have often been cited by the US right-wing, as justification to support Israel no matter what IMO are taken out-of-context. Maybe the same could be said about the promises to Issac? (I don't know and would appreciate a reader to cite the verses in question.)
Posted by: Ngchen | October 23, 2007 4:15 PM
Whoa! Now there's a post that would require an awful lot of assumption-unpacking. "The Land" has a very ambiguous place in Israel's history. Possession - but not "ownership", please. The ownership (as of every place on this planet as long as time shall last) is God's - possession is part of God's promise, but the promise is not unconditional (see, among many other passages, Deuteronomy 30:15-end). Israel's failure to live by the "commandments, decrees and ordinances" of God entails judgement (as, we might add, do our own defections from "loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments"). And the state of Israel's treatment of our (I write as a Christian) Palestinian brothers and sisters - and their Muslim neighbours - has hardly mirrored that concern for "the aliens who reside among you" which we find in many passages of Deuteronomy and the other books of the Torah - not to mention Ruth and Jonah and "the Latter Prophets".
So it might be wise to steer clear of any "Christian Zionist" ideology which insists on Israel's "ownership in perpetuity" of Eretz Israel. Such positions are usually historically flawed and theologically unsound.
Posted by: Tony Dickinson | October 23, 2007 4:37 PM
I have been to the Occupied Palestinian Territories five times since June 2005 to bear witness and report on the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land, which has reduced our sisters and brothers numbers from 20% of the total to less than 1.3% since 1948.
The major reasons for the Christian EXODUS are the 40 years of Occupation, The Wall which has been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in the Hague for it does NOT follow the Green Line, but divides Palestinians from Palestinians and denies them access to their land, jobs, families and holy sites.
Topping it off is the growing fundamentalism within all branches of the family of Father Abraham and the daily hassle and humiliations at the over 500 Checkpoints throughout the West Bank where 19 year old Israeli soldiers have total control and rule the comings and goings of all Palestinians-and without reason or cause-can deny their movement and keep them waiting for hours upon hours.
Researches and scholars have now predicted that unless things change VERY soon, there will be NO Christian witness in the land where Jesus promised it is the peacemakers that are God's children-ny 2020, down from 2025.
The window of opportunity is only open for so long.
I hope and pray every USA Christian will connect with their Holy Land roots and FAX and phone President Bush NOW, that only an end to the Occupation, the observance of International Law and equal human rights for ALL the people of the Holy Land is THE only WAY to begin to truly win the "war on terror" and provide a secure and peaceful dwelling for all of Father Abraham's children.
WHITE HOUSE COMMENTS LINE: 202-456-1111
WHITE HOUSE FAX: 202-456-2461
Eileen Fleming,
Reporter and Editor http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu."
Posted by: eileen fleming | October 23, 2007 4:41 PM
Joekc -
You can read a thoughtful (but long!) answer to your question in:
Colin Chapman (2002: revised edition), Whose Promised Land? - the continuing crisis over Israel and Palestine, Lion Publishing, Oxford, England: ISBN 0 7459 5111 2
Chapman is an evangelical Anglican (Church of England) who has worked for many years in the Middle East and has also written extensively on Islam and on Christian apologetics in muslim-dominated countries.
Mark
Posted by: Mark | October 23, 2007 4:44 PM
Thank you all for your comments, the question was well-meant, not intended to cause an uproar, and it didnt. I asked it in sincerity, as an 'evangelical' (sort of) because I wanted to see what input I could get.
The apostle Paul also speaks of God's promise of the land to Isaac, and asks the rhetorical question: "I ask you then, has God forgotten His people, whom He foreknew?" and then answers it quickly, "God forbid." I have no doubt that current secular Israel bears little resemblance to any nation of Israel that some of us believe that the prophets spoke of, but I was asking the question, trying to put myself in the place of a Palestinian sister or brother in Christ. I struggle with this question, in light of some pretty clear scripture - - or at least it seems clear to me.
As I also said, none of this relieves Israel of its obligation to deal with its neighbors with justice and decency, as i understand some equally clear scripture.
Posted by: joekc | October 23, 2007 5:07 PM
Another helpful book for understanding the issue from a Christian theological perspective is "Whose Land? Whose Promise?" by Wheaton professor, Gary Burge,(2003).
-Deanna Murshed
Posted by: Deanna | October 23, 2007 5:47 PM
Thank you to Deanna Murshed and for the excellent response by Eileen Fleming. As one who has been in the West Bank for nearly two weeks this summer on a pilgrimage and fact finding mission, I witnessed some of the horrors of the Occupation. When someone says they "hear persecution by Muslim Palestinians is a major factor in their leaving the area" I cannot imagine hearing that from the Palestinian Christians with whom I lived, nor the welcome I received by Palestinian Moslems. It is time to wake up and challenge an American foreign policy that is disastrous for Christian sisters and brothers in Palestine.
Posted by: Charlie | October 23, 2007 7:28 PM
Sorry, but Kim M is correct. In that mindset only those who have been "born again" are true Christians
Posted by: Rick Nowlin | October 23, 2007 7:54 PM
It's nice to see so much general agreement on this (apart from the single poster that Moderatelad corrected).
Like Wolverine, I don't understand what 'recognising' the Greek Orthodox Patriarch is all about. It would be good if someone who knew could enlighten us (Maybe Deanna, given she's checked the comments - always nice).
Be Blessed,
Posted by: Trent | October 23, 2007 9:04 PM
"I do believe that you are a person of faith and integrity"
You give Condi a lot more credit than I ever would.
Posted by: JamesMartin | October 23, 2007 10:14 PM
"can't help but wonder what it means when Deanna Murshed protests the failure of the State of Israel to "recognize" the Greek Orthodox patriarch? Does the state of Israel recognize other religious leaders? Is this recognition formal or informal? What are the criteria for this recognition? (And does the patriarch meet them?) What rights does this recognition confer?"
Google it and feel free to get lost elswehere in the web.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 23, 2007 10:22 PM
Greek Orthodox Patriarch requires recognition from Israel, Palestinian Authority and Jordan to be installed (a church requirement).
The prior Patriarch was deposed by his own synod over a land sale to Israeli developers.
Israel refused to recognise the new Patriarch unless he promised that any future land sales be offered to Israelis first and that the contentious land be held by it's Israeli lessees.
Jordan did recognise the new Patriarch, but has now revoked that recognition because the new Patriarch did not cancel the earlier contentious sale.
Meanwhile the prior Patriarch has challenged the legality of his dismissal and is urging Israel to continue to recognise him.
Be Blessed,
Posted by: Trent | October 24, 2007 12:21 AM
Sorry, but Kim M is correct. In that mindset only those who have been "born again" are true Christians
Posted by: Rick Nowlin
No your wrong , What Christians are you refering to , name them .
Posted by: Mick Sheldon | October 24, 2007 2:53 AM
Researches and scholars have now predicted that unless things change VERY soon, there will be NO Christian witness in the land where Jesus promised it is the peacemakers that are God's children-ny 2020, down from 2025.
This is only true if the Israeli Messianic community is ignored. (Sorry, pet peeve of mine...)
The plight of Palestinian Christians is very serious, but the fault lies in a whole complex web of issues, not just the occupation. (Witness Christian migration from the whole region, not just Israel/Palestine.) And there are local Christians on both (or should I say "all"?) sides of the political issues, from ardent Zionists to those who would prefer Israel to simply disappear.
Yes, Israel has a right to exist. Yes, so do the Palestinians. The biggest problem I see is that each side demonizes the other, and unfortunately, their respective supporters often do so as well.
The best solutions I've seen are those that bring together ordinary Israelis and Palestinians, helping them to see each other as fellow humans and even friends. Musalaha (musalah.org) is a great example.
Blessed are the peacemakers...
Posted by: Cindy | October 24, 2007 7:43 AM
Correction: that URL should be musalaha.org - that's what I get for posting before coffee! :)
Posted by: Cindy | October 24, 2007 7:46 AM
kinder, gentler... even though you're right,
(or should that be 'especially when you're right').
Posted by: Trent | October 24, 2007 10:07 AM
This is a most condescending way of giving compliments...
Posted by: John Verhaar | October 24, 2007 12:08 PM
Dovid commented:
And I'm not at all sure that the plight of West Bank Christians is all Israel's fault. From what I hear, persecution by Muslim Palestinians is a major factor in their leaving the area.
... But it's entirely possible that because of the US' avowedly Christian carte-blanche,'anything-goes' policy toward Israel, the Palestinian Christians are viewed by the Muslim Palestinians as part of the US-Israeli Alliance. Don't expect the Muslim Palestinians to act more rationally than we do...
This same sort of thing obtains elsewhere. In Iraq the US invasion has seriously worsened the position of the native Assyrian Christians, who've been there since roughly 33 AD.
And Lebanon, whom Israel invaded again recently with our encouragement, has, or had until recently, a majority Christian population. Is this cynicism, hypocrisy, or mere blinding American ignorance? Before the Throne of God it won't matter.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 24, 2007 4:02 PM
Dovid says:
"And I'm not at all sure that the plight of West Bank Christians is all Israel's fault. From what I hear, persecution by Muslim Palestinians is a major factor in their leaving the area."
Don't you suppose the name "Christian" opens them to persecution also from Muslims who assume that since the loudly self-proclaimed "Christian" US has given its Israeli allies carte blanche dealing with Palestine, these Christian Palestinians are their enemies too? A natural assumption? Don't expect Palestinians to think any more logically than Americans!
This works too in Iraq; the US' invasion has made the lot of the native Assyrian Christians, who've been there since ca AD 33 a lot harder vis a vis their Muslim neighbors.
And of course Lebanon, which the US recently encouraged to invade, has, or till recently had, a majority Christian population; Have we made things better for them?
Is this cynicism, hypocrisy, or mere blinding American ignorance?
Posted by: Ted Voth Jr | October 24, 2007 4:14 PM
First off, thank you, Deanna, for a very well written piece about Secretary Rice's visit. I have a couple of comments to add to the blog.
Dovid has stated that persecution from Muslims is a major factor in Christians leaving. Having been in the West bank in June and having spoken to the Bishop of the Lutheran churches in Jordan and the Holy Land, as well as the Arch-Bishop of the Melkite Catholic church of the entire Middle-East, and...many others, I can tell you that THE major reason for Christians leaving since 1948 is and has been the occupation and the stress on their lives that it, and now the wall, have caused. Israel's security is to be assured but I do not believe that those ends justify the means used.
To whom does the land belong? It belongs to God. It is God's to determine whom will be the care-takers. I support Mark's comment about Chapman's book. I have also just finished another book, entitled, "Dying in the Promised Land", by Donald Wagner, which also gives good perspectives on the history and issues. It was published in 2000, but is hard to find. Read Elias Chacour's book entitled "Blood Brothers" for a first hand account of what he lived thru as a Palestinian Christian boy in 1948 through to the book's publication; it's readily available.
I encourage all to check out websites such as Churches for Middle East Peace (www.cmep.org) and the Jewish Voice for Peace (www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org)and many others.
The peoples of Israel and Palestine want peace. This upcoming meeting in the US can be the start of that peace process, but the US must take a lead role in making it happen. We should all pray for Peace and Justice to come to Jerusalem and the Middle East.
george
Posted by: george | October 25, 2007 10:30 AM
"But the Jewish power structures taught them the lessons of oppression. They are only doing what Isreal taught them to do."
Nice try kev. No doubt some lib/progressive will rise to the bait.
Sometime you should introduce us to your team of creative consultants. No one human being could come up with all the hateful and satanic stupidity you shovel out on this blog every day.
Posted by: seminal seminole | October 25, 2007 2:17 PM
Deanna Murshed is entirely right.and just. But the sad-tragic story of the Greek-Orthodox is not the best example to demonstrate the Israeli policy,and contribution to the Christians' exsodos frm the Holy land.
As a native Christian ( and the author of "Narrow Gate Churches- Hope Publishing House"- as I call the Middle East Christians) I wrote the entire story in detail, but on this occasion I may try to make the long story short. Wars and violence are to blame for our suffering, and ESPECIALY, when "christian" powers are involved.Since the Crusaders we are accused by some of our Muslim neighbours of being a fifth column!. The current American policy- in Iraq and Palestine drive many Muslims to believe that.
The Jewish part of this equasion stated with anti-semetic persecution of the Jews in Europe. we pay the price of these crimes - including the atrocities of the anti-christ Nazi regime. Many Jews say and write that Nazism was based on Christian tradition !
Back to the Greek-Orthodox patriach recognition: This is a sheer political-legal tradion, and the patriarch need it for official practices.
Atallah Mansour
Posted by: Atallah Mansour | October 26, 2007 4:57 AM
Some comments seem to getting dangerously close to a highly one-sided politicised 'narrative' but I am glad to see some sense emerging too. Trying not to curse the sinner nor rushing into harsh judgement seems to be a christian-y thing to do. Jewish and Moslem too. In regard to this situation it is the only sane thing to do. So be very, very weary of those whom are trying to import an anti-Israel or anti-Arab politic into your faith groups. Such as is happening in some so-called 'Progressive' groups and the more 'Traditional' whom should really take a step back and look at this through fresh eyes since they have become 'haters'.
There is always hope when there exists even a few men (or women) of Good Faith, even in this intractible conflict. And for Israelis and the entire Jewish Nation please remember this is, once again, Existential. Something Christianity as a long-standing part of 'the Establishment' has not had to face since its Imperialisation with the possible exception of the Soviet/Communist persecution of all religions.
When Christian religious antisemitism (originally arising from Pauline Hellenisation) gained a permanent foothold in Christian discourse and attitudes part of the Christian soul was lost. Some of this is repeated above in 'Successionist' and for your Jewish cousins 'Supremacist' language above.
It is also absolutely true that Christians are not suffering in Eretz Israel, nor the Middle East generally, only due to the re-occupation of the Transjordan because of the 2nd Intifada. Nor was it the, arguably lesser evil, of the US invasion of Iraq that has harmed Christians and other non-moslem faiths too but the 'surge' in a Moslem-Supremacist death cult and neo-Imperialism which had began many years beforehand.
All of the leaderships in the Israel/Arab conflict have missed opportunites for progress towards peace and normalisation. But pressure most be brought upon the rejectionists not those whom are prepared to talk and that has to mean isolating the men of violence and hate and encouraging **and physically protecting** those seeking peace and even a minimal toleration on both sides of the Armistice lines.
There have been grave errors and failures of principle in sections amongst Christian, Moslem and Jewish populations historically throughout time and tragically into the Modern too. Both in Israel and in the Palestinian territories.
It is not 'either, or' in this conflict. As for oppression and persecution. Listen to your Rabbi, 'let he who is without sin....' and remember the history of Christandom. Avoid transfering guilt for that history onto others. By playing any kind of Holier-than-thou game you add nothing towards bringing about peace for those in Eretz Israel nor between our kindred faiths everywhere else.
Posted by: God Fearer | October 26, 2007 5:26 AM
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