The bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church harshly condemned Israel over the Hamas War, exceeding even the usual intemperance of white progressive Mainline Protestant denominations. It accused Israel of waging “torture” against the Palestinians of Gaza followed by “murder,” with American weapons. They urged the U.S. to end all support for Israel. They accused Israel of disregarding Palestinian human dignity since 1954. And they accused the U.S. of supporting Israel’s “mass genocide.” They condemned “all violence as a means of resolving this conflict.” And they lamented the “tools of empire, colonialism, and domination,” while extolling their “solidarity with Jesus Christ of Nazareth, a Palestinian Jew.”
This statement was very unfair and very stupid. When dealing with terror strikes like October 7, what are the alternatives to “violence?” Critiques are easy. What are the constructive alternatives? If the communities of these bishops were attacked with murder, rape, and kidnapping, what would they urge? What would they expect of their government? What does historic Christian teaching offer on this topic? Surely more than platitudes.
When church leaders speak to society, they should do so soberly and constructively, reflecting the gravitas of their office. Did the bishops actually write this statement? If not, who did? Was there any serious conversation among them? And to what extent if any do AME members agree? The AME, like other historic black denominations, and like the white Mainline Protestant denominations, is declining, as more American Christians of all races gravitate towards nondenominational churches. This shift is understandable.
Meanwhile, Sojourners, a storied Religious Left journal that continues its descent into post-Christian extremism, published an article insisting Jesus was Palestinian. The author, who identifies as a Quker Palestinian in North Carolina, lamented “various fictional accounts found in the Bible, like the story of the Exodus, which some use to justify Zionism and the current apartheid.” And he claimed a “consensus among scholars that the Bible is not a history book,” but “Western Christians still refer to the Bible for ‘historical accounts’ of Palestine.” Correction: the vast majority of over two billion Christians, most of them outside the West, still heed the Bible as history, including the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt to the Promised Land.
In this Sojourners account, Jesus is not Palestinian ethnically or historically but in a spiritual sense as an oppressed indigenous person under imperial rule. Supposedly this interpretation “both honors his Jewish identity and emphasizes his profound role as a liberator within the specific context of Palestine.” In this way, “Jesus is not merely a symbol of liberation in the abstract; he is a direct ancestor, a beacon of resistance whose life under occupation mirrors the ongoing plight of the Palestinian people.”
Of course, the author cites Israel’s “unfolding genocide in Gaza.” He explains that claiming Jesus as a Palestinian “affirms a historical truth and resists the narratives that seek to erase our presence and legitimacy in our land.” By preaching “liberation and justice in the face of imperial tyranny,” Jesus is a “direct ancestor of the Palestinian people.” He concludes that “it’s deeply troubling to witness a religion that emerged under occupation being used to justify the modern occupation that we are currently experiencing.”
This Sojourners author, by denying the Bible’s historicity, especially of Exodus, loses all credibility as a Christian author. But it’s instructive that he feels the need to do so in his reinterpretation of an ahistorical Jesus who is a metaphor for political liberation. Needless to say, there’s no attempt by the author to understand why Jews feel attached to their homeland. Nor is there self-reflection about how destructive nonnegotiable Palestinian nationalism has been for Palestinians.
The AME bishops, echoing the Sojourners author, call Jesus a “Palestinian Jew.” Would Jesus have understood Himself in this way? He never referred to it, and Palestine is never cited in the New Testament. Roman soldiers mocked Jesus as “King of the Jews.” He was from Judea. Hebrews of His time did not refer to their land as Palestine. Jesus may as well be called an Assyrian or an Ottoman. For Christians, Jesus is the Savior of the world. But we don’t call him an American or a Chinese. Calling Him the former would elicit calls of Christian Nationalism, and justifiably. His exclusive nationality was Hebrew. And He belongs to all who call upon Him and claim Him as Lord.
Denying or minimizing Jesus’s Jewishness is unhistorical. It also leads to erasing the Jewish people historically and politically, a project Jesus would not support. Jesus does not give His followers detailed counsel on contemporary politics. Christians seek dignity for all people. Dignity for Israelis or Palestinians seems impossible from the perspective of Hamas, which wages endless war against the Jews and wants their eradication. How does a nation deal with enemies who seek its destruction? It is only through “nonviolence?” The AME bishops suggest so. But serious people know otherwise. And decent people know that erasing Israel, as the Sojourners author suggests, is morally unacceptable.
Christians living in America operate from safety and privilege. It’s easy to dispense critique of others in more dire situations. But church leaders and ostensibly Christian publications should strive to be sober, about all public affairs, and especially about Israel, from which our Lord emerged.
Comment by James Hardaway on February 21, 2024 at 7:13 pm
These AME leaders do not realize that in separating Jesus from his Jewishness they are doing exactly what German-Nazi theologians did in the 1930s paving the way for the Holocaust.
Comment by Tim Ware on February 21, 2024 at 8:07 pm
This ia a prime example of the main reason I left organized, denominational Christianity–it consists of two opposite poles, both of which are extreme. We get LGBTQ shoved down our throats by the left, and we get Israel shoved down our throats by the right. And each side is convinced that it, and it alone, constitues “the people of God .”
Israel has “October 7th’d” the people of Gaza every day since. How many Gazan Palestinians have to die before the thirst for blood of one sector of the Israeli government and their American supporters is satisfied?
It’s odd to me that so many Christians who are hyper-sensitive to sexual sin can completely ignore so many of the direct teachings of Jesus…things like “love your enemies.”
I see nothing in the Gospel teachings of Jesus that could in any way whatsoever be used to justify the artificial creation of the state of Israel, and I certainly see nothing in the teachings of Jesus that could be used to justify the slaughter going on in Gaza.
The whole world is getting tired of Israel, and frankly, it has few supporters left in the United States other than those who have been duped into believing they’re doing the will of God by being complicit in wholesale murder.
Comment by Douglas Ehrhardt on February 22, 2024 at 3:56 am
You mean Gaza that is Irans proxy state. Leftist so called churches love Islam and all the love that is spreads throughout the world. Really Tim?
Comment by George on February 22, 2024 at 7:45 am
“Gospel teachings of Jesus”and “the artificial creation of the state of Israel”. Are you kidding me? Tim, Jesus was standing flat footed in Israel, the land given to the Jews by His Father. The antisemitism that has come to the surface since the attack by Hamas is staggering. Israel has been under attack by different enemies for thousands of years. That’s historical fact. The facts just don’t matter to you and it’s plain to see why.
Comment by Giles Caver on February 22, 2024 at 7:54 am
Tim Ware: Again, please be honest when you make comments here. You claim above that “The whole world is getting tired of Israel, and frankly, it has few supporters left in the United States other than those who have been duped into believing they’re doing the will of God by being complicit in wholesale murder” is absurd. Last month’s Harvard CAPS-Harris poll in which 80% of Americans polled support Israel over Hamas and 67% only support a ceasefire if the hostages are all released and Hamas is removed from power. Again, you cannot be taken seriously on these pages or elsewhere in life when you let your emotions, and not the facts, dictate your comments.
Comment by David on February 22, 2024 at 8:51 am
One can object to the brutal Hamas attack and still oppose Israeli actions for the past 75 years in displacing and persecuting Palestinians. The State of Israel has always been a land grab from the natives since day one. This sort of thing has, of course, gone on many times in history including in the US. One has only to read the writings of David Ben Gurion to see this intention even before the establishment of Israel. Of course, the neighboring Arab states took what land they could at the end of the British Mandate leaving the Palestinians with nothing.
Once you get out of religious circles, the Exodus is regarded as legendary. Of course, without it, there would be no Mr. Sinai, Ten Commandments, or Covenant, causing the basis of Judaism to collapse.
Population genetics suggests that the Israelites were Canaanites who left their city-states during a time of social unrest and moved to the highlands. Curiously, the biblical account mentions the driving out of the Canaanites and then the Israelites continuing to worship the Canaanite divinities up until the time of King Josiah.
“They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.”—1 Kings 14:23-24
Genetics also suggests that modern Palestinians are largely Canaanite as well. Northern European Jews, the Ashkenazi, the founders of modern Israel, are about 40% non-Middle Eastern. This can be explained by Jewish males taking native European wives and by the conversion of pagan Italians to Judaism. This was done by Pharisaic Jews after 70 CE much to the annoyance of the early Christians.
Comment by Giles Caver on February 22, 2024 at 11:23 am
David: Thank you for acknowledging that the Arabs also took land from their Palestinian brethren. That doesn’t get much play in most circles these days, and you deserve credit for calling it out. Also underplayed are the centuries of repression, pogroms and expulsions of Jews from their homes throughout the Middle East. Ben Gurion and his contemporaries knew that the Jews would need their own homeland, or suffer extermination, and settled for one much smaller than the Jews warranted given their population in the dying Ottoman Empire. Sadly, for most Middle Easterners and Europeans (but not Americans, Tim Ware), the Jews really don’t merit a home anywhere other than North America. Then again, as you say, perhaps we occupy land once inhabited by Native Americans, who we must acknowledge, migrated from Asia. Wow, history really is messy, isn’t it? Thanks again, though. Give credit where it’s due, I say.
Comment by Gary Bebop on February 22, 2024 at 12:06 pm
Thanks, Mark Tooley, for exposing this matter to the light. Ultimately, evil reasonings and twisted facts will be overcome by the truth. Truth prevails in the end. But until the Day of Final Revelation, we must dare to contend for the truth. You are doing so boldly, unsparingly, faithfully.
Comment by George on February 23, 2024 at 5:33 pm
There WAS no “Palestine” until the mid-2nd c. when Roman emperor Hadrian renamed Judea and Samaria after the Philistines in order to spite the Jews he hated and had exiled. The Philistines had never lived even there! Today’s “Palestinian” Arabs came from the Arabian peninsula for jobs in the early 20th c. when the Jews started to return, drain swamps, irrigate deserts and build farms and factories. Their claims to have been there “from time immemorial” are mostly bogus. This is well-documented in the book “From Time Immemorial” by scholar Joan Peters. She began her doctoral thesis research to PROVE the Arab claims and, to her surprise, learned they were largely false. I believe the book is still in print.
Comment by William K. on February 23, 2024 at 6:05 pm
Tim Ware apparently believes wars are brought to a successful conclusion by sitting around a campfire and singing Kumbaya. Perhaps he would like to provide an example.
I note Hamas started this war. And now that they are getting their heads handed to them on a silver platter, they would like a break from the festivities they initiated. I look forward to seeing Isarel fire the last bullet in this war, on their schedule, and at their discretion.
Comment by George on February 23, 2024 at 7:56 pm
Unfortunately, there are many Tims and Davids out there that either usually mix a little fact with a lot of fancy. Underlying them is the oldest hatred on earth, Satan’s hatred of Israel and Jews. It might surprise the Tims and Davids that ALL the prophets of old foretold a “Last Days” return of the Jewish people to that land which has never been a nation other than Israel. There’s no comparison in the history of the nations. Modern Israel is indeed the “Miracle on The Mediterranean.” There’s never been a nation restored but Israel. Never been a language restored but Hebrew. All was foretold many centuries in advance so that no rational person could deny it is hand of God fulfilling His promise. This phenomenon is the great proof God has given the nations of Himself and His faithfulness. Still, these amazing facts will not convince one who has CHOSEN not to believe. It is not a rational but an emotional choice of one who is angry at God about something. It is sorrowful, but the same God who speaks of His love of Israel throughout scripture and history, also loves the Tims and Davids regardless of their anger at Him and anger at His ancient covenant people Israel.
Comment by George on February 23, 2024 at 8:34 pm
I checked Amazon still has a few of Joan Peters’ book “From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict Over Palestine” in Paperback – (1985) though its no longer in print. Its a great resource for anyone interested in the hard facts, well documented. The reality is quite different from what is widely believed. Many, like David, use some selected facts to propagate overall falsehood to paint Israel and Jews as aggressors falsely. Such would do well to read Ms. Peters’ scholarly research and get it right but they are usually only interested in bashing Israel.
Comment by Tim Ware on February 23, 2024 at 9:03 pm
Peters was an admitted staunch supporter of Israel. Naturally, she would arrange her “facts” and “documentation” to support Israel.
The fact is that neither Jews, Muslins, nor Palestinians are ultimately responsible for the mess that has existed in the Middle East for the past decades. The original blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the British Christians and British commercial interests who were responsible for the artificial creation of Israel. The fact that the mess has gone on for so long rests on the shoulders of the American Christians who have been fooled into thinking God demands their support for the continuing existence of Israel. The blood is on those parties’ hands.
Comment by David Gingrich on February 24, 2024 at 7:14 am
“The fact that the mess has gone on for so long rests on the shoulders of the American Christians who have been fooled into thinking God demands their support for the continuing existence of Israel.” Tim Ware sharing his Hamas-esque desire for the destruction if Israel. This is why Israeli’s understand that Hamas’s ability to wage war must be destroyed. Israel is waging a just war.
Comment by Jason Schafer on February 24, 2024 at 7:46 am
This is completely ignorant of what Israel is being accused of by the AME. Christians are failing to reconcile with the fact that our own brothers and sisters, Palestinian Christians, Coptics and Orthodox, live in Gaza as well, and have been subjugated to the overly-excessive bombings involved in this war.
It is possible to hold multiple truths in tension. That October 7th was an abomination of a tragedy, that all hostages should be freed, and that a ceasefire and aid should be immediately sent to Gaza.
No one realizes that the Ahli Arab Hospital for example was funded and ran by the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem.
The IRD paints a very one-sided picture. There are of course, those who fail to acknowledge the suffering of the Jewish people, but to ignore the history of Palestine is to also do a great disservice to those people as well.
Being in reality where one must reconcile two conflicting realities of two suffering peoples, is what it means to be an adult, faithful Christian.
Comment by George on February 24, 2024 at 11:44 am
Tim’s view, that Israel was “artificially” created by the British, is incorrect. The British mandate ended by their pulling out and leaving it to the League of Nations which became the UN, which in 1947 voted to recognize the state which was already effectively in existence by the hegemony of the returned Jews. It simply remained for Ben-Gurion and the first Zionist congress to make the official declaration, which they did on May 14, 1948. The British did not “create”anything, they merely withdrew. My personal friends, Derek and Ruth Prince were living there in Jerusalem and left on one of the last few truckloads of British soldiers, and as they pulled out the surrounding Arab nations attacked trying to destroy the fledgling new state but were defeated. The effort to destroy Israel continues to this day, on the ground, in the UN, in the foreign policy of some nations and in the warped views espoused by “those who hate Zion.” As Psalm 129:5 says, “May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame” and they always will be because “The LORD has established Zion, and in her His afflicted people will find refuge.” (Isaiah 14:32). Those who disagree can do so to their hearts’ content but they will make no difference.
Comment by Porcupine on January 11, 2026 at 5:59 pm
I hate to say this, but the Arabic- speaking peoples – including the Palestinians – are ALSO THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM!! Jews and Israelis conveniently leave this out of their conversation! Because of Abraham’s sin in cohabiting with Hagar, the land now has to be SHARED! God will forgive our sins if we ask Him but He doesn’t always relieve us of the consequences of our sins.