How we as Christians have contributed over the ages to Mideast violence

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The article was signed by multiple members of the Twin Cities-area Christian faith community. Their names are listed below.

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As Christian faith leaders observing Holy Week in the midst of devastating atrocities in Gaza, we are reflecting deeply on our relationship to and responsibility for this violence and for the violence in Israel on Oct. 7. As U.S. citizens, we are appalled that our tax dollars have contributed to the murder of more than 13,000 children and 17,000 adults in Gaza since the deadly Hamas attacks. As Christians, we are alarmed by the growing influence Christian Zionism has in our faith tradition; the ideology has more than 10 million followers and a powerful political lobby pushing for ethnic cleansing in Palestine as a precondition for the “Second Coming” of Christ.

This Holy Week, we repent for the ways that our faith has contributed to this current violence, and we invite our Christian siblings to turn toward awareness and action with us.

Many people have the impression that to repent means only to feel sad and sorry. Lament and confession are vital spiritual practices in Christianity, but these practices are incomplete — even futile — unless they lead us to action.

“To repent” in our scriptures means “to turn.”

As Christians in the U.S., our role in relationship to the violence in Palestine/Israel is often obscured. For centuries, our faith has been used as a tool of empire’s greed and Christian supremacy has created the conditions that have led to this present-day violence. There is much to repent for:

Christians are responsible for centuries of antisemitic violence, like the Christian-perpetrated Holocaust, which has led to a systemic lack of safety for Jewish people.

Christians are responsible for perpetrating centuries of Islamophobic wars and violence against Muslim and Arab countries, which have led to systemic lack of safety for Muslim and Arab peoples.

We have not responded to the calls of our Palestinian Christian relatives who for too long have been pleading in vain with Christians around the world to take action in solidarity with their plight.

We have allowed Christian Zionists to be the most influential Christian voice on Palestine/Israel. Christian Zionism is an antisemitic and Islamophobic ideology; Christian Zionists believe that when Jesus returns, all non-Christian people will be destroyed, including the Jewish nationalists who helped hasten the Second Coming.

We have allowed our Muslim and Jewish siblings to bear the greatest risks in the struggle for Palestinian rights and a future of safety for all people in the region, though we hold by far the greatest share of the responsibility.

The Jesus we follow embodies God’s liberating love for the whole Earth and all its people. He is a healer, a truth-teller, a peacemaker. He teaches us that all life is precious and that harming innocents is a grave sin. In Holy Week, we reflect on the fact that the Jesus we follow died on the cross as a supreme act of nonviolent resistance to empire.

For these reasons and more, this Holy Week, we commit to turn toward action for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza. We commit to turn away from complacency and to turn toward truth-telling, even when it’s uncomfortable and risky. And we ask other Christians to join us in this turning.

The conditions in Gaza are increasingly dire, as starvation, dwindling access to clean water and continuous bombs threaten those who have survived the onslaught of the last six months; scores of people are killed and hundreds injured and traumatized every day we fail to act.

What Christians do in this moment matters immensely. As Christians, we call upon U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, and upon our congressional representatives, to publicly support an immediate and permanent cease-fire and a resumption of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. We believe that the kingdom of God, the joy of beloved community with all people and the promise of a life-sustaining society is near — if we have the courage to build it together.

Signatories to this article are the Rev. Jane McBride, First Congregational Church of Minnesota, United Church of Christ, Minneapolis; the Rev. Martha Bardwell, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; the Rev. Lindsey Briggs, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, St. Paul; the Rev. Sarah Campbell, Mayflower UCC, Minneapolis; the Rev. Doug Donley, University Baptist Church, Minneapolis; the Rev. Susan Hayward, Mayflower UCC, Minneapolis; the Rev. Rex McKee, St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, Minneapolis; the Rev. Doug Mork, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; the Rev. Jen Nagel, University Lutheran Church of Hope, Minneapolis; the Rev. T. Michael Rock, director of contextual education and spiritual direction, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities; the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel, Center for Sustainable Justice at Lyndale UCC, Minneapolis; Caleb Yoder, pastor, Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis; Sana DelCorazón, Seminary student, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities; Peter Digitale Anderson, executive director, Peace Catalyst International; Rie Algeo Gilsdorf, Sustainable Mission Team, St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, Minneapolis; Diane Haines, chair of Minnesota Conference UCC Immigration Team; Sorrel Virginia Hester, chaplain for Christian life at Macalester College; Jimmy Hoke, adjunct faculty in New Testament at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and director of children and family ministry at the House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul; Ray Ann Hommeyer, seminary student, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities; Doe Hoyer, seminary student, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery; Chris Kosowski, liturgist and pastoral care, Church of St. Frances Cabrini, Minneapolis; Brian H. McNeill, president, Dignity Twin Cities, LGBTQIA+ Catholics, and Clara Sanders, St. Nicholas Episcopal Church.