Interfaith action and the role of Christians

CAMPAIN wants to galvanise the grass roots to change the political agenda.

Working with others, notably the Convivencia Alliance, we want to bring people of goodwill – and particularly people of faith – to turn around our government’s willing participation in apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Christians can play a major role in this says CAMPAIN co-founder Jonathan Coulter.

It could take decades, as did the bringing down of apartheid in South Africa. But we have no choice, he insists.

People have come out in their hundreds of thousands to condemn Israeli actions but unscrupulous politicians and supporters of Zionism have smeared them as hate marchers.

But Coulter said:

In reality, they are quite the opposite. The marches bring together people of diverse faiths and none. They are motivated by love of fellow humans and the desire to relieve suffering. While Britain’s culture warriors seek to divide and rule us, the marches help turn us into a single community with a common purpose.

Palestinian Christians

Powerful voices of Palestinian Christians inspire the initiative. Foremost among them is Pastor Munther Isaac, dean of Bethlehem Bible College and an advocate for all of his people – Muslim and Christian.

Two years ago, he brought us his Christmas sermon Christ under the Rubble – a searing condemnation of the Western churches who abandoned their brothers and sisters in Palestine by failing to speak out about the Israeli genocide. This Christmas Dr Isaac issued a further condemnation in his Facebook page, telling us that:

Christ under the Rubble, at the Lutheran Church in Bethlehem

Bethlehem isn’t and never was the sweet little town of sentimental Christmas cards.

Christianity is a Middle Eastern religion whose origins began in a brutal empire and tells the story of ordinary people caught in its path, he said.

People forget that the story unfolded among a people who lived under empire, who faced displacement, who longed for justice, and who believed that God was not distant but among them.

Revisiting his former church in Bethlehem which still exhibits Christ under the Rubble, he said:

This old-new crib spoke to me again.

The rubble remains. The broken stones are still there. The Christ child still lies among the rubble, reminding us that God chose not safety, not power, not palaces—but vulnerability and solidarity with the crushed of the earth. And yet now, rising from that rubble, stands a tree - a living tree.

For me, this is a profoundly Palestinian image—and a profoundly Christian one.

The tree is a declaration. It is the tree of life. It is defiance in the face of death.”

Stumbling block number 1: so-called Christian Zionism

Christian Zionism sees the modern state of Israel as the working out of God’s plan. It gives Israel a free pass to do as it wishes and ignores human rights, picking and choosing verses to suit but – significantly – ignoring the Gospels which preach solidarity with the oppressed. And Christ himself doesn’t get a look-in at all!

Unscrupulous politicians mobilise this doctrine for nefarious ends. Donald Trump presents himself as the saviour of Judeo-Christian civilisation in spite of his own godless lifestyle.

Israeli PM Netanyahu has jumped on the bandwagon - see this obscene performance - claiming that Israel protects the Christian community, completely ignoring Palestinian Christians who have been hounded out and murdered since 1948 and whose holy sites have been destroyed.

He ignores the endless attempts at dispossession of families such as the Nassar family, that tried to retain its own land at the world famous Tent of Nations near Bethlehem.

Stumbling block number 2: Christian conservatism and inaction

Anglicans have been slow to engage with the Palesininian cause - they often endorse establishment positions and are reluctant to upset the Israel lobby. This was particularly pronounced with former Archbishop Justin Welby, a close friend of Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis who has been touring synagogues praising Israeli actions in Gaza.

Far from taking up the cause of Palestinian Christians, the archbishop actually cancelled a meeting with Pastor Isaac, only reversing his decision following a public outcry.

Things have improved since Welby’s departure, with a handful of bishops – and most notably Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York – criticising Israeli genocidal policies.

But even now, as church leaders prepare for February’s upcoming General Synod meeting – the church’s parliament – the existential crisis in Gaza and the West Bank is still not on the agenda.

Says Jonathan:

Western Christians need to awake from their slumber and take the lead in this movement.

What we can do as individuals

•           Join Lambeth Witness Group’s leafletting of General Synod of the Church of England in February. Contact Sharen Green. •           Write to your local bishop to ask why the church doesn’t publicly condemn Israeli actions. As the Established Church, the CofE is answerable to all of us, members or not.

•           Wear your keffiyeh – especially if you go to church.

•           Get well informed and don’t be afraid to raise the issue in ordinary conversations or to answer questions on Palestine.

•           Ask your vicar/minister if you could lead a special prayer session for the Middle East, perhaps after a service, or separately.

•           Look into church finances and donations. Question any links that promote Israeli interests.