Tag Archives: Middle East

Anglican and Lutheran leaders call for Israel to stop fighting

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6

Again.

Happily, no one cares what Anglican leaders think about wars being fought in the Middle East. The only thing that stirs less interest in the general populace is what Anglican leaders think about religion.

I can’t bring myself to use the word ceasefire, since a ceasefire is not what Germond and Johnson want. They want Israel to stop fighting, at which point Hamas, Hezbollah and the IDF will join hands around the campfire and sing All You Need is Love.

From here:

Dear Prime Minister:

It has now been more than a year since the horrifying Hamas attack on Israel. Violence has continued with the decimation of Gaza by Israeli bombing and increasing settler attacks on Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank. In recent days, open hostilities in the region have expanded to include Lebanon, Yemen and Iran. Our hearts break at the horrific suffering and rising death toll caused by these armed conflicts.

We continue our call for a full and sustained ceasefire, for the release of all captives, for the immediate flow of life-saving food, water, aid, fuel and humanitarian assistance for the millions of Gazans suffering at this time, for an end to all arms transfers to Israel, and the end of occupation. We continue our call on leaders to lay down weapons and to work for a just and lasting regional peace.

We express our disappointment that Canada abstained from the September 18, 2024 United Nations motion calling on Israel to end its “unlawful presence” in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. We believe it is only through an end to the occupation and a just, comprehensive and lasting peace settlement that the security of both Palestinians and Israelis can be assured.

We call on the Government of Canada to diligently support all provisions of international law and a rules-based world order. Failure to consistently support international law allows the powerful to act with impunity, causing great suffering to the most vulnerable, marginalized and powerless people globally.

We continue to pray for an end to suffering—remembering in our prayers all who have died on all sides of the conflict, hostages and their families, those maimed and injured, all who have lost their homes and those who have not been able to move to safety—and for the opening of a humanitarian corridor into Gaza and a peaceful solution to this war.

Sincerely,

Rev. Susan Johnson
National Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

The Most Rev. Anne Germond
Acting Primate, Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Church of Canada discovers what is preventing peace in the Middle East

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10

It’s the fault of Evangelical Christians and their misguided support of Christian Zionism. If only we could persuade these benighted fundamentalists to repent, the rockets descending on Israel, the beheading epidemic, extreme Muslims bombing less extreme Muslims, people being burned alive for no particularly good reason would all immediately cease.

Why did no one think of this before?

From here:

Canadian Anglicans are invited to join members of other traditions at an upcoming conference that will explore a belief many see as one of the biggest obstacles to peace in Israel and Palestine.

[….]

A movement rooted in conservative evangelical Protestantism that emerged in the mid-20th century, Christian Zionism holds that the contemporary State of Israel represents the culmination of biblical prophecy and thus merits strong—and often uncritical—moral, financial and political support.

Anglicans pray for peace in the Middle East

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From here:

Diocese of Jerusalem praying for peace in Gaza and region
As bombing in Gaza continues, Bishop Suheil is in regular communication with Al Ahli Hospital there to ensure that staff and families are safe. The Diocese of Jerusalem continues to hold the people of Gaza and the region in its prayers, hoping that the violence will end soon.

The question is, why did we not read of the Diocese of Jerusalem praying that “the violence will end soon” when Hamas was firing rockets into Israel before Israel responded? Why do we not hear Bishop Suheil Dawani praying for Hamas to accept a perfectly reasonable cease-fire proposal that Israel was prepared to accept? Why do we not hear the Bishop of Jerusalem making statements condemning Hamas’s intent to destroy Israel and kill all its inhabitants? Why don’t we hear the Anglican Church in the Middle East condemning Hamas for hiding behind its civilians and then using the inevitable civilian deaths in their disgusting propaganda? Why does the Anglican Church not recognise and condemn Hamas for what it really is: a demonic death cult?

Why, why, why; surely the answer is not that the Anglican Church has an anti-Israel bias?.