In April, bishops from the ACoC and ELCIC met with Members of Parliament to persuade them to “hold Israeli authorities accountable for human rights abuses under international law.”
Since no one listens to them or cares what they think, the bishops are just as powerless to influence MPs as the MPs are to punish another country for its alleged abuses. That doesn’t stop them trying, though.
The puzzling thing is, why does the ACoC reserve all its pious outrage for Israel? Just like any other country, Israel does things it shouldn’t, but it is still the most humane and democratic country in the Middle East.
Far worse human rights abuses occur in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, North Korea – and so on. We never hear a squeak from our bishops about them.
Are the bishops antisemitic?
Admittedly, the bishops do denounce Uganda because it hasn’t gone full-bore LGBT+. But that is just ugly neocolonialism oozing out from behind a veneer of inclusive, affirming, tolerant diversity.
From here:
Leaders of Canadian Anglican, Lutheran, United and Presbyterian churches, including Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, met with MPs from the Liberal and Conservative parties April 27 to “advocate for a just and lasting peace in Palestine and Israel,” according to a news release issued on a shared Anglican-Lutheran website the same day.
Among other policies, the church leaders requested the government create a special envoy to monitor and report on how children are treated in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and to hold Israeli authorities accountable for human rights abuses under international law. They also urged Ottawa to publicly condemn what they called Israel’s attack on Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations.
Nicholls and ELCIC National Bishop Susan Johnson had previously sent a series of letters to the government expressing concerns about violence on the part of the Israeli government and its citizens. In addition to the nation’s treatment of Palestinians, Nicholls has expressed concern over growing anti-Christian sentiment in the wake of the Jan. 13 desecration of the Christian Mount Zion Cemetery. Many of the Christians living in Israel and Palestine are ethnic Palestinians.
The group included Nicholls, along with Johnson; the Rev. Carmen Lansdowne, moderator of the United Church of Canada; and the Rev. Dorcas Gordon, principal emerita of the University of Toronto’s Knox College.
Why? Once all four of these Denominations have abandoned our Jewish LORD Jesus Christ’s Great Commission to begin in Jerusalem, Replacement Theology becomes Replacement Geography: about to be formally Adopted at the General Synod, June 27-July 2, 2023, in Resolution A051-R2. There is Christian Zionism; then there is Christian anti-Semitism.
The anti-Israeli position of the Anglican Church of Canada, and of so many other similar institutions, is a nasty stew of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity, and an ugly antisemitism bathed in incense. The Israelis are a brave and useful people, surrounded by enemies, and determined to survive. May God be with them!
In the Old Testament, there was always a small group of the faithful who continued to trust God. Likewise, the modern Church continues to have the faithful minority to continue to trust God.