Leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church released a Valentine’s Day statement that showed zero love for America’s support of Israel’s deadly attacks on innocent civilians in Gaza.
“Since Oct. 7, 2023, in retaliation for the brutal murder of 1,139 Israeli citizens by Hamas, Israel has murdered over 28,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children,” said the statement. “The United States is supporting this mass genocide. This must not be allowed to continue.”
Signed by the AMEC’s Council of Bishops, the statement calls on U.S. leaders to “immediately withdraw all funding and other support from Israel.”
The call to halt funding was reported by veteran Religion News Service reporter Adelle Banks, who said the AME believed it was the first denomination to do so.
Bishop Harry L. Seawright
“We have always tried to take a social stand against injustice, unfair treatment of all people,” said Bishop Harry L. Seawright of the AME, which was founded in the U.S. amid the injustice of slavery.
The AME is not alone. Banks reported that leaders of the National Council of Churches, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Sojourners, and the National African American Clergy Network asked U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson to require funding for humanitarian aid for Palestinians in any Israel aid package.
Israel aid is currently bogged down in Congress, and the House is closed for two weeks.
Valentine’s Day was the 264th anniversary of the birth of AME founder Richard Allen, a pastor who in 1787 held the first AME service in a blacksmith’s shop after chafing under racial restrictions in the white Methodist Episcopal Church.
The 2.8 million member global denomination encourages members to keep its unique history in mind as it seeks to confront the challenges of the 21st century: “The church was born in protest against slavery — against dehumanization of African people, brought to the American continent as labor. The mission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is to minister to the spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional and environmental needs of all people by spreading Christ’s liberating gospel through word and deed.”
While the AME may be the first Christian denomination to call on the U.S. to stop funding Israel, a growing number of Black Christian leaders have been calling for cease-fires, humanitarian assistance and peace talks for Palestinians, some since early October.
Last year, Black faith leaders signed a group letter and bought ads in newspapers calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, more humanitarian assistance and a U.S. commitment to a peace process including a two-state solution.
More than 80 groups signed a letter issued Oct. 16, 2023, by Americans for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker organization. Quakers have long opposed war and violence, and some Black leaders signed their letter.
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