U.S. Christian leaders are circulating a declaration pledging solidarity with their Palestinian counterparts and pledging to advocate for a permanent and lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
“Our Palestinian Christian siblings are telling us that they are devastated by the extreme violence the Israeli military and Israeli settlers have inflicted upon their people before and after Hamas’ unjust attack on October 7, 2023,” says the statement signed by more than 4,100 progressive Christian activists, authors, pastors and theologians.
The document was created during Church at the Crossroads, a recent gathering of more than 100 leaders who committed to seek biblical reconciliation and to denounce the use of faith to justify Israel’s occupation and military attacks in Gaza and other parts of Palestine.
A shaky ceasefire is currently in effect between Israel and Hamas while a major humanitarian crisis, including famine conditions, continue in Gaza where more than 90% of homes and other buildings have been destroyed.
“At this crossroads, the church must choose. Will we follow the political idols of our day — or Jesus, who disarmed the powers and made peace through His blood?” organizers said about the September conference held in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Jemar Tisby
The event featured more than 20 speakers and leaders, including author and historian Jemar Tisby, activist and speaker Shane Claiborne, theologian Ruth Padilla DeBorst and Mae Elise Cannon, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace, which co-hosted the summit.
The conference was a response to letters sent by Palestinian and other Middle East church leaders urging Western Christians to speak out against the war then raging in Gaza and to scrutinize theological justifications for the violence.
“We deeply mourn the death and suffering of all people because it is our firm conviction that all humans are made in God’s image,” Palestinian Christians said in a 2023 letter. “We are also profoundly troubled when the name of God is invoked to promote violence and religious national ideologies.”
The source of that concern largely rests in the unwavering support for the Israeli military by the Trump administration and U.S. evangelicals who often frame the conflict in biblical and eschatological terms.
But the gathering challenged participants to consider ways the global church can respond to the suffering in Palestine.
Munther Isaac
“Our communities have been living with the consequences of war, displacement, siege and apartheid for decades,” said Munther Isaac, a Palestinian pastor and author. “We are aware of the very great disconnect between our reality and the fact that many of our global brothers and sisters in Christ do not even know we exist.”
At the conclusion of the two-day gathering, organizers and participants held a formal signing of the declaration, which represents a moral and theological response to Palestinian hardship, said Lisa Sharon Harper, a conference speaker, author and director of freedomroad.us.
“Just as we grieved the actions against our brothers and sisters in Israel on October 7, we grieve the ongoing violence crushing our brothers and sisters in Gaza. This declaration is a call to the church to name harm clearly and to align itself with the teachings of Jesus — teachings that give us courage to imagine restoration where there is now devastation.”