Citing daily new outbreaks of violence between the state of Israel and people in the Palestinian Authority, Massachusetts Christian religious leaders today released an open letter calling on all government officials---Israeli, Palestinian, and U.S.---to pursue with renewed vigor the “risk of responsible engagement”.
Signers of the letter entitled “An Open Letter about the Conflict between Israel and the Palestinians from Christian Religious Leaders in Massachusetts” include heads of Protestant denominations and the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Massachusetts, all members of the Massachusetts Council of Churches.
“These tragic actions,” the letter states, “underscore the need for fresh approaches to stop reciprocal actions of violence, to counter the culture of blame, and to create a climate of responsibility that will enable the resumption of peace negotiations.”
Using Biblical texts a number of times in the letter’s text to make their points, the religious leaders quote Psalm 34:14, exhorting governmental officials to “Seek peace and pursue it”.
The expressed “urgent need to stop the violence, resume negotiations, and address the humanitarian crisis that accompanies the current situation”, are consistent with concerns that have been voiced by the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and its International Policy Committee chaired by Bernard Cardinal Law, Archdiocese of Boston.
Taking a public stance on this issue is nothing new for members of the Massachusetts Council of Churches. Rather, it continues a long process in which the churches have been engaged in seeking resolution to conflict in the Middle East by addressing its root causes.
In a 1982 statement entitled “A Call to Repentance and Responsibility in the Middle East”, MA Council leaders stated support for the rights of the people of Israel to statehood within secure and defined boundaries and the equal rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and self-government. The open letter of 2002 reiterates that support stating “We are firmly committed to the right of the state of Israel to exist in security and tranquility. We also affirm the need for an autonomous Palestinian state with equal confidence and freedom from fear.”
More than twenty-five years ago, the MA Council inaugurated a series of Jewish-Christian dialogues that continue to this day. Some of the original participants still are involved. Similar dialogues between Muslims and Christians were initiated by the Council in 1990 and continue. Both sets of conversations provide crucial space in which issues can be discussed freely and relationships of trust can develop.
Such relationships have provided the context in which communication occurs during times of crisis. Last autumn, the participation of three Episcopal bishops at a demonstration in support of justice for Palestinians served to galvanize wide-ranging responses in the ecumenical community. What followed was a closed-door meeting of religious leaders of Christian and Jewish faith communities, facilitated by the MA Council of Churches and the Jewish Community Relations Council, where issues of mutual concern were aired through dialogue. This open letter seeks to address many of those concerns.
In December, at a vigil organized by the Jewish community in response to the escalation of violence in Israel/Palestine, Executive Director Rev. Diane C. Kessler was asked to represent the MA Council board of directors in a show of solidarity.
Such solidarity is expressed in the letter’s statement: “Our common faith traditions----Christian, Jewish and Muslim---have strong commitments to justice and peace. We long to make the world a better place for all God’s children. These deeply held religious convictions inform our ethical concerns. And so we are moved to ask of ourselves and others: What have we acceded to that we should have resisted? What has not been done that could be? What has been unchallenged that should be?
Release of the Massachusetts leaders’ letter precedes an upcoming gathering of the U. S. Conference of the World Council of Churches, scheduled for February 28-March 2 in Boston. The World Council of Churches has declared 2001-2010 “Decade to Overcome Violence”. Discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is on the agenda of the meeting which has as its theme “Overcoming Violence: Churches Seeking Peace and Reconciliation.”
Speaking with their own voice at this time, however, the state’s leaders seek to stimulate a wider discussion based on the urgency of the present state of affairs. The church leaders intend to arrange meetings with members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation to confer further about ways forward.
“Entering this dialogue is fraught with risk,” the leaders caution in the letter’s concluding paragraphs. “The issues underlying the conflict are complex and convoluted, something like wheel within a wheel’ (Ezekiel 10:10).”
They go on to acknowledge: “We are, in some sense “outsiders” to the conflict. We urge our hearers, however, not to dismiss all we say because something we say may lack full comprehension of the situation. In fact, if we were to acquiesce to a sense of powerlessness it only would compound the sense of isolation in the region.
“Sometimes such a situation benefits from ‘outsiders,’ who stand beside to ask questions and to listen with fresh ears, who seek to be pastoral and prophetic at the same time. If we dare to dream in days when the only dreams seem to be nightmares, then let us ask---and ask together---what would be a good society for Israelis and Palestinians in that region?”
The letter will become a vehicle for meetings with Congressional officials
and for continuing dialogue with members of the Jewish community. The signers
hope to stimulate responsible discussion and action on the part of all parties
concerned with resolving the escalating violence.
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR SIGNERS OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS’ OPEN LETTER
The Rev. Terry Burke
617-524-1634
The Rt. Rev. Roy F. (Bud) Cederholm, Jr.
617-482-5800
The Most Rev. John A. Elya
617-566-4511
The Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris
617-482-5800
Bishop Susan Wolf Hassinger
978-682-7555
His Eminence Methropolitan Methodios of Aneon 617-277-4742
Bishop Margaret Payne
508-791-1530
The Rev. Canon Edward Rodman
617-868-3450 ext.401
The Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE
617-482-5800
The Rev. Dr. Linda Spoolstra
781-320-8100
The Rev. Dr. Nancy Taylor
508-845-5233
Elder Jane E. Wick
617-244-4766
The Rev. Dr. Diane C. Kessler
617-523-2771
Massachusetts Council of Churches
14 Beacon St., Suite 416, Boston, MA 02108