Some evangelical leaders tell Bush they're not all Zionists
A call for ''a just peace'' and a more
even-handed US policy
by Alexa Smith, Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE -- July 16, 2002
-- Five evangelical Presbyterians have sent a letter to President
George W. Bush pointing out that the Christian Right's uncritical
support of Israel is not the position of all U.S. evangelicals.
Forty-three prominent evangelical leaders signed the
document, including author Philip Yancey; Professor Peter Kuzmic of
Gordon-Conwell Seminary; Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social
Action; and Richard Stearns, president of World Vision US.
The letter was drafted by Sider, Serge Duss of World
Vision, and Don Wagner, a Presbyterian minister who directs the Center
for Middle East Studies at North Park University in Chicago.
"The letter was written to reassure the President
that evangelicals are a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon, and that
the pro-Israeli Zionists' voices do not speak for all
evangelicals," said the Rev. Craig Barnes, pastor of National
Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, one of the signers. "It
isn't accurate to say that evangelicals are pro-Israeli. Some are, some
aren't.
"But we're not pro-Palestinian either,"
added Barnes, who said the letter harkens back to the Biblical prophets'
calls for justice.
Wagner said the letter was prompted by some
evangelicals' discomfort with the voice of the Christian Right that
unquestioningly favors the hard-line positions of the Israeli lobby and
of the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"It is devastating for justice concerns, and for
Palestinian Christians," said Wagner. "A lot of us are
concerned about a just peace."
In addition to Barnes and Wagner, the Presbyterian
signers include Marilyn Borst, executive director of Evangelicals for
Middle East Understanding, of Houston, TX; the Rev. John Crosby of
Christ Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, MN; and the Rev. Victor Pentz
of Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.
Other signatories include Paul Kennel, president of
World Concern; Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Seminary; David
Neff, editor of Christianity Today magazine; Glen Stassen, a
professor at Fuller Seminary; Andrew Ryskamp, executive director of the
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee; and Robin and Nancy
Wainwright, directors of the Holy Land Trust.
Wagner said evangelicals interested in endorsing the
statement should submit their names and addresses to Duss at Sduss@WorldVision.org.
The
text of the letter:
Dear
Mr. President,
We
write as American evangelical Christians concerned for the well-being of
all the children of Abraham in the Middle East -- Christian, Jewish and
Muslim. We urge you to employ an even-handed policy toward Israeli and
Palestinian leadership so that this bloody conflict will come to a
speedy close and both peoples can live without fear and in a spirit of shalom/salaam.
An
even-handed U.S. policy towards Israelis and Palestinians does not give
a blank check to either side, nor does it bless violence by either side.
An even-handed policy affirms the valid interests of Israelis and
Palestinians: both states free, economically viable and secure, with
normal relations between Israel and all its Arab neighbors. We commend
your stated support for a Palestinian state with 1967 borders, and
encourage you to move boldly forward so that the legitimate aspirations
of the Palestinian people for their own state may be realized.
We
abhor and condemn the suicide bombings of the last 22 months and the
failure of the Palestinian Authority in the first year of the
intifada to stop the violence against Israeli citizens. We grieve
over the loss of life, particularly among children, and the suffering by
Israelis and Palestinians. The longer the bloodletting continues, the
more difficult it will be for both sides to reconcile with each other.
We
urge you to provide the leadership necessary for peacemaking in the
Middle East by vigorously opposing injustice, including the continued
unlawful and degrading Israeli settlement movement. The theft of
Palestinian land and the destruction of Palestinian homes and fields is
surely one of the major causes of the strife that has resulted in
terrorism and the loss of so many Israeli and Palestinian lives. The
continued military occupation that daily humiliates ordinary
Palestinians is also having disastrous effects on the Israeli soul.
Mr.
President, the American evangelical community is not a monolithic bloc
in full and firm support of present Israeli policy. Significant numbers
of American evangelicals reject the way some have distorted Biblical
passages as their rationale for uncritical support for every policy and
action of the Israeli government instead of judging all actions -- of
both Israelis and Palestinians -- on the basis of Biblical standards of
justice. The great Hebrew prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, declared in the
Old Testament that God calls all nations and all people to do justice
one to another, and to protect the oppressed, the alien, the fatherless
and the widow.
Finally,
Mr. President, be assured of our prayers for you and your Cabinet as you
lead our nation in this troubled time. May the strength and peace of the
Lord be with you.
