wfn.org | A call for 'a just peace'

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Note #7342 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

16-July-2002
02249

A call for 'a just peace'

Zionists don't speak for all evangelicals, 43 leaders tell Bush

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - 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.
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