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What Fair Witness Requires |
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By Dexter Van Zile Introduction: Dexter Van Zile, Christian Outreach Director and member of the Executive Committee for Christians For Fair Witness on the Middle East spoke at a conference organized by the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel in New York City on May 19, 2006. Here is the prepared text of his speech (with some emendentations added in an attempt to include changes made at the podium).
I'd like to thank everyone for attending this conference. My name is Dexter Van Zile. I am Christian Outreach Director for the David Project Center for Jewish Leadership and a member of the executive committee of Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East. Fair Witness was founded last year to promote a response to the divestment campaign in mainline Protestant churches. We have different temperaments and viewpoints, but all of us are mortified by the lack of organized response in mainline churches in the U.S. As far as different temperaments are concerned , Peter Pettit, another member of the Executive Committee, subscribes to the New Yorker. I read Drudge. I'm here to offer a brief overview of the divestment campaign in mainline Protestant churches in the U.S. I grew up in Allin Congregational Church, located in Dedham, Massachusetts. It's part of the United Church of Christ, a mainline denomination of about 1.3 million members and 5,700 churches. |
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A Critique and Warning about Christian Divestment Procedures against Israel |
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Ecumenical Trends, published by the Graymoor Ecumenical & Religious Institute recently published "A Critique and Warning about Christian Divestment Procedures against Israel" by Dexter Van Zile, Christian Outreach Director for the David Project Center for Jewish Leadership. This article summarizes the problems with the narrative offered by Sabeel and its supporters in mainline Protestant churches in the U.S. |
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The High Cost of Wisdom From the UCC |
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April 25, 2006
By Dexter Van Zile With each pint of Jewish blood splattered on the streets of Jerusalem, Haifa, Netanya, Kedumim and Tel Aviv, the public statements issued by the leaders of the UCC about the Arab-Israeli conflict become a bit more measured, a bit more realistic, and a bit more humble. They almost sound Christian. On April 18, the day after a suicide bomber killed nine people and wounded more than 60 in Tel Aviv, John Thomas, president and general minister of the United Church of Christ issued a statement in which he condemned Hamas for calling the attack “a legitimate response” to Israeli “aggression.” |
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An Open Letter to John Thomas, General Minister and President, United Church of Christ |
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March 30, 2006 The Rev. John H. Thomas
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ
700 Prospect Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115-1000 Dear Rev. Thomas: I write to you as a lifelong member of the United Church of Christ and as Christian Outreach Director for The David Project Center for Jewish Leadership. This is not the first time I have written to you. In a letter dated Jan. 26, 2006, I felt obligated to point out "[t]he failure of Protestants in the U.S. to speak honestly about problems in Arab and Muslim societies that inhibit the prospects for peace in the Middle East.” I wrote that this failure, “coupled with an undeniable tendency to blame Israel – and only Israel – for the conflict’s existence raises troubling questions about Protestant attitudes toward Judaism as a religion and the Jews as a people.” |
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By Dexter Van Zile Munib Younan, the Lutheran Bishop in Jerusalem, sure picked an interesting time to condemn inflammatory cartoons that mock people's religious beliefs. Younan, who has offered, little, if any, condemnation of newspapers in the disputed territories that have published images portraying Israel as a baby-killing and Christ-killing nation, finally found his prophetic voice on this issue when it was Muslim, not Jewish or Christian sensibilities that were offended by the recent publication of cartoons mocking Mohamed in newspapers throughout Europe. In an article posted at thelutheran.org on Feb. 9, 2006, Bishop Younan warned Westerners to tread lightly when responding to Muslim protesters who have burnt Danish flags or engaged in other violent acts to express their displeasure over the cartoons. |
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Letter to Rev. John H. Thomas |
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Thursday, January 26, 2006 The Rev. John H. Thomas
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ
700 Prospect Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115-1000 Rev. Thomas: I write to you both in my capacity as Christian Outreach Director for the David Project Center for Jewish Leadership and as a lifelong member of the United Church of Christ. As you are aware, I have been highly critical of the stance the UCC and other mainline Protestant denominations in the U.S. have taken in regards to the Arab/Israeli conflict. |
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In December 2005, Lydia Veliko, the ecumenical officer for the United Church of Christ defended Naim Ateek's use of crucifixion imagery in reference to Israel, the Jewish State. Here is Dexter Van Zile's response. |
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Time For A Full Accounting Of Meetings With Hezbollah |
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BOSTON, Dec. 5, 2005 - The Coalition for Responsible Peace in the Middle East (http://www.c4rpme.org) is calling on lay members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to demand a full accounting of meetings between church officials and representatives from Hezbollah. Hezbollah is an Iranian- and Syrian-backed terror group listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the European Parliament. It seeks Israel's destruction and is determined to turn Lebanon into a radical Islamist state.
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BOSTON, Sep. 9, 2005 - The day after suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's subways and buses, the leaders of two American churches, the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ, sent a joint statement of solidarity to England's United Reform Church whose offices were close to the attack. The statement was a natural and human response to a terrorist attack on innocent civilians and stands in stark contrast to the churches' attitude toward previous victims of terrorism -- the Jews of Israel.
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Walls of Indifference, Walls of Contempt |
BOSTON, Sept. 14, 2005 - The United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) crossed the line from criticism to outright racism when they passed resolutions condemning Israel’s security fence this summer, according to the Judeo-Christian Alliance, a group formed to stop the defamation of Israel by U.S. churches.
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