“As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable.” -1 Corinthians 10:20–22
“We feel like the forgotten part of the body of Christ.” -a Palestinian Christian friend
If the weaker parts of the body of Christ are indispensable, there is no part in today’s world more indispensable than Palestinian Christians. And yet, there may be no part that is treated as more dispensable, unimportant, unneeded, indeed non-existent than Palestinian followers of Jesus.
With the gruesome terror attacks perpetrated by Hamas and the al-Qassam Brigades on October 7 in the southern part of Israel near its border wall with Gaza, the decades old but never ended conflict between Israelis and Palestinians was once again thrust into the global spotlight. In terms of current global conflicts, it bumped Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia to the back burner. Under different circumstances we might note Hamas’ attack and Israel’s subsequent response bumped war in Sudan off the front page, but since Westerners rarely give a thought to what happens in Sudan, nothing was bumped.
Almost before the victims were counted, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention issued the Evangelical Statement in Support of Israel. Why “Evangelical” and not “Southern Baptist” is a question for its Southern Baptist authors.
Writing “we, the undersigned, unequivocally condemn the violence against the vulnerable, fully support Israel’s right and duty to defend itself against further attack…” The statement goes on to assert Israel’s right to self-defense as guided by Just War theory, and Romans 13 which “grants governments the power to bear the sword against those who commit such evil acts against innocent life.” In this case, the Israeli government.
Yet, when it comes to the vulnerable Palestinian dead, there is a silence on the part of Evangelicals and Southern Baptists deep enough to mute all the world outside the hourly cries of Palestinians in Gaza. Since Israel’s war of retribution, dubbed Swords of Iron, some 17,700 Gazan Palestinians have been killed, more than 61% are civilians—the majority of which are women and children. As of this writing, more than 10,000 infants and children are dead with unknown masses decaying in rubble and forcibly abandoned hospitals.
In this war, two groups have worked to cause “mass civilian casualties”: Hamas and the Israeli Defense Forces. Both are intentional. The Guardian, following-up a report in the Israel daily newspaper, Haaretz, notes confirmation of “an investigation 10 days ago by the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, which found Israel was deliberately targeting residential blocks to cause mass civilian casualties in the hope people would turn on their Hamas rulers.” Yagil Levy, author of the Haaretz article, concludes the principle of restraint that would “reduce harm to noncombatants…has been abandoned” in Gaza. But bombing civilians into turning on their leaders doesn’t work, so it looks more and more like a bombing campaign to break the Palestinian’s will to live than to destroy Hamas from the face of the earth.
People whose backs are bent are easier to “thin to a minimum” than people whose backs are straight.
Further, Israel’s “precision” munitions have taken the lives of Palestinian Christians and targeted their houses of worship. Former US representative Justin Amash tweeted the loss of his cousin, George, to an Israeli bomb. George’s family is Christian. Israel has bombed a church in the north of Gaza that was founded in the 5th century. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports dozens of churches and mosques have been bombed.
If Israel’s primary goal is the eradication of Hamas, both their strategy and tactics need explanation.
Two months after Israel’s counter-offensive began, with hourly TwitterX reports from Palestinian journalists in Gaza documenting the civilian damage, authorities and eye-witnesses reporting the destruction of churches, innumerable pictures of dead children, bombed refugee camps, and on and on, evangelicals in the US have surely spoken loudly and clearly, condemning the loss of innocent life with the same passion as they supported Israel’s right to self-defense. Right?
Or something else—anything else—other than issue a blank check to the IDF to be cashed with US bombs in Gaza. Right?
Sadly, no such thing has happened. From leading American Evangelicals there have been no public calls of solidarity with Palestinian Christians. There are no calls for days of prayer for the Palestinian churches. There are no calls that Israel should prosecute a Just War since giving carte blanche for pursuing one. There have been no calls to promote the voices of Palestinian Christians like Munther Isaac (pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church in the city of Jesus’ birth), Jack Sara (Bethlehem Bible College, the West Bank), the leaders of Christ at the Checkpoint, pastors in the Middle East like Marwan Aboul-Zelof, or Palestinian-American pastors like K. V. Paxton.
Where are the leading evangelical voices calling for solidarity with suffering Palestinian Christians (Hebrews 13:3) or for restraint on the mass killing of civilians in Gaza?
Christianity Today has reporting about Gaza. But Russell Moore, perhaps the best known non-Southern Baptist evangelical, has said little by way of support for or solidarity with Palestinian Christians. He did appear on a hastily published CT podcast in support of Israel.
Baptist Press has reporting about Gaza. But not a single SBC leader—not of the Executive Committee, nor head of any SBC entity—has issued a call of support for or solidarity with Palestinian Christians. Current SBC President Bart Barber reiterated calls for peace without specifically mentioning Palestinian Christians or their churches.
While over on World, there are scores of articles about Gaza, Israel, and the war since October 7. But if you search “Palestinian Christians,” you will get only a handful of responses dating from 1997 – 2020. Not exactly watchers on the wall for our Palestinian family.
Meanwhile, Al Mohler, perhaps the best-known evangelical of Southern Baptist stripe and head of World’s Opinion channel, has, since October 7, produced numerous Briefings on everything from criticism of Joe Biden to gender clarity among released hostages to abortion to questioning George Santos’ expulsion from the House to the Book of Enoch in Jude. He has yet to brief his audience on support or concern for Palestinian Christians, not even briefly.
It is not true that no US evangelical leader has mentioned praying for Palestinians generally or even Palestinian Christians in particular. But such mentions are typically combined with prayer for Israelis, general prayers for peace in the Middle East, or buried under a landslide of support of Israel’s military response. It’s as if strong, unequivocal public support for the Palestinian church is worse than voting for a Democrat. Or worse than the sin of unbelief.
What is wrong with American evangelicals? Is the movement so self-absorbed, so politically ensconced, so drunk with the ways of the world it cannot see or hear our siblings in need? Or, worse, are most ignorant of Palestinian Christians’ existence? Or do we actively choose not to hear their voices or heed their cries?
Whatever the reason, rank-and-file American Christians must do better than the example evangelical leaders are setting. It is imperative that we expand our attention beyond American culture wars to the suffering and dying of people around the globe, many of whom are dying just for being alive in the wrong place, and many of whom claim the same Jesus as we. It behooves us to pray for and support them, many of whom pray for our eyes to be opened to their plight, as we mostly soldier on blithely unaware of or indifferent to their suffering, the forgotten eye in the Body of Christ.
fides quaerens intellectum
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