A pastoral letter for peace and justice from leaders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Also posted here on disciples.org
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
“Seek peace and pursue it” – Psalm 34:18 & 14b
“I have set before you life and death…choose life so that you and your descendants might live.”– Deut. 30:19b
Dear Disciples, and dear friends of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ),
For more than 300 days, since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the Palestinian people in Gaza have been crushed in spirit and in body as Israel has pursued a relentless assault that has included the crimes of extermination, murder, forcible transfer, torture, and inhuman treatment, among others, according to a United Nations Commission of Inquiry. The number of Palestinian deaths has now exceeded 40,000, of whom 10,500 are children. Thousands of others remain unaccounted for, presumed lost and killed under tens of millions of tons of rubble – whole buildings and neighborhoods which have been targeted and destroyed by the onslaught. More than 1.9 million people out of the entire Palestinian population of Gaza of 2.3 million – three-quarters of whom are refugees from 1948 and their descendants – have been displaced from their homes multiple times, almost all are facing food insecurity of emergency levels, and Gaza is now facing a possible polio outbreak. Israel has blocked or denied essential nutritional aid, clean water, as well as medical supplies. What Palestinians are experiencing is nothing less than genocide.
Alongside its war on Gaza, Israel has intensified its operations in the West Bank, where more than 600 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023. Settler violence there has increased attacks on Palestinians that Israeli authorities have not constrained. Israel has approved settlement expansion and land annexation, encroaching further on Palestinian rights, and occupied Palestinian land while dehumanizing the Palestinian people. Its brutal assault on Gaza has provided a measure of cover for Israel’s violations in the West Bank and has overshadowed exchanges of artillery along the Israel-Lebanon border that has left tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese displaced.
The threat of regional expansion looms following the assassination of leading Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Tehran and Beirut, respectively. Such a widening lens has drawn focus away from the continuing assault on Gaza.
Recent attempts to avoid a wider war and to conclude a cease fire have provided a glimmer of hope, but the death and destruction have continued, despite these efforts. We acknowledge and deplore the United States’ enabling role of providing diplomatic cover and military arms and aid to Israel. We reiterate that there is – and can be – no military solution.
As always, it is the most vulnerable who suffer. The past ten months have amplified the dual imperative of ending the current atrocities and addressing decades of physical and systemic violence, including apartheid, that Palestinians refer to as the “ongoing Nakba.” The Palestinians in Gaza must be relieved of this onslaught, but also of more than half a century of Israeli occupation, 14 years of debilitating Israeli blockade, and several major military campaigns in the last two decades (2006, 2008-9, 2012, 2014, and 2021). This war must end, and further regional expansion avoided. Humanitarian and medical aid must be provided immediately, safely, and in sufficient quantities. All parties must be held to account. The occupation and Israel’s apartheid system must be dismantled. Palestinian refugees must be afforded their rights, and the now-homeless compensated for their material losses with guarantees of reconstruction. The Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees must be released. The United States must end its unquestioning diplomatic and military support for Israel’s violations of American and international law. As long as the core issues are not resolved, Palestinian resistance to oppression will only be strengthened.
As a Christian community of faith, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) seeks wholeness in a fragmented world, upholding the sanctity of life as a highest value. We have been consistent in our opposition to all forms of violence – physical and structural – that violate the dignity of the people who are their victims. We condemn speech and acts of hate, including against Muslims and antisemitism, even as we clearly distinguish between such attitudes toward communities of faith and criticism of governmental policies. We must name injustice when we see it, and also act to re-center our Christian values of peace with justice, compassion, and love for all people – the weak as well as the strong, the poor as well as the wealthy, and the powerless as well as the powerful. We cannot succumb to the sin of apathy but must speak truth to power with clarity and with prayer, wisdom, and action.
Echoing Middle Eastern Christians, we affirm and are inspired by biblical principles that “the meaning of our Christian presence and mission lies in building a culture of community and unconditional love among human beings. In this way, we become a sign and instrument of God’s communion with creation.” [1] Such love includes “seeking peace and pursuing it.”
For us, that peace starts with justice and abundant life. What we have seen for too long is the opposite: death and destruction, displacement and famine, desperation and tears. Nothing can return the losses of entire families and communities. But there must be accountability – to international law and institutions like the UN, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court, and to higher principles of justice, morality, and the sanctity of life.
We have striven in our prayers, advocacy, and solidarity with partners since October, and longer, to lift up the dignity of the people in the Middle East and to seek peace. We confess that it has not been enough. We can only pledge to redouble our efforts in that witness to bring an end to the horrific genocide taking place in front of our eyes, and to pursue a peace with justice that chooses life in all its fulness – with dignity and rights – for people everywhere.
Rev. Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens
General Minister and President
Rev. LaMarco A. Cable, President
Disciples Overseas Ministries
Rev. Chris Dorsey, President
Disciples Home Missions