Our churches seem quite unconcerned about saving the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
They have watched the horror in Gaza day after day for nearly 23 months and the brutal military occupation of the Holy Land for over 7 decades. They surely know about Israel’s Zionist-driven ambition to destroy the lives of the Palestinian people and seize their homeland, “the very place where Jesus Christ walked upon the earth and where walls now separate families and the children of God — Christian, Muslim and Jew — in a deepening cycle of violence, humiliation and despair”.
It is 20 years since the Patriarch and Local Heads of Churches issued their ‘Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism’, which stated: “We categorically reject Christian Zionist doctrines as false teaching that corrupts the biblical message of love, justice and reconciliation…. We further reject the alliance of Christian Zionist leaders and organizations with the governments of Israel and the United States that are imposing their domination over Palestine.” And they condemned Zionism for advancing racial exclusivity and perpetual war.
Then, in 2007, came the ‘Amman Imperatives’ from the World Council of Churches (WCC), insisting that “the Churches are part of the conflict, because the Churches cannot remain silent while there is still suffering”. The WCC spouted fine words about UN resolutions and Geneva conventions being the basis for peace and how Palestinians had the right of self-determination, Israel and Palestine were both entitled to security, Jerusalem needed to be a shared city for the two peoples and three religions, etc, etc. But what meaningful steps have the WCC, especially its Western Christendom branch, taken over the last 18 years? And what about all those positive-sounding imperatives – “enough is enough”, “no more words without deeds”, “it is time for action”, and so forth?
In 2009, we had the ‘Kairos Document’ calling itself “a cry of hope in the absence of all hope” and saying they had “reached a dead end” in the tragedy of the Palestinian people. It complained that the decision-makers were simply managing the crisis rather than seriously trying to resolve it.
Kairos told the international community bluntly to stop practising double standards and start implementing international resolutions.
More recently (2017), an open letter from The National Coalition of Christian Organizations in Palestine to the WCC warned: “This is no time for shallow diplomacy, Christians…. Things are beyond urgent. We are on the verge of a catastrophic collapse. As a Palestinian Christian community, this could be our last opportunity to save the Christian presence in this land.”
Our churches have been watching the catastrophic collapse in real time. The Holy Land – the wellspring of Christian faith – is being stolen from under their noses. Yet the General Synod – the Church of England’s ‘parliament’ – remains silent, repeatedly delaying a motion calling for support for their Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine. I’m told it has been put back again until February 2026, the fifth Synod meeting since that fateful day on 7 October.
Meanwhile, twenty-six bishops sit in our Parliament at Westminster while the genocidal slaughter continues. Is 23 long months of unspeakable evil and devastation not enough to prod them into action? What have they achieved? And where do the other UK churches stand on this never-ending horror show?
Put to the test, Western Christendom, like our political elite, has failed. What would Christ say?
The post Western Christendom fails the test first appeared on Dissident Voice.
This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Stuart Littlewood.