The Episcopal Church will sell stock in companies profiting from the occupation

From RNS-

A Statement by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship’s Palestine Israel Network (EPF PIN) on Action by Executive Council re Resolution B016 (2018): Adopt Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Action on Israel/Palestine.

The Steering Committee of EPF PIN commends Executive Council for positive action on three Resolutions implementing the mandate from the 79th General Convention expressed in Resolution B016: Adopt Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s [ELCA] Action on Israel/Palestine.

Meeting in Montgomery, Alabama on Oct. 18 – 21, the Council voted to receive the June 2019 Report of its Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (CCSR) on resolution B016 and adopt the recommended Global Human Rights Screen (GHRS) with “criteria for the Israel//Palestine conflict.” The GHRS is modeled on the ELCA’s human rights screen and is consistent with policy adopted by General Convention or Executive Council over the last six decades. PIN lauds the clear criteria established by the GHRS for deciding if a corporation supports or benefits from denial of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). 

More here-

https://religionnews.com/2019/10/22/the-episcopal-church-will-sell-stock-in-companies-profiting-from-the-occupation/

An Episcopal Church in New York Is About to Host Two Virulently Anti-Israel Speakers

From The Algemeiner-

On Tuesday May 14, the Redeemer Episcopal Church in Astoria, Queens is scheduled to hold an event called “Palestinian Expulsion and Resistance: The Nakba, BDS, and the Great Return March.” The scheduled speakers include BDS leaders Raja Abdulhaq, the executive director of Majlis Ash-Shura Islamic Leadership Council of New York, and Nerdeen Kiswani, founder and chair of Within our Lifetime United for Palestine.

Given that the Episcopal Church voted against BDS at its General Convention last July, the Redeemer Church’s promotion of the BDS campaign raises serious questions. The Church’s opposition to BDS was clearly articulated by many at the Convention, including by retired bishop Ed Little from the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana who said, “Divestment will not move us one inch forward in the peace process. It will not bring an end to the occupation. It will not lead us to the solution that we all yearn for, which is two states living side by side in peace within secure borders.”

Little continued, “All it [BDS] does is make us advocates for one side in the conflict and remove us from our role as peacemakers.” Indeed, as reported by William Murchison in The American Spectator, “at General Convention, they affirmed, formalistically, Israel’s right to exist within secure borders.”

More here-

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/05/13/an-episcopal-church-is-about-to-host-two-virulently-anti-israel-speakers/

Christian Zionists are Israel’s political foot soldiers in US

From Middle East Online-

Stephen Sizer, an Anglican minister and author of “Zion’s Christian Soldiers?,” defines Christian Zionists as those who “believe it is their biblical responsibility to support the nation of Israel.” Sizer spoke recently at the Palestine Centre, a small Washington research institute.

A spot check of Facebook is revealing: AIPAC’s Facebook site has 169,000 friends while Christians United for Israel, just one of many like-minded groups, has 1.7 million.

The theology of Christian Zionism is only tenuously connected to the Bible. Adherents claim Christ will return only when the world’s Jews are in Israel but that Jews must then be converted to Christianity. Islam is regarded as a hostile religion and all Arabs — Christian or Muslim — are impediments to the return of the Jews to their homeland. Violence is acceptable if carried out in the name of biblical prophecy. In fact, an apocalyptic battle in the Middle East is to be longed for because God will intervene on behalf of Israel.

More here-

https://middle-east-online.com/en/christian-zionists-are-israel%E2%80%99s-political-foot-soldiers-us

Protestant Churches Finding Balance On Israel

From Jewish Weekly-

Is some of the anger that mainline Protestant churches in America have shown in recent years toward Israel regarding its treatment of Palestinians beginning to cool?

 

That’s the suggestion of the Jewish community’s point man on outreach to Protestant churches, Ethan Felson, in assessing a busy summer of votes on Middle East resolutions at their national conventions.

Both the Presbyterian Church USA and the Episcopal Church this summer supported moderate resolutions, offering a balance to ones in favor of the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement that would isolate Israel economically, said Felson, executive director of the Israel Action Network (IAM); the network was created by Jewish Federations of North America in partnership with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA). He offered his update in a webinar interview last week conducted by JCPA President David Bernstein titled “Mainline Protestants and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Where Do We Go From Here?”

More here-

https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/protestant-churches-finding-balance-on-israel/  

Antisemitism Is Still a Serious Problem in Churches

From Algemeiner-

Bishop Suffragan Gayle Harris’ discredited testimony at the recent Episcopal Church General Convention and her subsequent apology have highlighted a troubling, long-standing issue in Jewish-Christian relations: antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiments in Christian churches. 

While Bishop Suffragan Harris and Bishop Alan Gates now appear to understand the damage that Bishop Harris’ actions have caused, it comes as no surprise that such actions were countenanced in the first place. 

While Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has talked about the Jewish roots of Christianity, the Episcopal Church under his leadership signed an anti-Israel Atlanta Summit document, which was produced by a summit co-hosted by the Palestinian Authority and the Carter Center. Bishop Curry subsequently “added the Episcopal Church’s name” to another multi-denominational statement — one giving cover to Hamas on Gaza’s border violence. 

Given the willingness of Bishop Curry to give his church’s stamp of approval to documents clearly composed of Palestinian propaganda posing as “peacemaking,” it comes as no surprise that Bishop Harris felt at liberty to disseminate what respected, prominent Jewish organizations have described as a blood libel.

More here-

https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/10/03/antisemitism-is-still-a-serious-problem-in-churches/

Why Was Harris the First? Will There Be Others?

From The Times of Israel-

By now you’d have to be living under a rock not to know that Episcopal Bishop Gayle Harris from Massachusetts has apologized for broadcasting unverified atrocity stories about Israel to her fellow bishops at her church’s General Convention in July. Reasonable people are unhappy with her apology because she did not admit that the stories she told were false, but only said they were unsubstantiated. 

I see it differently. Bishop Harris is one of the very few Christians that I have written about over the past decade or so to take any responsibility for bearing false witness against Israel. Someone of Harris’s stature offering an apology of any sort, even if it’s not perfect, is cause for at least some degree of celebration. 

More here-

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-was-harris-the-first-will-there-be-others/

Episcopal Diocese apologizes for bishop’s comments about Israeli soldiers

From Boston-

The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts apologized to the Jewish community Friday after one of its bishops repeated unverified and misleading stories about the Israeli military at the church’s July convention in Austin, Texas.

In a pair of statements, Bishop Alan M. Gates, who heads the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, and Bishop Gayle E. Harris, who serves as Gates’s second in command, apologized for the “hurt” caused when Harris told church members two stories about alleged mistreatment of Palestinian children by Israeli soldiers.

Harris shared the anecdotes while speaking at the General Convention during deliberations over a resolution to “Safeguard the Rights of Palestinian Children.”

More here-

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/08/20/episcopal-diocese-mass-apologizes-jewish-community-after-bishop-told-unverified-stories-about-israeli-soldiers/gz69b60Y2Pn0U2nX2f7n5L/story.html

Episcopal Bishop Forced to Apologize After Making Up Israeli ‘Atrocities’

From Massachusetts- (additional links below)

Gayle Harris, Suffragan Bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, has apologized for presenting unsubstantiated atrocity stories against Israel during her church’s General Convention in July.

“The fault is solely mine,” she said in a statement issued Friday. “I was ill-advised to repeat the stories without verification, and I apologize for doing so,” she said.

Alan M. Gates, the Diocesan Bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, affirmed her apology, declaring, “We recognize that for Christian leaders to relate unsubstantiated accounts of Israeli violence awakens traumatic memory of a deep history of inciting hostility and violence against Jews—a history the echoes of which are heard alarmingly in our own day.”

More here-

https://unitedwithisrael.org/episcopal-bishop-forced-to-apologize-after-making-up-israeli-atrocities/ 

and here-

https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/08/19/massachusetts-bishop-accused-of-anti-israel-blood-libel-offers-full-apology/

and here-

https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/112531/bishops-false-israel-atrocity-stories/

An Open Letter To The Episcopalians’ General Convention Hatefest

From The Jewish Press-

Just in case no one bothered, dear members of The Episcopal Church, we’re reaching out to thank you for giving us the resolve to go on. You see, the most potent weapon against the Jewish State is not a Hamas suicide belt or an Iranian missile. With the help of G-d and Israel’s army, we can deal with those. What really does the most harm is a hug – and you folks just gave us the antidote.

Beleaguered Jews are suckers for love. Lob missiles into our kindergartens, and we’ll fight back. But send some signal that you “might be ready” to live alongside us, and we melt. On the road to Oz, we bought into the Oslo Accords, and really wanted to believe that somehow the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza would help bring peace. In the end, both were catastrophic.

To your credit, your Church removed any veneer of objectivity or fairness from your General Convention, and zeroed right in on those pesky Zionists. We watched as you introduced a dozen resolutions hostile to the Jewish state, prompting one bishop to ask why Episcopalians were intent on “piling on” to Israel. We heard allegations that Israel incarcerates children for 10-20 years simply for throwing stones; that Israel suppresses peaceful protests in Gaza with lethal weapons.

More here-

http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/an-open-letter-to-the-episcopalians-general-convention-hatefest/2018/08/01/

Archaeologists may have found a reliquary of Jesus’ apostles

From Aleteia-

Further evidence has emerged to confirm last year’s discovery of the home of Jesus’ apostles on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, according to archaeologists from the Center for the Study of Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins and Nyack College who are leading excavations there.

Most startling of all, is the discovery of what archaeologists believe may be a reliquary that once contained relics of three apostles.

Last year archaeologists believed they had found the ancient fishing village of Bethsaida, mentioned in the New Testament as the home of the apostles, after unearthing Roman ruins beneath a Byzantine church that, according to the records of a pilgrim from that time, was built over the house of Peter and Andrew.

The finding corroborated an account of a pilgrimage made by a Christian named Willibald who traveled through the area in 725. He noted that he visited a church in Bethsaida that stood over the house of Peter and Andrew.

More here-

https://aleteia.org/2018/07/31/archaeologists-may-have-found-a-reliquary-of-jesus-apostles/  

Episcopal Church’s Campaign Against Israel Comes Close to A Blood Libel

From The Simon Wiesenthal Center-

Episcopal Church’s Campaign Against Israel Comes Close to A Blood Libel
July 26, 2018

The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemns the outrageous fabrications made from the floor of the recent General Convention of The Episcopal Church by Bishop Gayle Harris of Massachusetts. In speaking in favor of a punitive measure against Israel, Harris claimed, “I was there a couple years ago on the Temple Mount. A three-year-old little boy, Palestinian, with his mother was bouncing a rubber ball. The ball happened to sort of roll away from him and go over the side down to the Western Wall,” leading to Israeli soldiers charging the Temple Mount and attempting to handcuff the child.

This is an absurd allegation. There is a high stone wall on top of the Temple Mount that blocks balls and people from going over the side. Nonetheless, Harris’ charge was met with many “aye” votes, and no challenge of her facts.

More here-

http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=8776547&ct=15019255&notoc=1

Catholic, Anglican leaders urge halt to destruction of Palestinian village

From Crux-

A Catholic-Anglican delegation met with British officials on Monday to try and stop the demolition of a Bedouin village in the West Bank.

Israel claims the village of Khan al-Ahmar - located between two Israeli settlements - was built without the proper permits, which Palestinians have long complained are nearly impossible to get.

“Earlier today we met with the Minister for the Middle East at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and shared our deep concern about the planned demolition of Khan al-Ahmar,” said the statement issued by Catholic Bishop Declan Lang, chair of the Holy Land Co-ordination, and Bishop Christopher Chessun, Anglican Bishop of Southwark.

The Holy Land Co-ordination brings bishops from Europe, North America, and South Africa on an annual pilgrimage of the Holy Land in a show of solidarity with the region’s Christian community.

More here-

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-uk-and-ireland/2018/07/17/catholic-anglican-leaders-urge-halt-to-destruction-of-palestinian-village/

Episcopal Church rejects measure to divest from Israel

From The Jewish Journal-

The Episcopal Church rejected a measure to divest from Israel at its General Convention.

The measure, titled “Ending Church Complicity in the Occupation,” was initially approved by the House of Deputies in the church, one of the legislative houses of the bicameral General Convention, but was later rejected by the House of Bishops during its triennial convention in Austin, Texas.

“Divestment will not move us one inch forward in the peace process. It will not bring an end to the occupation. It will not lead us to the solution that we all yearn for, which is two states living side by side in peace within secure borders,” said retired Bishop Ed Little of the Diocese of Northern Indiana, who was one of six bishops to speak against the resolution before the vote, the Episcopal News Service reported.

More here-

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/fl-jj-episcopal-church-divest-israel-20180718-story.html

Anti-Semitism Creeps Back Under Episcopal Auspices

From The American Spectator-

And what to my wondering eyes should appear, at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church this month, but a heap of painful evidence that the foreign policy of the United States isn’t in disarray solely because of Donald Trump.

Practically no substantial number of Americans seems capable these days — in contrast with the Cold War era — of figuring out for long who the good guys are, and aren’t. It used to be so easy. The commies were bad. Then we beat the commies, and… and…

I intrude mention of the Episcopal Church here because of my presence at the late convention — where what could have been taken for the third, perhaps second, cousin of old-fashioned anti-Semitism prowled like a ramping and roaring lion, snarling at Israel, clapping its paws for the Palestinians.

Resolution after resolution targeted Israel for its apparently endless failures to bestow full rights on Palestinians in the so-called “occupied” territories. Resolution authors wanted the church, through its investments, to pressure Israeli acquiescence in a pro-Palestinian policy.

More here-

https://spectator.org/were-all-cold-warriors-now/ 

and here-

https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/07/16/the-episcopal-church-general-conventions-sin-of-scapegoating-israel/

US Episcopal Church moves towards divestment from Israeli occupation

From Middle East Monitor-

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church, with more than 3 million members across the US, has passed a number of resolutions in support of Palestinian rights, including an unprecedented move towards divestment from companies involved in Israeli violations of international law.

At the 79th General Convention, six resolutions on Israel-Palestine made it through both the House of Deputies and House of Bishops, although the latter body failed to follow through on “bolder steps” backed by Deputies.

Issues singled out by the adopted resolutions “including the plight of Palestinian children, the status of Jerusalem, the disproportionate use of lethal force on both sides and ways the Episcopal Church can press for peace through its investment decisions”.

As regards that latter issue, resolution BO16 mandates the Church’s Executive Council’s Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility “to develop criteria for Israel and Palestine based on a human rights’ investment screen”, and “to engage in shareholder advocacy in support of human rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories”.

More here-

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180716-us-episcopal-church-moves-towards-divestment-from-israeli-occupation/

Emergency appeal launched by overwhelmed Anglican hospital in Gaza City

From ACNS-

The Anglican Diocese in Jerusalem has launched an emergency appeal for funds to support its al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. The Anglican-run hospital has been overwhelmed by the number of casualties sustained during protests across the Gaza strip this month.

“Our Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza had been literally working around the clock to serve the wounded from the escalating violence in the Gaza Strip ever since the United States formally opened its Embassy in Jerusalem on 14 May 14,” Archbishop Suheil Dawani, the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem and Primate of the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, said. “The wounded coming to our hospital have no money, but no one is ever turned away. Most of the men, women, and children who are treated at [the hospital] have been injured from live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas intoxication.

“I appeal to all our friends around the world to give generously to this humanitarian crisis, as we, the Church, the hands of Jesus in this place, respond to this tragedy in love and compassion to the wounded.”

More here-

http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2018/05/emergency-appeal-launched-by-overwhelmed-anglican-hospital-in-gaza-city.aspx

What’s Happening In Israel Isn’t About Jesus

From Progressive Christian-

When American Televangelists like John Hagee and Robert Jeffress stand in Jerusalem and proclaim that Biblical prophecy is being fulfilled, it’s important to realize that there is no such Biblical prophecy being fulfilled.
 
None.

Every Old Testament prophecy about Israel returning to the land was fulfilled.

The final prophecy about the fate of Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem was spoken by Jesus and fulfilled in AD 70. There were no prophecies made after that time about any restoration of Jerusalem or rebuilding of the Temple.

On the contrary, there were dozens of prophecies and statements in the New Testament by Jesus and the Apostles about the new Temple of God being fulfilled in Christ, and subsequently by those who are in Christ.

The new Temple of God is us.

More here-

 http://www.patheos.com/blogs/keithgiles/2018/05/whats-happening-in-israel-isnt-about-jesus/#qdjwbyxFgmJ1dIwH.01

For many evangelicals, Jerusalem is about prophecy, not politics

From CNN-

As I watched Donald Trump announce that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move our embassy to that city, I could only think of one thing: my high school youth group Bible study.

I know that sounds odd. Especially coming from a liberal Episcopalian like me. But there you have it. The President makes a world-important declaration about global politics, and an absurdly apocalyptic thought arises, "Jerusalem? The Last Days must be at hand!" 

 

When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I attended a "Bible church," a nondenominational congregation that prided itself on a singular devotion to scripture. We read the Bible all the time: in personal Bible study and evening Bible classes. We listened to hourlong Sunday morning sermons. For us, the Bible was not just a guide to piety. It also revealed God's plan for history. Through it, we learned how God had worked in the past and what God would do in the future. 

 

More here-

 

https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/08/opinions/jerusalem-israel-evangelicals-end-times-butler-bass-opinion/index.html

Holy Land Christians feel abandoned by U.S. evangelicals

From NBC-

Jesus was arguably the matchmaker for the Rev. Munther Isaac and his wife, Rudaina: The two met when Munther, a theology professor, spoke at a Christian conference Rudaina had organized while attending college.

And it is conviction that keeps the Palestinian couple in the town in the occupied West Bank where Christians believe Jesus was born.

“It is my husband’s belief that it is God’s will for us to be in this country,” Rudaina Isaac, 31, an architect, said as her husband conducted Sunday service at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem.

But faith may not be enough to keep the family rooted in the Holy Land, where Munther heads Christ at the Checkpoint, a biannual event critical of Israeli policies.

“I don’t know how they will take this mission,” Rudaina says, referring to sons Karam and Zaid, her wide smile fading and her voice breaking. “Most of the Christians here only think of emigrating.”

Rudaina believes that American evangelicals who form a vital base of support for hard-line Israeli policies — and helped propel President Donald Trump to power — have made the local Palestinian Christian community's suffering more acute.

More here-

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/holy-land-christians-feel-abandoned-u-s-evangelicals-n867371

The Messiah’s message has been twisted beyond recognition

From The Star-

The first time I visited Bethlehem I thought I was going to die. Leaving the town where Jesus was born to re-enter Israel, I waited at the security checkpoint for the bored-looking soldier to check me through. In front of me was an elderly Palestinian man with his young grandson. There was a problem with their papers and the grandfather noisily tried to explain the situation. He then motioned to the child at his side, who lifted up his shirt to reveal a package clumsily taped to his belly. This was at the height of the time of suicide bombings and all I could think was that this was such a surreal way and place to die.

The appendage was actually a colostomy bag, and the boy had an urgent appointment at an Israeli hospital. He was allowed through, and taken to be cared for and looked after.

An hour later I sat in my Jerusalem hotel room and suddenly burst into tears. Not out of fear, I think, but out of despair. Salt-stained, sorrow-stained, pain-stained despair that in Bethlehem, where I believe that the great conduit of grace came into this world, so much suffering and confusion could still breathe and flourish. And not only in Bethlehem of course, but throughout the entire world; and the shadows of cruelty and suffering often appear not to be diminishing but positively growing in their clawing darkness.

More here-

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/12/23/the-messiahs-message-has-been-twisted-beyond-recognition-coren.html