Archive for the ‘Religious Faith’ Category
by James M. Wall Despite vicious opposition from the Alan Dershowitz conservative wing of the American Jewish community, Cardoza Law School honored former President Jimmy Carter April 10, for his career of work on peace and conflict resolution. The International Advocate for Peace award was given to Carter by the student-run Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution. […]
Filed under: Middle East, Religious Faith | 7 Comments
by James M. Wall When the gavel fell on the Episcopalian convention, July 10, three major U.S. Protestant denominations had formally ended their 2012 discussions on how much religious support they were willing to give Palestinians under occupation. The most charitable answer for all three gatherings is, not much. Judging by the degree of hostility stirred up […]
Filed under: Episcopal Church, Middle East, Middle East Politics, Politics in Religion, Presbyterian Church USA, Religion and politics, Religious Faith, United Methodist Church | 20 Comments
by James M. Wall Do you really want to know what happened at the just-concluded 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian U.S.A. denomination? As a veteran watcher of Protestant church political struggles, I urge you to remember that neither the cross nor the crown are free of an eagerness to grasp deliberate obfuscation in struggling to […]
Filed under: Middle East, Middle East Politics, Movies, Politics and Elections, Presbyterian Church, Religious Faith | 26 Comments
by James M. Wall (Two Israeli soldiers guard Palestinian children in Hebron.) Jimmy Carter wrote a New York Times op-ed piece this week, A Cruel and Unusual Record, which states flatly: “The United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights. Revelations that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated abroad, including American citizens, […]
Filed under: Middle East, Middle East Politics, Presbyterian Church USA, Religious Faith, United Methodist Church | 10 Comments
Tags: human-rights, presbyterian general assembly
by James M. Wall “Throw Their Dirty, Filthy Ships Out of the Water!” In the 2006 movie, Amazing Grace, John Newton shouts these words at William Wilberforce, a member of Parliament who was the leader of a 19th century fight to force the British government to bar British ships and ports from participating in the slave […]
Filed under: Middle East, Middle East Politics, Movies, Religious Faith, United Methodist Church | 15 Comments
Church Leader Tells Palestinians and Israelis “eat together and listen to each other’s stories”
by James M. Wall (New Comments Posted Below) An appalling shallowness has descended over Mainline Protestantism. Episcopalians, United Methodists and Presbyterians are actually debating how they should deal with the Israeli Occupation Martin Luther King, sitting in that Birmingham city jail, would most certainly inform these prelates that there is no debating evil. A brutal […]
Filed under: Episcopal Church, Middle East, Middle East Politics, Presbyterian Church, Religion and politics, Religious Faith, United Methodist Church | 38 Comments
by James M. Wall Khader Adnan is a 33-year-old Palestinian graduate student, who, until he was arrested by Israeli police on December 17, 2011, lived in the occupied West Bank with his wife and two young daughters. Their home is in the village of Arrabe, near Jenin. Adnan has not been charged with any crime. […]
Filed under: Middle East, Middle East Politics, Religious Faith | 14 Comments
Tags: human rights israel, indefinite detention without charge, israeli occupation authorities, occupied west bank, palestinian detainees, physicians for human rights
by James M. Wall In the words of Ha’aretz publisher Amos Schochken, Gush Emunim has seized control of power in Israel and driven the state into a “flagrantly undemocratic situation.” How was it possible for this much power to be seized by “a right-wing ultranationalist, religio-political revitalization movement”, as it is described in Israel: A Country Study? Gush Emunim was […]
Filed under: Media, Middle East, Religious Faith | 12 Comments
by James M. Wall The Al Jazeera collection of secret documents from US, Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators, paints a highly negative picture of the three participants. We will need a biblical parable to help explain how these three governments fell so far so fast. The homiletical interpretation of the parable is my own, though I […]
Filed under: Middle East, Religious Faith | 5 Comments
by James M. Wall (See Updated Comment from PCUSA Commissioner Pete Bloss at end of Comments.) Who “won” the Minneapolis Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly? To answer that question, we first need to ask, who did not win? The religious arm of the Israel Lobby did not win, in spite of what you may have […]
Filed under: Middle East, Religious Faith | 16 Comments
