From the sidelines, some Christians in US strive to be peacemakers as Israel-Hamas war continues (2024)

At Northwood Church in Keller, Texas, senior global pastor Bob Roberts has heard from congregants wrestling with the Israel-Hamas war and the heightened emotions it has unleashed across the United States. Some call for more support for Israel. Others want the same for Palestinians.

“Our response is that no war is good,” said Roberts, who founded the Dallas-area church in 1985. “Our goal is not to bring everybody to the same viewpoint; it’s to help them understand that God created every person in the image of God, that they all have that spark of divinity and should have the opportunity of life.”

As the latest Israel-Hamas war threatens to spawn wider global discord, frustrations over the toll of the conflict and growing numbers of Palestinian civilian casualties are leaving Israel increasingly isolated.

But while some among the nation’s approximately 210 million Christians strongly support one side or the other, many see themselves caught in the middle as the war strains interfaith relations, especially those between Jewish and Muslim communities, and incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia rise.

“We’re kind of on the sidelines,” Chris Hall, minister of missions for Houston Northwest Church in Texas, said at a recent interfaith gathering. With tensions among groups increasingly fragile, Hall said, “how I respond to my neighbor now has more depth than it has in years past.”

From the sidelines, some Christians in US strive to be peacemakers as Israel-Hamas war continues (1)

Some Christian faith leaders say it’s more important than ever to shift from being bystanders into more active roles as arbiters.

“Christians ought to be right in the middle of it,” said Roberts, who is also co-founder of Texas-based interfaith organization Multi-Faith Neighbors Network. “It’s an opportunity for Christians to be peacemakers, to build bridges and keep the conversation going.”

Some of the most influential Christian voices amid the conflict, he noted, have belonged to evangelical Christians who strongly support Israel's war effort and U.S. Republican leadership. For instance, John Hagee, the San Antonio, Texas-based founder of the Christian Zionist organization Christians United for Israel, delivered the opening ceremony benediction when President Donald Trump relocated the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem in 2018; he also gave the invocation when former presidential hopeful Nikki Haley launched her campaign early last year.

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the 14,000-member megachurch First Baptist Dallas in Texas, was also among the speakers at the Jerusalem embassy ceremony, and House Speaker Mike Johnson is a Southern Baptist and a onetime denomination official.

Nonetheless, Roberts said, “a lot of Christians are working quietly behind the scenes, doing everything they can to work for peace.”

From the sidelines, some Christians in US strive to be peacemakers as Israel-Hamas war continues (2)

Todd Deatherage, a Christian who is executive director of the Telos Group, a peace organization based in Washington, D.C., said that while peacemaking is central to what it means to be Christian, “it’s probably the most neglected aspect of Christian discipleship. Christians have a central compelling theology of being peacemakers and agents of healing, but we are not known for that in the way we could and should be.”

Today's atmosphere, he said, offers not just an opportunity but an obligation to fulfill that calling. That the conflict is taking place in what’s known as the Holy Land, a region fraught with overlapping significance for multiple religions, complicates the situation.

“It really requires us to think outside the binary view that for one side to win the other has to lose,” Deatherage said. “That’s the activist frame that has existed for so long, and we’ve imported this conflict into our culture – and now, as we’ve seen, our college campuses. When you reduce it to that binary, you’re missing the fundamental truth that there’s not a good future for anyone there unless there’s a good future for everyone there.”

Christian views about the conflict differ

Conservative evangelical Christians have been among Israel's staunchest supporters.

“Christians who understand the Bible realize there are two sides to the war in Gaza,” said Jeffress, of First Baptist Church in Dallas. “To side with Israel as they defend themselves against those who would seek to destroy them is to be on the right side of history and, more importantly, the right side of God."

From the sidelines, some Christians in US strive to be peacemakers as Israel-Hamas war continues (3)

A survey conducted last month by researchers at Boston University and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke found nearly 1 in 5 (18%) evangelical Christians had heard their pastor discuss the war during services, compared with 13% of Catholics and 10% of mainline Christians.

Nearly 3 of 10 respondents – including 36% of evangelicals – said their church had prayed for Israel, and just 17% said their church had prayed for Palestinians.

“The most vocal organized Christian voice has been the one of the Christian Zionist movement, which sees this as a classic good and evil battle,” Deatherage said. “That’s the dominant voice, but there are dissident voices within mainstream evangelicalism that are asking questions and wrestling with the conflict that say the violence on both sides is wrong and leading us to ever darker places.”

Author and journalist Sarah Posner said the most prevalent version of Christian Zionism is promoted by groups like Christians United for Israel.

“It’s the notion that other countries, especially America, have a biblical duty to love Israel and support Israel and that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel,” said Posner, author of “Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and the Devastating Legacy They Left Behind.”

“They say they support Israel, but what it means is that support Israel’s far right, the Netanyahu government, the settlements and occupation. So they cannot claim to represent the wide spectrum of political ideology among Israelis.”

From the sidelines, some Christians in US strive to be peacemakers as Israel-Hamas war continues (4)

Driving that conservative evangelical position, she said, are beliefs that Israel is central to biblical prophecies about Jesus’ return to wage a final battle at Armageddon to vanquish the Antichrist. Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, has delivered sermons as recently as last month that tie today's conflict to such prophecies.

“The theological view is driving the political view,” Posner said. "They equate any view of Israel that doesn’t align with theirs with antisemitism.”

That position is now being used to condemn the college campus demonstrations against Israel's handling of the war in Gaza, she said.

Conversely, more progressive Christian voices have denounced both Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s response, calling for a mutually agreed-upon solution to the conflict. Another important voice, Deatherage said, belongs to Black churches; in January, more than 1,000 Black pastors united to pressure President Joe Biden to call for a cease-fire in the war.

“They have their own experience with silence in the face of injustice, and they’re troubled by what’s happening,” he said.

Most Christians say peace requires mutual cooperation

A national survey of 1,252 U.S. Christians in November, nearly two months into the war, found most understood the complexity of the conflict, even if they didn’t necessarily agree.

“Christians are aware that there’s a lot of nuances here,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, which carried out the survey sponsored by The Philos Project, a coalition of Christian leaders advocating for pluralism in the Middle East.

While respondents acknowledged suffering and reason to act out on both sides, McConnell said, most agreed military action was not the way to achieve lasting peace. Nearly 9 in 10 said that depended on a mutually agreed-upon solution between Israel and Palestinians.

The Rev. Mae Elise Cannon, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace in Washington, D.C., said many church leaders have been reluctant to talk about the war, dreading the divisions such discussion might sow among their congregations.

“They are immobilized by fear,” she said.

Deatherage agreed.

“This is a complex and divisive topic,” he said. “Talking about it is really hard, and so they’ve probably been more silent than vocal.”

At the same time, he said, others are leaning into the issue even if they don’t feel they have the necessary command of the issues and history behind a conflict that stretches back decades.

“It’s important as Christians to weep with those who weep and to recognize the humanity in all, Palestinians and Israelis,” Deatherage said. “A lot are taking seriously the gospel imperative to feed the hungry and are trying to find ways to get humanitarian aid to Gaza and lift the blockades. There’s a line some are connecting in those ways.”

From the sidelines, some Christians in US strive to be peacemakers as Israel-Hamas war continues (6)

Some say Christian intervention is necessary at home as well, given the deep polarization that has pushed many interfaith bonds to their breaking point.

Cannon said some church communities are shy about expressing concerns with Israel, fearful of severing ties with local synagogues and Jewish communities. One pastor, she said, recently told her that after decadeslong relationships, he felt Christian pastors had done their Jewish communities a great disservice.

“He said, ‘We’ve kept our mouths shut about Palestine and didn’t tell them what we really think, because we didn’t want to offend Jewish rabbis and friends,’” she said. The pastor, she said, continued: “‘Now,’” he said, “‘we’ve known each other for years and come to find out we really haven’t been honest with one another. What kind of friendship is that?’”

From the sidelines, some Christians in US strive to be peacemakers as Israel-Hamas war continues (2024)

FAQs

How do Christians feel about the war in Israel? ›

“While our theological perspectives on Israel and the Church may vary, we are unified in calling attacks against Jewish people especially troubling as they have been often targeted by their neighbors since God called them as His people in the days of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3),” the evangelical statement said.

Who do Christians support in the war? ›

They believe Israel is key to an end-times prophecy that will bring about the return of the Christian Messiah. Many of these Christians support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God's chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland.

What happened to the Christians of Palestine? ›

Over the course of the 1947–1949 Palestine war between the Palestinian Arabs and the Palestinian Jews, a large number of these Christians—as part of the Arab community—fled or were expelled by Jewish militias from what would become recognized as Israeli territory following the 1949 Armistice Agreements.

How should Christians view Israel? ›

With that in mind, here's a biblically faithful perspective on how Christian believers should think about national Israel.
  1. Israel Remains God's Chosen People. ...
  2. Israel Remains in Exile. ...
  3. The Next Prophetic Event is Always Imminent. ...
  4. Israel Will Be Regathered. ...
  5. The Church Has a Missional Obligation.
Nov 14, 2023

What does Christianity teach us about war? ›

Many Christians believe that war should be avoided if possible, and should only be undertaken if all efforts to resolve an issue by peaceful means have failed. Many Christians see war as the result of a failure to live by God's standards. There are many promises in the Old Testament.

Why is Palestine important to Christianity? ›

Palestine is the cradle of Christianity, and the West Bank and Jerusalem form much of the heart of the Christian Holy Land. This legacy attracted Crusaders from Europe during the Middle Ages, as they attempted to 'free' the area from Muslim rule.

Do Jews believe in Jesus? ›

Judaism does not accept Jesus as a divine being, an intermediary between humans and God, a messiah, or holy. Belief in the Trinity is also held to be incompatible with Judaism, as are a number of other tenets of Christianity.

Why is Israel important to Christianity? ›

From the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem to the Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, and the Church of Annunciation in the north, it is clear that the Land of Israel is important to Christianity due to the fact that many important events in the religion's history took place here, including the ...

Do Christians believe in Holy War? ›

Christianity. According to historian Edward Peters, before the 11th century, Christians had not developed a concept of holy war (bellum sacrum), whereby fighting itself might be considered a penitential and spiritually meritorious act.

Do Muslims believe in Jesus? ›

The monotheism (tawḥīd) of Jesus is emphasized in the Quran. Like all prophets in Islam, Jesus is also called a Muslim, as he preached that his followers should adopt the 'straight path' (Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm). Jesus is attributed with a vast number of miracles in Islamic tradition.

What religion are hamas? ›

Hamas
Islamic Resistance Movement حركة المقاومة الإسلامية
IdeologyPalestinian nationalism Islamic nationalism Islamic fundamentalism Islamism Anti-Zionism Anti-imperialism
ReligionSunni Islam
Political allianceAlliance of Palestinian Forces
ColoursGreen
16 more rows

Do Muslims believe in God? ›

The belief that "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God" is central to Islam. This phrase, written in Arabic, is often prominently featured in architecture and a range of objects, including the Qur'an, Islam's holy book of divine revelations.

Should Christians drink alcohol? ›

Even though some Christians advocate for the total abstinence of alcohol as a moral mandate for all believers, the Bible never requires all believers to abstain from alcohol.

Should Christians eat pork? ›

Christians may eat pork because God has declared it once more to be clean. “What God has declared clean you must not call common” (Acts 10:15). Pork is one of those “foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth” (1Timothy 4:3).

Is Israel in the Bible the same as Israel today? ›

Biblical Israel and Modern Israel are not considered the same. Ancient Israel's people were known as Israelites while people of Israel today are called Israelis.

What does the Bible say about going against Israel? ›

This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day men will be stricken by the LORD with great panic.

Can Christians serve in the Israeli army? ›

Specific population groups

The IDF does not conscript Arab citizens of Israel who are Muslim or Christian, however, they may choose to volunteer for military service. For Druze and Circassian men, enlistment is mandatory.

Do Christians believe in holy war? ›

Christianity. According to historian Edward Peters, before the 11th century, Christians had not developed a concept of holy war (bellum sacrum), whereby fighting itself might be considered a penitential and spiritually meritorious act.

How many Christians are in the Israeli army? ›

Since the service of the Christian population in Israel is not obligatory by law, potential recruiters are not required to respond to the invitation. Currently, approximately 100 Christians serve in various positions and units in the IDF.

References

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