Praying for the Peace of Israel (And Palestine)
We have now been living in the United States for over one year.
One of my first observations is how political this nation is.
People have very strong political views and feel propelled to voice them loudly at times.
The Middle East always raises some strong pitched points of views - especially among evangelical Christians.
There is a branch of evangelicalism which is completely and totally blindly pro-Israel (I mean this in terms of being completely and totally supporting Israel's claim to their land in the Middle East AND full and complete support for any and all military campaigns carried out by Israel).
There are other Christians who are moderate.
And there are some whose support for Palestine borders on a soft anti-semitism in terms of viewing Israel.
Where do I stand? I am pro-Israel - I support the Israeli people to have a nation and land, like every other country.
But, this support of Israel needs to be balanced by a concern for the Palestinian people and the humanitarian blow out of the West Bank. The West Bank is one of the neediest and desperate places on the planet.
The media paints Hamas and Israel war hawks with the same brush.
Each with a rigid inability to speak to one another in civil tones, reverting to missiles and guns instead.
And between these two extremes lie the civilians - often innocent bystanders killed by ambitious missiles.
Into this chaos steps Dr. Cornel West.
Dr. West has the unique gift of actually LOOKING like an Old Testament prophet with his wild frizzy hair often speeding off in all directions.
I caught this clip of West speaking at some pro-Palestine rally.
Here are some lines from this brief speech:
"A precious Palestinian baby has the exact same status as a white baby in Newtown Conneticut,
as a brown baby in the East Side of L.A.
as a Jewish baby in Israel.
Every human being is created in the image of God".
"I would be here if there was a Palestinian occupation of Jewish brothers and sisters because it is wrong.
It is unjust.
We stand not with the level of skin pigmentation or ethnic identity. This is spiritual with political consequences."
Praying for the peace of Israel does not mean we ignore peace for the rest of the world (including Palestine).
Here's the whole Cornel West clip:
One of my first observations is how political this nation is.
People have very strong political views and feel propelled to voice them loudly at times.
The Middle East always raises some strong pitched points of views - especially among evangelical Christians.
There is a branch of evangelicalism which is completely and totally blindly pro-Israel (I mean this in terms of being completely and totally supporting Israel's claim to their land in the Middle East AND full and complete support for any and all military campaigns carried out by Israel).
There are other Christians who are moderate.
And there are some whose support for Palestine borders on a soft anti-semitism in terms of viewing Israel.
Where do I stand? I am pro-Israel - I support the Israeli people to have a nation and land, like every other country.
But, this support of Israel needs to be balanced by a concern for the Palestinian people and the humanitarian blow out of the West Bank. The West Bank is one of the neediest and desperate places on the planet.
The media paints Hamas and Israel war hawks with the same brush.
Each with a rigid inability to speak to one another in civil tones, reverting to missiles and guns instead.
And between these two extremes lie the civilians - often innocent bystanders killed by ambitious missiles.
Into this chaos steps Dr. Cornel West.
Dr. West has the unique gift of actually LOOKING like an Old Testament prophet with his wild frizzy hair often speeding off in all directions.
I caught this clip of West speaking at some pro-Palestine rally.
Here are some lines from this brief speech:
"A precious Palestinian baby has the exact same status as a white baby in Newtown Conneticut,
as a brown baby in the East Side of L.A.
as a Jewish baby in Israel.
Every human being is created in the image of God".
"I would be here if there was a Palestinian occupation of Jewish brothers and sisters because it is wrong.
It is unjust.
We stand not with the level of skin pigmentation or ethnic identity. This is spiritual with political consequences."
Praying for the peace of Israel does not mean we ignore peace for the rest of the world (including Palestine).
Here's the whole Cornel West clip:
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