Protestant American clergy prayed together for peace in the Middle East. At the online event initiated by the ecumenical National Council of Churches of the United States on Wednesday, its president, Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, expressed the hope that “collective prayer” could help pave the way to reconciliation and lasting peace.
participants in the prayer condemned the Hamas militia’s “brutal” attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 and Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip. With 37 Protestant and Orthodox member churches, the National Council of Churches, founded in 1950, is the largest ecumenical association in the United States.
The executive director of the organization Churches for Peace in the Middle East, Pastor Elise Cannon, spoke out in favor of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. You have to look for alternative ways, so that the hostages kidnapped by Hamas come home and the bombing of the Gaza Strip and the attacks on Israel stop.
Pastor Stephen Green called on believers to speak out in Congress and the White House for a ceasefire. The general secretary of the Quaker lobby group Friends Committee on National Legislation, Bridget Moix, emphasized the value of every human life. There is always an alternative to violence. Moix lamented that thousands of people have died in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, including more than 3,500 children.
However, numerous representatives of evangelical churches in the United States, including the president of the largest Protestant church, the Southern Baptist Convention, Bart Barber, have firmly sided with Israel. Israel has the right and duty to protect itself from future attacks According to the “Christian tradition of just war” to “lift the sword” against attacks on innocent life.
Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan on Wednesday denounced “outbreaks” of religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States. While “countless voices celebrated Hamas’ brutal terrorist attacks.” “our Jewish brothers and sisters” justified fear for their lives, Dolan said.
#Live #ticker #war #Middle #East #Egypt #people #left #Gaza #Thursday #FAZ