Although mainline and evangelical churches and denominations have taken clear sides in the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, Catholics and the black church have either straddled the fence or experienced internal divisions about this contentious issue. In Commonweal magazine (July–August), Julie Schumacher Cohen writes that there has been a Catholic hesitancy in applying the church’s social teaching to Israel-Palestine. Aside from Vice President J.D. Vance weighing in on the war in Gaza, there have been few American Catholic public figures speaking on the issue. Cohen writes that those holding to and working on Catholic social teachings have avoided applying them to Israel-Palestine because of guilt over “historic Christian anti-Semitism and a fear of being associated with contemporary expressions of contempt for Jews.” Recent anti-Semitic violence, such as the murder of two employees of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, has further kept Catholics from criticizing Israel, according to Cohen. While Catholic leaders, including Pope Leo, have issued statements calling for peace in the conflict, Cohen sees Catholics as still refraining from “joining the struggle for Palestinian freedom.”
Meanwhile, black churches are experiencing competing claims over Israel and Palestine that mirror longstanding divisions among African American Christians, writes Roger Baumann in the Christian Century (June). Baumann, the author of the recent book Black Visions of the Holy Land, writes that evangelical Christian Zionism has found a growing following among black pastors, such as Mitchell Stevens of the Church of God in Christ. The appeal of Christian Zionism draws on evangelical teachings about Israel’s place in biblical prophecy, as well as linkages between black churches and Jews during the civil rights movement. The African American-Jewish relationship has been expressed through popular tours of black clergy to Israel, working on interfaith collaboration on charitable and philanthropic work, as well as more political efforts to lobby Congress and advance pro-Israel U.S. foreign policy.
At the same time, African American churches are being pulled in the direction of activism and the “prophetic tradition” of the black church and liberation theology that finds common cause with the Palestinian struggle, Baumann writes. This movement of black Christians finds its voice in such organizations as the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, which organizes events on Palestinian issues and training programs, and publishes related curricula for congregations. The emphasis of this camp is on seeing Jesus as a Palestinian Jew and on reading the Bible through the “eyes of the oppressed.” More recently, a third, more moderate approach has emerged. Based around the evangelical Perfecting Church in New Jersey and its pastors Kevin and Angela Brown, this camp issued its statement shortly after the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, calling for a ceasefire and a “just peace.” The emphasis among these black Christians is more on reconciliation and peace-building than liberation and struggle.
(Commonweal, https://www.commonwealmagazine.org; Christian Century, https://www.christiancentury.org/)
