Another problem arises when forms of Palestinian liberation theology appropriate Jesus for political ends. Any writing that separates Jesus and his first followers from Jewish identity, associates these proto-Christians with the Palestinian population and reserves the label Jew for those who crucified Jesus and persecuted the church is not only historically untenable but theologically abhorrent.

A few comments from Naim Ateek, an Anglican priest and founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, are indicative of this rhetoric. At Notre Dame in 2001, Ateek preached on "The Zionist Ideology of Domination Versus the Reign of God." He identified "Jesus Christ, living in our country as a Palestinian under occupation," and declared that "Israel has placed a large boulder, a big stone that has metaphorically shut off the Palestinians in a tomb. It is similar to the stone placed on the entrance of Jesus' tomb." That same year, for his Easter message, Ateek proclaimed: "In this season of Lent, it seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around Him. . . . The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily."

At a worship service in Jerusalem in April 2002, he stated: "Palestinians have been condemned as a nation by Israel, and sentenced to destruction. The accusations of people in power are strikingly similar throughout history to the charges leveled against Jesus in this city—terrorist, evildoer, or rebel and a subversive person. Palestinians are being crucified today for refusing to succumb to Israel's demand for greater concession on land."

The rhetoric is overblown. Jesus did not advise his followers to blow up Romans (and Ateek is not advising his followers to blow up Jews, but by lumping all Palestinians into one category, he risks that impression); Palestinians have not been sentenced to destruction. Ateek is hardly silenced. On the contrary, he continues to hold international conferences at his center and give talks and sermons at Notre Dame, the Center for Jewish-Christian Relations at Cambridge University, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and elsewhere.

Ateek's rhetoric is also slippery, since its anti-Jewish impact is often more a matter of perception. For a convocation at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he preached concerning Jesus' messages: "They reflect an inclusive commitment to one's fellow humanity and a ministry that has depth and breadth of scope—a commitment to the poor, a commitment to the ministry of healing, a commitment to justice and liberation of the oppressed, a commitment to jubilee which involves economic justice for all. I believe that these words constituted a paradigm shift at the time of Jesus, and they provide us with the basis of a paradigm shift for ministry in the twenty-first century." In making this claim, he erases Jesus' Judaism. If concern for the poor originated with Jesus, then the church might follow that ancient heretic Marcion and jettison the entire "Old Testament."

In the respected series Reading from This Place, Ateek's article begins with the standard, and false, view that Judaism is particularistic and Christianity is universal: "Membership was no longer seen as confined to one ethnic group of people, but rather in terms of a renewed covenant that included people of all races and ethnic backgrounds." Given his social location, it becomes both particularly pernicious and particularly ironic. Israeli citizens are by no means just of one ethnic group; on the contrary, Israel is the most multiethnic and indeed multicultural state in the Middle East. The article then focuses on John 20, an account describing how the followers of Jesus hid "for fear of the Jews." In this piece, the "Jews" seeking the lives of Jesus' followers become the Israeli army. Ateek goes on to compare the intifada to Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Christians. Needless to say, the series does not include a piece by an Israeli Jew describing how Lamentations is understood by parents in Jerusalem or by Natanya whose children are killed by Palestinians.

My point is not to play the obscene game of "who is most victimized," and it is not to dismiss the legitimate claims of the Palestinian people. Nor am I arguing that there is no comparably ugly rhetoric on the part of those who would oppose the Palestinian state. My point is that any prejudicial commentary that divorces Jesus from Judaism and then uses the story of Jesus to condemn all Jews is not a Christian message. It is, rather, a recycled anti-Judaism that depicts Israel as a country of Christ killers. The goal of Palestinian statehood is good; these particular means of achieving it are not.

Read the full article from The Christian Century

The grinch that stole Christmas

Growing influence of religious radicalism undermining Palestinian Christians

By Avi Hein

A grinch has stolen Christmas. Few Christians will be celebrating Christmas this year in Bethlehem. No, the grinch is not Israel. Laying the blame on Israel obscures the true culprit: The growing influence of religious radicalism in the Palestinian Authority.

The Christian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has plummeted in the past decades. Christians now make up less than two percent of the total Palestinian population.

In 1948, Christians made up eighty percent of the population in Bethlehem. Muslims now make up eighty-five percent of the population. The Palestinian Authority has been co-opted by radical Islamic fundamentalism. Today, Bethlehem is ruled by Hamas.

With the radical Islamic Hamas' ascent to power, their desire for a fundamentalist Muslim state ruled by Islamic law seems closer than ever to being realized. Christians under the PA are reduced to dhimmis, second class citizens. Muslim Palestinians threaten their Christian neighbors with violence on a daily basis because, as one Christian Palestinian noted, the Christians "want to live in peace."

Palestinian Christians don't live in peace. They live in fear, unable to practice their own religion. The Christians are pushed out of their homes due to the continual segregation and establishment of Muslim-only housing projects. Muslims boycott their Christian neighbors' shops and businesses.

Christians live in fear for their life. Under the Palestinian Authority, Christians have been forced to observe the strict restrictions of Ramadan and must observe Islamic sharia law. This past September, Muslims burnt down the YMCA in Qalqiliya, warning Christian organizations to shut down or face more violence. Two weeks ago, Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh, at a Holocaust-denial conference in Iran, stated in the name of the Hamas-led government that "we are the trustful protectors of the Islamic land of Palestine."

Christians have been leaving the territories in droves; flocking to refuge in North America, Europe, and even Cuba … anywhere seems to be better than the despotic Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. Ibrahim Shomali, a Christian restaurant owner in Bethlehem, is selling what he can before he leaves for Michigan with his family. "We Christians now feel like we are on the cross," he said.

Radical groups which claim to protect Palestinian Christians but defend their abusers, such as the Sabeel Liberation Theology Center, use the cover of Christianity to further Islamic fundamentalism and persecution against Palestine's Christian minority. These radical organizations often use the cover of support from mainstream churches in the United States and Europe to defend and justify violence.

This suicidal approach is dangerous to the precarious Christian minority. Despite their popularity abroad these organizations do not have the support of the indigenous Christian population. As one Bethlehem man noted, "Our leaders are liars: They tell the newspapers that everything is OK. But when Christians go to the market, they're afraid to wear crosses."

Read the full article at ynetnews.com

The place where, it is said, the angels appeared to the shepherds now lies hard up against the concrete and steel separation barrier that encloses Bethlehem in most places behind a twenty five foot high wall. Young Israeli soldiers guarding the checkpoints eye those who seek to enter or leave with professional condescension, no doubt cloaking an underlying fear. Palestinians endure their virtual imprisonment with emotions oscillating between resignation and rage. Each day is a mockery of the angelic choir’s announcement of peace. In Bethlehem and throughout the world peace is offered only to those we favor, to those who meet our standards of justice, our interpretation of law. As a result, everywhere pilgrims on their way to holy shrines must pick their way past the wreckage of human destruction like children tiptoeing through fields littered with unexploded cluster bombs. Who are the ones God favors? Are we?

We journey toward Bethlehem this year in a world where the angels’ voice is not only mocked, but muted. Iraq, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Darfur form a dismal litany. Even in the Church, even in our church, the promise of peace is elusive as partisans of various kinds of truth and soldiers of all sorts of justice launch assaults against one another, as walls are erected to separate and imprison, and extravagant and idolatrous claims are made for God’s special favor. Have we forgotten who it is we travel to Bethlehem to see? An infant who first and foremost is not a child of truth or of justice, but the Child of God, of Love, of Forgiveness? Have we forgotten that if peace is for those God favors, then surely it must be for all the people?

Thomas' screed is a stain on a church with a rich moral tradition. The
UCC was the spiritual home of Reinhold Niebuhr, one of the great American Christian leaders of the past century. Niebuhr preached and taught "Christian Realism," the belief there is radical evil in the world that must be vigorously confronted and overcome. Niebuhr, a strong supporter of modern Israel, was a staunch foe of Nazism and all forms of anti-Semitism.

That magnificent legacy is the very opposite of Thomas' one-sided
"Pastoral Letter," a text that one hopes will soon be relegated to the
dustbin of history.

But there is reason for optimism. Thomas is serving his last term as UCC
leader. Perhaps a Niebuhrian "regime change" will take place within that
declining denomination. It is surely needed.

If Christmas teaches us anything, it is that the world is redeemed not by our moral certainties, our ideological truths, or even our steadfast claims for justice. It is redeemed by the power and the moral beauty of forgiveness revealed in the Manger.

The 30 children in Thoris Marie Walton's fourth-grade class at Detroit's Fairbanks Elementary get homework every single night.

Now they won't have any excuses for not being able to research a project or e-mail the teacher with questions.

Every kid in the class got a free Dell desktop computer Thursday -- plus a printer and speakers, donated by the nearby Plymouth United Church of Christ. Since 2002, the church had given away 60 computers to students with good grades -- but this year, the congregation decided to give them to the class taught by Walton, a church deacon.

Gregory and Marie Moses Computer Mission - Since 2001, PUCC has donated 60 brand new computers to high-achieving children who either live near or attend school near the church. This min­istry is named after two of its early supporters, Greg and Marie Moses.

• Work actively to resolve the crisis in Gaza and achieve an effective Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire. Resolving the crisis will involve securing an effective ceasefire, stopping military attacks on Palestinians, enabling the movement of goods and people, releasing Palestinian officials and other prisoners, and cooperating with Palestinian security forces to improve security for Israelis and Palestinians.
• Seek effective ways to restart negotiations for peace with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Olmert should resume talks with Palestinian President Abbas as soon as possible. Bilateral negotiations are essential. The outlines for a just two-state peace agreement with the Palestinians are well known. The only realistic way to end the conflict is by means of negotiations and compromise. The twin essentials for building peace are real security for Israelis and a viable, secure state for Palestinians.
• Take concrete steps to support the prospect of a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel should remove “illegal outposts,” halt expansion of settlements, refrain from constructing the “security barrier” in areas that infringe on Palestinian land and reiterate its previous commitment that the route of the wall does not prejudge final status negotiations. Israel should also take steps to ease the humanitarian situation of Palestinians and promote economic development, including appropriately monitored transfers of Palestinian taxes collected by Israel to meet the needs of the Palestinian people, and freer movement for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Menendez bases his count on how members of Congress identify themselves. When he did his first tally after the 1972 election, Congress was still much in the sway of a few mainline Christian faiths.

At the time, just three mainline Protestant denominations -- Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians -- accounted for 43 percent of all members of Congress, including 51 senators. Come January, those three will account for just a fifth of Congress, including 32 senators. Still, all three -- especially Episcopalians and Presbyterians -- continue to be better represented on Capitol Hill than among the general population.

Other historically important Christian denominations have suffered steep declines in Congress. Menendez said the Lyndon Johnson landslide of 1964 brought 14 Unitarians to Washington. In the next Congress there will be two -- Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

In the late 1960s there were 29 members of the United Church of Christ in Congress. In the new Congress, there will be only six, including Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who joined the church as an adult. (Obama's Kenyan father was from a Muslim background and his American mother's parents were non-practicing Baptist and Methodist.)

Five out of 100 U.S. Senators are members of the UCC. They are Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

Only two of 435 House seats are occupied by UCC members: Thelma Drake (R-Va.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)

In the Senate, newly elected Klobuchar of Minnesota kept steady the UCC count in that chamber, since Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.), a UCC member, is retiring and did not seek re-election. Likewise, two years ago, Obama joined the Senate just as Bob Graham (D-Fla.), also a UCC member, was leaving.

Black United Church of Christ (UCC) leaders met in Orlando, Florida November 28 – December 1 to develop a plan of action in response to the proposed restructuring and streamlining plan advanced by the denominational leadership of the UCC.

"In the previous restructuring Black staffing, presence and power was seriously devastated in the church and we want to make sure that the past is not repeated in the present with a vengeance," said Reverend Graylan Hagler, National President of the Ministers for Racial, Social, and Economic Justice (MRSEJ).

"The proposal is such that the National setting of the church can gain access to historically mandated monies, diminishing the meaning and history of these funds, and putting the decision-making abilities into too few hands," said Mrs. Carol A. Brown, National President of the United Black Christians (UBC).

Leaders of United Black Christians and Ministers for Racial, Social, and Economic Justice soundly rejected the "plan" and took their case to the Council of Conference Ministers also meeting at the same time in Orlando. The core of their rejection is that black members and the entire church have not had the opportunity to discuss the proposed changes. Congregations are expected to fund the changes with little or no input.

The previous restructuring of the UCC cost between three and six million dollars. Six years later restructuring is again being discussed without clear rationale and transparency.

The proposed changes do not change the current paradigm of shrinking membership and loss of churches. Nor does it heal the chasm that currently exists between local congregations and the national setting. The Collegium's proposal does not identify strategies to help the national setting better serve the local churches.

A second example, and this one even less noble than the first, can be found at ucctruths.com. At the top of their page is a "John Dorhauer Conspiracy Challenge Clock."

No, really, I'm not making this up. It even has my photo next to it. I didn't know about this until I flew to Orlando last week for a biennial gathering of Conference Staff leaders from across the denomination. I have become some sort of cult hero because of this - and took no small amount of teasing from colleagues because of it who wondered why I was deserving of such attention and they were not.

Anyway, there is a ticking clock next to my face. They are waiting for me to respond to their challenge and prove my point, and until I do the clock with my face next to it will continue to run. Here is my response: the clock proves my point. It is silliness and not substance. It is deflection and not debate. It is entertaining, to be sure, but not enlightening.

Two themes contributed to the extreme makeover of the mainline churches. Tradition, ritual and ceremony gradually eroded in a post-World War II America, whose culture was increasingly open and liberal. While much of old-time religious practice was led out to pasture, values persisted longer than do’s and dont’s. In the case of many pastors emerging from seminaries in the fifties and sixties, one Christian value in particular survived the general devastation of the old order: taking up the cause of the powerless. Coupled with the movement of many in academia and the power elite toward liberal ideas and ideals, far-left politics became the unofficial catechism of churches that never had one before. The equation was a simple one. Power was bad, powerlessness was good. Satan could be found not in the deadly sins, but in the exercise of strength and security. Those who had strength were oppressors; stopping them became the new work of the Lord. Power was seen as vested in two entities in particular: the United States and Israel.

Hutchins sees the divestment issue as one of politics and leverage. “In my opinion [it is] politically opportunistic to be against us,” Hutchins says. “Domestically, political liberals view divestment as a battleground issue against political conservatives [who have a history of supporting Israel both politically and financially]. As cynical as it sounds, I think for some liberals, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend,’ in this case, Palestinians…. I can’t understand any other rationale of some liberals—especially religious liberals—to align themselves with violent groups known to have committed terrorist acts."

“If I heard more Christian leaders speak out in favor of Israel’s need to protect itself, I might genuinely accept their wish for peace in the Middle East,” Hutchins continues. “However, the level of anti-Israel language can only lead me to believe that there is a political motive. It is sad; true Middle East peace should not be a political game.”