Open Letter to GC 81

Dear Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and President Julia Ayala Harris, 

Palestinian Anglicans & Clergy Allies (PACA) is a grass-roots organization of Palestinians - both living in the land of Palestine and in the diaspora - who are members of the Anglican Communion worldwide, and the ecumenical alliance of clergy and seminarians who support them. Our goal is to educate and equip the clergy of the Church in the global West to understand, teach and preach from sound theological and pastoral foundations about the realities faced by Palestinians.

As the church approaches the 81st General Convention, PACA has paid close attention to discourse regarding the resolutions concerning Israel and Palestine. Too often, that discourse betrays a profound failure to contend with the realities faced by Palestinians, in particular our Palestinian Christian siblings. We note the recent side-by-side opinion pieces published by the Living Church that framed voting for or against resolutions as either “supporting the Jewish community” or “supporting Palestinians” – continuing to propagate the assumption that solidarity with one group must mean opposition to the other. It is precisely such zero-sum thinking the church must not merely reject but actively combat. 

The PACA leadership was particularly troubled with the analysis of the resolutions pertaining to Israel and Palestine as presented by the Rev. Scott Gunn on his blog Seven Whole Days. Gunn’s analysis on this critical issue facing the church falls far short of what this moment demands of us. 

Gunn begins by noting the number of resolutions that have been presented regarding Israel and Palestine (both now and in recent years), and he ponders why that might be. While Gunn is quick to point out (rightly enough) the history of Christian anti-Jewish actions, he consistently fails to consider that it is precisely the connection between the United States and Israel, and more specifically between the American Church and unqualified support for Israel, that compels the church to speak for our Palestinian siblings. Our country and our church are complicit in actions taken by the state of Israel that our faith calls us to condemn. Gunn also fails both to understand and to value the General Convention’s power in weighing in on matters of public policy. Such resolutions allow the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations to advocate at the national and international levels on the justice issues that have been named as important to Episcopalians – in this case, the ongoing occupation and genocide of Palestinians. 

It is vital for our church to hear the call from our Palestinian Christian siblings for repentance of this precise complicity and our silence in the face of Palestinian suffering. Gunn expresses concern for what seems to be the focus on condemnation of Israel without equal condemnation of Hamas: “I don’t intend to suggest that there is equivalence, but let’s not delude ourselves into thinking Israel is the only offender here. Perhaps our best response as a church would be to call for a cease-fire, to increase our engagement with Palestine and Israel, and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and all the Holy Land.” Gunn himself alludes to the critical power imbalance between Israeli and Palestinian leadership. In our conversations around racial injustice in the church and in the US, we have come to understand the need for truth regarding the history of white supremacy and systemic racism before we can begin to approach reconciliation and justice (even as we all too often fail to act on the truths we acknowledge). We must apply this same critical framework to generic calls for peace in the land of our Savior’s birth. As vital as it is for our church to learn the realities of Jewish suffering in the diaspora which gave birth to political Zionism, we must also hear what our Palestinian siblings tell us about the horrors of the 1948 Nakba, 57 years of occupation, and the 16-year-long siege of Gaza. 

We find it telling that Gunn plans to vote no on C002, which calls that “pilgrimage travelers to the Holy Land explore and engage the realities of the circumstances and conditions impacting the lives of today's Palestinians and Israelis, paying particular attention to the Israeli military Occupation of Palestinian territories, to the violations of human rights, and to Palestinian national aspirations.” Gunn plans his vote because he “believes it is important to listen to Jewish Israelis.” At no point, though, does the resolution in question call for the sidelining of such voices. Instead, it asks us to ensure pilgrims take into account the full view of life both within Israel and under Israeli occupation. It is worth asking why the call to hear from Palestinians appears so threatening?

Most critically, Gunn’s analysis fails to reckon with the impacts of Christian Zionism. His brief address of the sin of Christian Zionism reveals a worrying lack of education on the topic (Gunn seems to turn primarily to Wikipedia), especially from someone meant to be a leader of the Church in matters of Christian formation and education. To be clear, as defined by Palestinian Lutheran Pastor the Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, "Christian Zionism is a political movement that uses the Bible to justify and legitimize Israel's position of power, and by extension their own power, at the expense of Palestinians." Indeed, we would urge Gunn to hear the anguished cries from our Palestinian Christian siblings for the church to engage with our theologies–particularly our theologies of land and election–which have made it all too easy for us to affirm Israeli sovereignty at the expense of the Palestinian people.

Gunn asks for resources to better understand the implications of Christian Zionism. We would point him, and the whole church, to works such as Isaac’s The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope, Mitri Raheb’s Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, the People and the Bible, Normalize or Resist: Palestinian Christians Respond to Oppression, as well as the 2009 Kairos Palestine Document. 

As noted at the beginning of this open letter, PACA’s central mission is to educate the church regarding the lived experiences of Palestinians and amplifying the voices of Palestinian Christians. We are responding to Gunn’s commentary in particular because, as the Executive Director of Forward Movement and the author of books widely used for catechesis, Gunn is a leading figure for formation in the Episcopal Church. Moreover, the views he expresses are widely held throughout the institution and demonstrate the urgent need for broader education regarding the experience of Palestinians (including our fellow Christians). We call on leaders such as Gunn to deepen their engagement with the voices of Palestinian Christians so that our Church may be faithful in how we call our members to engage in the Holy Land. Only then can our calls for peace seek a peace that is truly just and ensures the well-being of both Palestinians and Israelis. 

May we hear these words from The Rev Dr. Isaac, offered in his Easter vigil Sermon: “What many in the church lack the most today is courage. They know the truth. But they are not speaking the truth, because they fear the consequences. They fear the backlash! Many in the church want to avoid controversy … There are some church leaders who are willing to sacrifice us for comfort, the same way they offered us as an atonement sacrifice for their own racism and anti-semitism – repenting on our land over a sin they committed in their land! All of this while claiming to follow a crucified savior, who sacrificed everything, endured pain and rejection for the sake of those he loved!”

In peace,

The Leadership of Palestinian Anglicans and Clergy Allies

The Rev. Canon Leyla King, Diocese of West Texas

The Rev. Lauren Grubaugh Thomas, Episcopal Church in Colorado 

The Rev. Nicole Janelle, MPH, Diocese of Los Angeles (Currently serving in Calgary, AB, Canada) 

The Rev. Dr. Rachel Kessler, Diocese of Ohio