Jerusalem Statement Attracts Praise, Criticism

By Rev. L. Humphrey Walz

The joint open letter from leaders of eight major church bodies to President Clinton asking his administration to "place the question of Jerusalem," including "Palestinian rights and interests" there, "higher on its agenda" attracted warm support in Christian circles and some heated charges of "anti-Semitism" from Israel and heads of major U.S. secular Jewish organizations. In the March 6 letter (reproduced on page 115 of this issue of the Washington Report), the Christian leaders said that failure by "all affected parties" to deal "openly and directly" with related issues, they feared, could "derail the peace process."

The daily Jerusalem Post reacted promptly on March 9 with a two-column editorial headed "Eight Churches vs. Israel." It quoted World Jewish Congress Secretary-General Yisrael Singer as suggesting that "their questioning Jerusalem's status as the capital of Israel casts doubt on the Christian leaders' pronouncements against anti-Semitism."

Insisting that "the pressures on the Christians in the region are strictly Islamic," the Jerusalem Post wrote:

"By pointing to Israel's 'expansion' in Jerusalem rather than at the prospect of Moslem domination as the threat to Christians and the Christian holy places, the American church leaders are continuing a tradition of appeasement. The very same churches which have not raised their voices against the persecution and murder of Christians in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and the Sudan joined the Pope in opposing the world community's intervention against Saddam Hussain. That they have chosen the path of Israel-baiting can only lead to the sad conclusion that it is not courage and morality which rule in some of today's churches, but unprincipled, abject cowardice...The church leaders are obviously intimidated enough by the threat and practice of violence to believe that, by joining the Moslem campaign against what Yasser Arafat calls 'the Judaization of Jerusalem,' they will placate their nemeses."

By contrast, a March 20 press release from the Catholic/Evangelical/Orthodox Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) headquarters in Limassol, Cyprus, called the letter "the best thing to have come out of the American churches for a long time." The MECC statement read:

"These church leaders clearly realize that Jerusalem is at the epicenter of the peace process." They expressed anxieties that "Israeli initiatives to prejudice the status of Jerusalem are fast making negotiations on Jerusalem useless...Those who are at the focal point of the political process (Israelis and Palestinians) must be aware that the world's Jews, Christians and Muslims look for a resolution which recognizes the commitment of the international community to guaranteeing the living presence of the three religious communities in the Holy City...

"Jerusalem is at the epicenter of the peace process."

"Noting Israel's prejudicial actions, [they] also observed that the United States has been weakening its stand that East Jerusalem is occupied territory and subject to U.N. Resolution 242, that it has failed to support the fundamental human rights of Palestinians in the Old City, and that it has not used its considerable influence to 'halt Israeli construction in East Jerusalem and continued expansion into Palestinian areas.'

"They conclude: 'In view of the deteriorating conditions on the ground and the central importance of this issue to the peace process, we urge you [President Clinton] to use your good offices to see that the negotiators take up the question of Jerusalem as soon as possible and that the position of the United States fully reflects the concerns expressed in this statement.'"

His Beatitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, one of the Council's presidents, has expressed the MECC's deep appreciation for the statement of the American church leaders. Commenting on the statement, Dr. Tarik Mitri, long-time staff member of the Middle East Council now with the World Council of Churches, said, "It is the best thing to have come out of the American churches for a long time."

With the notable exception of an illuminating four-page Sunday spread in the March 26 Minneapolis Star Tribune (see "Other Voices," page 114), most U.S. daily newspapers ignored the story. Since regional U.S. Jewish weeklies reacted so vigorously in line with the Jerusalem Post , this silent treatment from the mainstream U.S. press is puzzling. Nonetheless, the number of comparable leaders of other Christian bodies voicing their support keeps growing.

The Christian leaders who signed the original letter to President Clinton are:

Cardinal William Keeler, president of the National Council of Catholic Bishops; Very Rev. Gerald Brown, president of the Roman Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutes; the Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning, presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church; the Rev. Herbert W. Chilstrom, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America; Kara Newell, executive director of the American Friends Service Committee; and Robert A. Seiple, president of World Vision. Journalists can contact the church leaders through Corinne Whitlatch at (202) 546-8425.

New Center for Applied Theology in Jerusalem

Sabeel, the Palestinian Christian movement which takes its name from the Arabic word for "wellspring," has opened a modest new Center for Palestinian Liberation Theology in Jerusalem. It is the most recent and visible sign in the Holy City of momentum generated by a conference organized in 1989 by 10 Palestinian Christian clergy and lay theologians. In their footsteps, it seeks to explore, across denominational lines, how best to apply the basic messages of the Old and New Testaments to issues facing Palestinian Christians today.

Their central premise and questions continue to be: "Jesus himself lived under occupation and was confronted with a variety of options for action. What did he say and do? Can he be a model and guide for us today?"

In 1990, at the Vatican-established Tantur Ecumenical Institute on the Bethlehem side of Jerusalem, Sabeel clergy hosted an international conference that placed their concerns in the global context of Liberation Theologies. They raised questions and offered perspectives on: Palestinian Christian Identity; Power, Justice and the Bible; and Women, Faith and the Intifada. (Papers from the conference were edited into an Orbis Book, Faith and the Intifada, by Palestinian Canon Naim Stifan Ateek of Jerusalem's Episcopal Cathedral, and two American scholars: Jewish Marc Ellis and Roman Catholic Rosemary Radford Ruether.)

Their new Center has two goals: the first is to offer Palestinian Christian youth and adults a biblically based, relevant theology that will help sustain their faith and hope, and the second goal is to work with visitors and friends from abroad who want to know about the life and witness of the world's oldest living Christian community and the essentials for a lasting political settlement in the area.

All members of Sabeel's governing committee are native-born Christian Palestinians. Two of them are already known to long-time Washington Report readers for their past AET Book Club best-sellers: Canon Ateek (Justice and Only Justice, 1989) and Galilean Father Elias Chacour (Blood Brothers, 1984, and We Belong to the Land, 1990). Other committee members are Episcopal Archdeacon Riah Abu El Assal of Nazareth; Wasif Dhaher, board secretary of the East Jerusalem YMCA and treasurer of the Vatican Justice and Peace Committee; Mrs. Cedar Duaybis, Episcopal specialist on women's issues; Orthodox Dr. Munir Fasheh of the Tamer Institute for community education; Catholic Mrs. Samia Khoury, president of the Palestine YWCA; Melchite Mrs. Violette Khoury of Nazareth; human rights attorney Jonathan Kuttab, son of a Palestinian Protestant pastor; Quaker Mrs. Jean Zaru, formerly on the World Council of Churches Central Committee; and Zoughbi Zoughbi of the Middle East Council of Churches staff.

Israeli restrictions on Palestinian travel make it hard to hold committee meetings or to plan and promote conferences like the one proposed for next Feb. 5-11 on "The Significance of Jerusalem for Christians." The fact that, during his years in the U.S., Kuttab became an American citizen gives him certain freedoms whose benefits he gladly shares with his colleagues.

Cornerstone, the Center's occasional eight-page newsletter, reports speaker services, workshops, lectures and youth conferences. It also features articles explaining the Christian significance of Jerusalem and theological reflections on international current events. Along with other general information, it is available from Sabeel, P.O. Box 1248, Jerusalem, or from the chair of the Middle East Fellowship of Southern California, Rev. Darrel Meyers, First Presbyterian Church, 14701 Friar St., Van Nuys, CA 91411, phone (818) 786-6230.

Arab Peace Teams on Tour in America

In the course of their recent joint visit to the U.S., honorary doctorates were conferred on Egyptian Grand Mufti Dr. Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Habib, director of the Cairo-based Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS), by Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA. The citations emphasized their initiatives in encouraging dialogue, understanding and cooperation between Christian and Islamic communities in Egypt. (See "Issues in Islam" in the March 1995 Washington Report.)

During their subsequent stay at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, they addressed a convocation on the peace process, were feted at a luncheon with Muslims and Christians of the area, and answered a host of pertinent questions at a lively afternoon open session.

Another pair of speakers, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, toured Illinois, Ohio and Michigan in March as part of the "Women's Dialogue: Building Community in the Face of Violence." They were Jamileh Abou-Duhou of Palestine and Souad Khodja of Algeria. The former is a project consultant for the Canadian embassy in Israel, the latter a professor of both social sciences and management who has worked with the U.N. on studies of population problems.

South African Bishops Challenge Sudan's" Anti-Christian" Laws

Sudan's 1994 Missionary Societies Act has turned out to be every bit as "discriminatory, vicious and degrading" to that country's churches as the 1962 legislation it purports to displace. That is the heart of the joint memorandum delivered to Sudanese Ambassador O.S. Abubakr in Capetown by delegates of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) in March. The delegates—bishops from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland—reminded the Sudanese envoy that:

"The aim of the 1962 act was to check the growth of the church and reduce it to insignificance. Permits for churches and church-related institutions were rarely granted. Christians were not allowed to establish orphanages, the number of missionary personnel was reduced to a minimum, the movement of expatriate church personnel was strictly controlled, and permits to repair and maintain existing churches and chapels could hardly be obtained. Church publications, including pastoral letters, were often prohibited.

"With the new law, the Sudanese government wants, further, to reduce the church to a mere humanitarian organization. It exempts Islam and Muslim groups, and was formulated to check and control only the Christian church, which it erroneously views as 'foreign.'"

The bishops called upon the Sudanese government to repeal the Missionary Societies Act in its entirety.

The ambassador since has responded that the 1994 law is "provisional," not final. He told Father Sean O'Leary, secretary of SACBC's Justice and Peace Department, that the delegation's protests would be "taken into consideration." He has not answered requests by Ecumenical News International for comments on the situation.

The delegates, now back in their respective countries, are pressing their governments "to do all in their power to see that this very oppressive legislation is abrogated." They also are realistically aware of how other Sudanese problems have been complicated by the politicization of religious loyalties. (Southern Sudan is overwhelmingly Christian and the north, including the capital, Khartoum, is strongly Muslim.)

In an action unconnected with the SACBC initiative, former President Jimmy Carter has since persuaded Sudan's president, General Omar Hassan al-Bashir, to make the first move toward a new cease-fire with southern rebels. Carter has informed international news media of his intent to send his son Chip to ensure its initial success.

Ecumenical Patriarch Resisted, Supported

Over 250 million Eastern Orthodox Christians count Bartholomeos I, bishop of Constantinople, as their Ecumenical Patriarch. His fellow bishops worldwide regard him as "first among equals," a sort of ecclesiastical chairman of the board.

Rumors, circulated by Turkish extremist nationalists, that he is a foreigner plotting to establish an "Orthodox Vatican" in Istanbul's cathedral have helped stir animosity and occasionally anti-Christian demonstrations. A prominent Muslim historian, Selim Deringil of Bosphorus University, has derided such rumors as a mix of "paranoid conspiracy theories" and "coffee shop gossip."

In the daily Milliyet in mid-March, Deringil also rebuked the government for refusing to allow the patriarch to reopen Halki Theological School, near Istanbul. Turkey's "constitution recognizes religious freedom," he wrote, "and as we open more and more Muslim schools every day, on what basis do we reject the arguments for a Christian theological school? What do we fear?"

Despite such voices of moderation, Turkish ethnic and religious conflicts have been sharpened recently by political differences. Some citizens support the government's ambitions to solve its socio-economic problems by full membership in the European Union. At the same time, the possibility of such a step is meeting resistance from advocates of a Turkish Islamic state. It is some of the latter who have been promoting the violence in the face of which public protection has been inadequate. George Tsetsis, Orthodox representative to the World Council of Churches, told Ecumenical News International that Bartholomeos "has repeatedly expressed the loyalty of the patriarchate to the country in which it lives and witnesses to Christ. If he has recently spoken out—in a way in which none of his predecessors of modern times had ever spoken—against excessive attacks on the patriarchate, it is because he believes that the patriarchate should receive fair treatment in accordance with Turkish constitutional provisions." Though ethnically Greek, Bartholomeos was born in Turkey, is a Turkish citizen and a veteran officer of the Turkish army.

Orthodox Press Service reports that U.S. government officials have given assurance that President Clinton, along with European government leaders, supports "the presence and action of the Ecumenical Patriarch."

Christians and Muslims Form Joint Committee

A new Committee on Interreligious Development Action was launched by the World Conference on Religion and Peace at its March meeting in Copenhagen. Its aim is to promote "more effective humanitarian service and testimony to the shared values of Islam and Christianity, including their commitments to reconciliation, justice, peace and care for human beings."

Initially, it is planning a joint delegation to Russia to urge the authorities to permit the free flow of humanitarian aid to Chechnya and to promote reconciliation there. Pilot projects also are being considered for Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

Co-chairs are the Rev. Lawrence Turnipseed, Methodist executive director of the U.S.-based Church World Service (CWS), and Kamel Al-Sherif, secretary-general of the International Islamic Council (IIC). (CWS is the relief, development and refugee assistance arm of the National Council of Churches in the USA IIC embraces some 50 Muslim relief and development organizations.)

"There are many interreligious dialogues," says Sherif. "The new element here is the creation of concrete cooperative projects from which ordinary persons will feel the benefits." Besides CWS and IIC, the committee includes U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services, the German churches' Development Service and the Saudi Arabia-based International Islamic Relief Organization.

"A by-product of this cooperation may be changed images of each other, correcting stereotypes," Turnipseed noted. "Unfortunately," added Sherif, "religion has too often been exploited and misused to promote hatred and racial conflict."

Rev. L. Humphrey Walz, D.D., retired Associate Executive of the Presbyterian Synod of the Northeast, is active in ecumenical and peace-making activities.