(RNS) — The African Methodist Episcopal Church’s prime officers have known as for the U.S. authorities to halt all its funding of Israel, citing the deaths of tens of 1000’s of Palestinians within the Hamas-Israel warfare.
“The Council of Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church calls on america Authorities to right away withdraw all funding and different help from Israel,” reads a press release issued on Wednesday (Feb. 14), the 264th anniversary of the delivery of the traditionally Black denomination’s founder, Richard Allen.
Rubble litters a avenue between smoldering buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 11, 2023. (Hatem Moussa/Related Press)
“Since October 7, 2023, in retaliation for the brutal homicide of 1,139 Israeli residents by Hamas, Israel has murdered over 28,000 Palestinians, largely girls and youngsters. The US is supporting this mass genocide. This should not be allowed to proceed.”
The assertion was signed by Bishop Adam J. Richardson, senior bishop of the denomination; Bishop Stafford J.N. Wicker, president of the bishops’ council; Bishop E. Anne Henning Byfield, chair of social motion, and Bishop Francine A. Brookins, co-chair of social motion.
Bishop Harry L. Seawright, the chief of the AME’s Alabama district, stated in a Thursday interview with Faith Information Service that he and different bishops additionally supported the assertion, which he stated displays the denomination’s stances on social motion.
“Now we have at all times tried to take a social stand in opposition to injustice, unfair therapy of all individuals,” he stated.
Seawright stated he was not conscious of another Black denominations that had adopted the identical stance. Bishop Vashti McKenzie, a retired AME bishop and the president of the Nationwide Council of Church buildings, a corporation of Protestant, Orthodox, evangelical, and historic African American church buildings, informed Faith Information Service that she believed the AME Church was the primary nationwide denomination to take this step.
In January, Progressive Nationwide Baptist Conference President David Peoples declared his denomination’s stance in favor of a cease-fire at a information convention on the Lorraine Motel, the Memphis, Tennessee, website the place the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968.
However on Thursday, he informed RNS he’s not taking the stance the AME Church has. “I’m not going that far,” he stated, although he stated he agrees with those that suppose U.S. army funding to Israel needs to be tied to verified humanitarian circumstances and an exit technique.
The AME’s assertion is available in per week of constant requires cease-fire and humanitarian assist for the victims of the warfare that started on Oct. 7 with a Hamas assault that killed an estimated 1,200 individuals in Israel, based on authorities there; 28,000 Palestinians have since been killed in retaliation, well being officers in Gaza estimate
In a Monday (Feb. 12) letter to Home Speaker Mike Johnson, a various group of religion leaders requested that any laws offering U.S. funding for Israel embody humanitarian assist for Palestinians. The signers embody leaders of the NCC, Nationwide Affiliation of Evangelicals, the Non secular Motion Heart for Reform Judaism, NETWORK Foyer for Catholic Social Justice, Sojourners, the Nationwide African American Clergy Community, and Masjid Muhammad in Washington.
“Ending the extraordinary struggling and demise of Palestinian civilians is important to Israel’s long-term safety and to peace and stability within the area,” wrote the signatories, who added that they acknowledge Israel’s proper to defend itself and so they search the discharge of hostages held by Hamas.
“On behalf of many religion teams, we stand united in our name to Congress to behave instantly to ensure crucial provides and medication are offered, allowed into Gaza, and delivered to these in want,” the assertion stated.
Because the AME bishops issued their assertion, Peace Pilgrimage marchers, together with Christians, Jews and Muslims, joined with the group Religion for Black Lives on a trek from Philadelphia to Washington to induce an finish to the warfare. On the identical day, which was Ash Wednesday, dozens of Christian protesters protested outdoors the White Home, the place a Catholic Mass was stated as a part of an ecumenical witness in help of a cease-fire.
In November, greater than 900 Black Christian leaders took out a full-page advert in The New York Occasions, calling for a cease-fire and the discharge of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Shortly after the Oct. 7 begin of the warfare, different traditionally Black denominations issued statements.
Church of God in Christ Presiding Bishop J. Drew Sheard stated in an Oct. 9 assertion, “my coronary heart goes out to the State of Israel. We’re deeply involved for the well-being of its individuals. We consider within the energy of affection and peace and supply our prayers for peace, safety, and prosperity.”
The Board of Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church expressed lament over the violence affecting Jewish, Muslim, and Christian individuals within the area.
“Individuals of ethical readability can fiercely condemn acts of terrorism by Hamas whereas additionally talking out in opposition to the collective punishment of the individuals of Gaza and the life-threatening circumstances imposed upon the Palestinian inhabitants,” the AME Zion bishops stated in an Oct. 17 assertion. “Israeli and Palestinian lives are of equal worth, and every of their lives matter.”
