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Radical elements in United Church infected with antisemitism, minister says

August 7, 2012 | Joanne Hill - Correspondent


United Church Minister Andrew Love, seen here at the Western Wall, has been trying to counter calls for a boycott of ‘settlement’ goods by the church’s Working Group on Israel/Palestine Policy. United Church Minister Andrew Love, seen here at the Western Wall, has been trying to counter calls for a boycott of ‘settlement’ goods by the church’s Working Group on Israel/Palestine Policy.

 

TORONTO-OTTAWA – Antisemitism and racism are fuelling anti-Israel activism in a number of Christian denominations, says United Church minister Andrew Love.

Love, the spiritual leader of Grace Saint Andrew’s United Church in Arnprior, has been trying to counter the calls for a boycott of ‘settlement’ goods by the United Church of Canada’s (UCC) Working Group on Israel/Palestine Policy and other regional church bodies.

He said he is troubled by the way radical elements within the Christian church focus on demonizing Israel while minimizing the Palestinians’ role in the conflict and ignoring human rights abuses against Christians throughout the world.

“I have wracked my brain trying to understand why Israel gets such a disproportionate measure of our moral criticism,” said Love. “I keep coming back to a very difficult conclusion, and that is that there remains an undercurrent of antisemitism in our church, and that disturbs me.

“Conversations I’ve been a part of and what I’ve observed have led me to the conclusion that, if you scratch the surface of our tolerant, liberal church, you find the reality of racism.”

He clarified, “I’m speaking of the United Church but this same debate has infected the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Anglican communion, where Israel has received a disproportionate amount of attention.”

Love was referring to three American denominations that have recently dealt with anti-Zionist proposals at their national conferences.

The United Methodist Church (US) voted in May against divesting from three companies that do business with Israel. However, according to the JTA, the church passed motions “opposing Jewish settlements in the West Bank” and “recommending the boycott of products manufactured in settlements.”

In July, the Presbyterian Church (USA) also voted against divestment as well as against using the term “apartheid” to describe Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. However, according to the church’s website, it voted in favour of a boycott of “all products made by enterprises in Israeli settlements on [occupied] Palestinian land.”

In a more positive move, the Episcopal Church (US) passed a resolution in July calling for “intense teaching, learning and advocacy around the conflict” and defeated a motion to endorse boycott and divestment, according to a statement by Alexander D. Baumgarten, director of the church’s office of government relations. It also rejected an official study of two documents: A Moment of Truth, by Kairos Palestine and, Steadfast Hope: The Palestinian Quest for Just Peace, by Presbyterians Concerned for Jewish, Christian and Muslim Relations. Both documents, wrote Baumgarten, “have been criticized by some...as theologically problematic in their portrayal of Judaism.”

“There’s no question in my mind that there are churches within our fold that are extremely radical on this question,” said Love. “This gets me in trouble, but I believe it stems from an antisemitic, racist view.... The infection – and I use that word deliberately – the infection of political radicalism in our church is going to take a lot of work to counterbalance.”

Love is doing what he can through his initiative, Faithful Witness (see United Church minister blasts church’s Israel/Palestine report, Jewish Tribune, May 15, 2012).

He will not have voting privileges at the UCC General Council beginning this coming weekend in Ottawa but he has been given permission to set up an information table at the venue. He will be distributing the results of a recently completed national survey co-sponsored by Faithful Witness and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

“The survey revealed an overwhelming gap between what is recommended and what the ‘view of the pew’ is,” said Love. “The overwhelming majority do not want to see the United Church adopt a boycott of any kind, nor do they want the church to take sides on the issue. They want us to keep that credible voice as peacemakers, as bringing folks together.”

If the UCC ignores the will of the majority of its churchgoers and votes in favour of a boycott, Love said, “I don’t think it’ll have any impact on the ground: we simply don’t have the economic muscle; we’re not buying a lot of wine from the Golan Heights. What it will do is add to the feeling of isolation that many in Israel are feeling and [lead] to further division and resentment. It will do nothing to aid in our understanding and dialogue or our ability to work out solutions.”

An anti-Israel boycott will also ruin the relationship between the UCC and the Jewish community, he warned.

“As a church that shares a common Abrahamic root with Jews and Muslims, the moment we create a policy, it has very real interfaith dimensions and implications. And the interfaith implication today will be the destruction of our relationship with the Jewish community in Canada at the national level.”

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  • Anonymous

    I guess they refuse to recognize the sufficiently available knowledge that the PA wants an Islamic judenrein state which includes every square inch of Israel. Willful ignorance is evil and there is no excuse for these people, nominal “Christians”.

  • Anonymous

    muslims do not share any Abrahamic root with Jews and Christians

    islam is a revisionist history and replacement theology

    You would have to be a Baha’i to believe that islam is a progression on from Christianity.

    mohammad sought to have muslims destroy all real history and have the quranic lie version take over

    • Interalia

      I am appalled by this response. It reflects a complete lack of knowledge regarding the Islamic faith, which clearly shares Abrahamic roots with Jews and Christians. To say otherwise is preposterous. The writer’s comment spews hatred and is no less racist towards these two religions than are hateful antisemitic comments. Has the writer and those who support his comments decided that there are no Muslims with whom we can have a dialogue with towards a common goal or would they choose to simply vilify and demonize them all. Does this sound familiar?

      • Anonymous

        mohammad claimed that people like moses and jesus are actually muslims, that is revisionist. mohammad claimed that ishmael is the TRUE path of ‘god’s’ people, that’s revisionist.

        I’m a najis kafir

        islam is ass

        • Chris

          Not just that they were Muslims, but preached the same message as he, and Christians and Jews “corrupted” the texts currently used that contradict Islam completely.

          The problem is that we know the texts have been transmitted accurately at least since Ezra. That is no longer disputed by even the most radical atheist scientist. Therefore we know of many prophets who preached…exactly as the Judeo-Christian texts indicate.

          How to educate those who are taught from childhood to run from any feeling or presentation that contradicts the world’s largest cult?

      • Chris

        “The writer’s comment spews hatred and is no less racist towards these two religions than are hateful antisemitic comments.”

        At worst, I would state that his diplomatic skills or effort to be diplomatic might be compromised by anger and frustration, but today in “religious” (particularly about supposed Abrahamic religions) disagreements that (lack of sufficient diplomacy) is universally shouted down as “racism.”

        Except that everything he said also happens to be factually true.

        “Has the writer and those who support his comments decided that there
        are no Muslims with whom we can have a dialogue with towards a common
        goal or would they choose to simply vilify and demonize them all. Does
        this sound familiar? ”

        Dialogue that doesn’t discern between facts and blatant lies…is counterproductive to Western universal justice. I specify “Western” only to distinguish it from Islamic justice, which is submission to Allah, the moon God.

        Certainly we should also assume the most diplomatic language possible and assume that confused Muslims may be reading too, and that anger against them is inappropriate. Too often, even in forums like this one (and unfortunately everywhere else), we write emotionally-driven articles directed to the person we are most angry at, rather than making clear, rational points about the facts. We should instead assume that victims of the same problems we are concerned about (deceived people of all factions) would gain greatly from a softer fact-based presentation of those same facts. Anything that can be labeled as hatred will scare away the naive.

        In the end, his comments are true, if not as widely productive as they could be. However, your comments are factually wrong and much worse. I wish he’d use more tact, and I wish you would study facts before broadcasting lies with your “concern” about “dialog” as if “dialog” was clearly some universal guarantee towards “world peace between all religions.” World peace will be impossible until there is agreement on the history told by Islamic historians and advocates. They must convince the rest of us (contradicting science-based archeology), or we must convince them that our science and reasoning are sound.

        Thank you

        Actually, Western science, if universally taught and valued, would put an end to faith in Islam. That is the reason Iran’s leaders attack the US and the Western ways so strongly, because they are aware of the product of our archeological finds and this is what I believe drives most of the anti-Jew rhetoric today; the belief that the “Elders of Zion” narrative is really true as evidenced by the “corrupt” science that “seems to” prove the Islamic narratives are totally impossible. They say things like, “Jews try to destroy Islam and the Koran.” What do you suppose they mean by that? Study enough archeology and their vague rants make more sense, if you also understand the false Islamic claims as well.

        With enough education, the problems with Islam and the West can be comprehensively and coherently explained, but it is not simple. Islam is simply false, without question, but most Muslims are totally sincere and deserving of respectful presentations about these facts. Many or even most are too scared to try.

  • Ben Ze’ev

    Why don’t you mention the Balfour Declaration, and that it was solidified in the San Remo Convention, further repeated in the British Mandate for Palestine and enshrined in Article u80 of the United Nations Charter. That Israel is allowing the Arabs to be there until the dispute is resolved, that Israel has agreed to allot certain areas to Arabs and finally, that Britain arbitrarily cut off 77% of the Mandate belonging to the Jews and gave it to an Arab sheik from far=off Hedjaz, today’s Jordan. This might give him a little more ammunition.

  • David

    Nonsense. In fact, there is a strong “under current” within the United Church for basic human rights. Only a fool fails to realize that Israel is a thoroughly documented serial violator of international humanitarian law.

    • vildechaye

      You forgot to add “when it comes to Israel ONLY” after “basic human rights”. After all, if there was a UNIVERSAL concern for human rights, the UC would more concerned about the much more flagrant human rights violations occurring worldwide, and in fact right next door to Israel in Syria, where more Arabs have been killed in a year and a half than have been killed by Israel in the 64 years since its creation.

      I guess pointing these facts out makes me a “fool.”

    • Anonymous

      all muslim nations of the OIC are not signatories of the UN Charter of Human Rights

      Read up on the Cairo Declaration.. that’s human rights to muslims, Shariah only.

      get a clue

  • David

    2ndcomingofISA
    You’re just another two-bit ignorant racist. Crawl back under your rock!!!!

  • Anonymous

    I have found that the United church has come out on the un-Christian side of things a lot in the last 30 yrs. It has caused me to completely disassociate myself from them completely. It is unfortunate but there really is no other reasonable option. I think that denominations who join together and do not remain completely true to the Bible,tend to get watered down theology since the compromise to such an extent that the end product looks nothing like the they started out with. Now that the UC has ministers who don’t believe in the most basic tenets of Christianity, they can no longer be considered Christian but are just activist clubs.

  • http://www.facebook.com/george.schmidt.545 George Schmidt

    In my 20+ years as a minister in the United Church I have encountered veiled and sometimes not so veiled references to Jews controlling banks and businesses and plotting to take over the world. Sometimes these things have been uttered by otherwise intelligent and well educated individuals with a background in biblical and theological studies. Unfortunately they seem to have missed the fact that this Jesus they profess to follow was a faithful Jew who demonstrated his love for God by living out the precepts of Torah and challenging us all to do the same. Somewhere between the publication of the helpful and balanced study document Bearing Faithful Witnesses and our present time, a small but vocal minority has been seducing a once influential Christian voice into bearing false witness against our sisters and brothers with whom we share a spiritual heritage through Abraham who was called the friend of God.

  • Hypatia

    The United Church is morphing from a religion into another left-wing political party for which religion is just a convenient tool to be used to ‘justify’ or ‘rationalize’ its political viewpoints.Today’s anti-semitism comes from the left (and not the right), so the UC simply follows the NDP which has well-known Israel-haters like Libby Davies and Leslie Megan on the front benches beside Thomas Mulcair. It is a small step from hating Israel to anti-semitism. The U.C. is in greater moral danger than it realizes. Perhaps its leaders should study the history of the “Deutsche Christen” – German Christian Church – during the Third Reich.

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