ELCA Adds Disclaimer to Blog Entry on Bethlehem Call
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is one of the more intellectually robust mainline churches in the United States.
This is not to say the denomination’s witness about the Arab-Israeli conflict is perfect.
The denomination’s “Peace Not Walls” campaign routinely draws attention to alleged Israeli misdeeds while downplaying the bad acts of Israel’s adversaries.
Still, Snapshots is obligated to give credit where credit is due.
ELCA’s “Peace Not Walls” blog posted an entry publicizing The Bethlehem Call, the deeply hostile and incendiary statement issued by the same people who issued the Kairos Palestinian Document in 2009.
It also, however, posted links to two articles critical of the statement, one issued by the B’Nai Brith and the other by the American Jewish Committee.
On this score at least, ELCA’s blog did a decent job of living up to its stated purpose of showing “the breadth of views and opinions surrounding the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
ELCA’s actions compare well in light of actions of the Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ whose website serves as a virtual clearing house of anti-Israel propaganda. Over the years, the Global Ministries of the UCC and the Disciples of Christ has become a mainstay of the international campaign of “deligitimization and criminalization” that is lauded and encouraged by The Bethlehem Call.
Apparently, somebody, or maybe several somebodies, at ELCA have started to think that they do not want to go down the same road as the UCC and The Disciples.
Good for them.
In addition to posting the responses from B’Nai Brith and the Disciples of Christ, the “Peace Not Walls” blog has also recently added a disclaimer clearly intended to distance ELCA from the Bethlehem Call’s hostile and incendiary message. The disclaimer states:
The blog of the Peace Not Walls campaign of the ELCA does not endorse the content of items posted or linked by authors. The document known as the ‘Bethlehem Call’ contains several elements not in agreement with ELCA policy concerning Israel and Palestine.
With this short and Innocuous statement, ELCA officials have made it clear that while they are committed to standing in solidarity with Palestinian Christians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, they are not going to sign off on or unreflectively re-broadcast every statement issued by the leaders of this community.
This is a good thing.
More from SNAPSHOTS
Reuters Falsely Links Jerusalem Embassy, Two-State Solution
January 9, 2019
The Jerusalem office park which houses Guatemala's embassy Multiple recent Reuters articles incorrectly report that moving the Brazilian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a dramatic move away from the two-state solution. For instance, [...]
American Lutheran In Jerusalem Affirms that IDF Soldiers Are “Stormtroopers,” Backtracks
December 19, 2018
Rev. Carrie Ballenger Smith is a pastor at the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem. She ministers to the English-speaking congregation that meets at the Lutheran church, which is located in the Old City of [...]
The Washington Post Ignores Antisemitic Attack in Los Angeles
November 29, 2018
The Washington Post has warned about a “rising tide of antisemitism.” But as CAMERA has highlighted, The Post’s coverage of antisemitism has frequently been selective and is often politicized. More recently, the newspaper even ignored [...]
Think Tank: Iran Was Closer to Building a Bomb Than Previously Thought
November 23, 2018
A Nov. 20, 2018 report by a Washington D.C.-based think tank, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) argues that Iran’s illegal nuclear weapons program was “more advanced than Western intelligence agencies and the [...]
AFP Headline Casts Palestinian Assailant as Victim
November 21, 2018
Agence France Presse yesterday published a throwback headline, bringing us back to the period almost two years ago in which media outlets serially produced headlines which depicted Palestinian attackers as the victims. The wire agency's [...]
More Hypocrisy and Anti-Semitism From Linda Sarsour
November 19, 2018
In an earlier CAMERA exposé, we pointed out the self-serving allegiances and disgraceful hypocrisy of Linda Sarsour (of Women's March fame). We demonstrated how she poses as a universal activist who embraces all marginalized people [...]
Small Steps: Improved NY Times Language on Target of Hamas Rockets
November 15, 2018
Earlier this week, we pointed out how a New York Times article about fighting between Israel and Hamas neglected to inform readers that Palestinian rockets were fired indiscriminately toward civilians in Israeli towns and cities. [...]