iCitizens and relatives of the Palestinian man who died in an Israeli ceasefire violating drone attack on a group of Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip attend the funeral ceremony after his body was taken from the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital for burial in Gaza City, Gaza on November 4, 2025. It was reported that one person was killed and another was injured in the attack that took place in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City. (Photo by Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea/Anadolu via Getty Images)
U.S. Christian leaders are circulating a declaration pledging solidarity with their Palestinian counterparts and pledging to advocate for a permanent and lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
“Our Palestinian Christian siblings are telling us that they are devastated by the extreme violence the Israeli military and Israeli settlers have inflicted upon their people before and after Hamas’ unjust attack on October 7, 2023,” says the statement signed by more than 4,100 progressive Christian activists, authors, pastors and theologians.
The document was created during Church at the Crossroads, a recent gathering of more than 100 leaders who committed to seek biblical reconciliation and to denounce the use of faith to justify Israel’s occupation and military attacks in Gaza and other parts of Palestine.
A shaky ceasefire is currently in effect between Israel and Hamas while a major humanitarian crisis, including famine conditions, continue in Gaza where more than 90% of homes and other buildings have been destroyed.
“At this crossroads, the church must choose. Will we follow the political idols of our day — or Jesus, who disarmed the powers and made peace through His blood?” organizers said about the September conference held in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
The event featured more than 20 speakers and leaders, including author and historian Jemar Tisby, activist and speaker Shane Claiborne, theologian Ruth Padilla DeBorst and Mae Elise Cannon, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace, which co-hosted the summit.
The conference was a response to letters sent by Palestinian and other Middle East church leaders urging Western Christians to speak out against the war then raging in Gaza and to scrutinize theological justifications for the violence.
“We deeply mourn the death and suffering of all people because it is our firm conviction that all humans are made in God’s image,” Palestinian Christians said in a 2023 letter. “We are also profoundly troubled when the name of God is invoked to promote violence and religious national ideologies.”
The source of that concern largely rests in the unwavering support for the Israeli military by the Trump administration and U.S. evangelicals who often frame the conflict in biblical and eschatological terms.
But the gathering challenged participants to consider ways the global church can respond to the suffering in Palestine.
Read more: https://baptistnews.com/article/christian-leaders-declare-solidarity-with-palestinian-christians/
By Jeff Brumley | baptistnews
