On Friday, August 17, 2018 Bishop Suffragan Gayle Harris from the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts did something that very few other Christian have done. She apologized for the misinformation SHE broadcast about Israel at her church’s General Convention in July. 1/33
A few people have raised concerns about her apology and I share those concerns. It would have been good if she had acknowledged explicitly that the statements she made were false. (More about that below.) 2/33
But Bishop Gates is a living Christian who apologized for things SHE said about living Jews. (Get real folks, when you defame Israel, you defame Jews.) Christians love to apologize for things dead Christians said about dead Jews, but the things THEY THEMSELVES have said? Ha. 3/33
Every Christian will condemn Martin Luther’s statements about Jews in the 1500s. Every Christian will condemn the antisemitism of St. John of Chrysostom. Every Christian will condemn the Holocaust and the German Christians for their failings. 4/33
But Christians rarely take responsibility for the false things THEY themselves say about Jews and their homeland. A few examples below. (Google my name and the names mentioned below for links.) 5/33
When Naim Ateek used crucifixion imagery in reference to Israel during the Second Intifada he did not publicly apologize. Lydia Veliko, UCC’s ecumenical officer said concern over Ateek’s rhetoric was a “conservative” thing. (Not exact quote, but that was her take.) 6/33
When James M. Wall, former editor of Christian Century took up with Veterans News Now, mainline Protestant elites said NOTHING. No apology from Wall or anyone else. 7/33
When @unitedchurch’s publishing house published Gary Burge’s book, which is filled with factual misstatements which cut against Israel and theological invective against Jewish sovereignty, the UCC did not apologize. They still sell the book without apology. 8/33
When I challenged Margaret Payne, a former Lutheran Bishop about misstatements of fact she said on a radio show in Washington, D.C., she refused 2 correct the record + complained about “groups like yours” [@CAMERAorg]. No apology. 9/33
These are just a few examples of this type of behavior. Lots of Christians say untrue things about Israel, get called out, get defensive and invoke Jewish/Israel anger as proof of their righteousness. 10/33
I could go on and on with Christian refusals to correct the record and apologize when it comes to anti-Israel/anti-Jewish invective and misinformation. Some Christians speak and act like the right to berate and Jews and Israel comes with the rite of baptism. 11/33
They speak like its part of their birthright to mercilessly dump on Israel and on Jews (and Christians) who defend it. When you confront Christians who defame Israel, their disdain is palpable, surpassed only by their attitudes of superiority. 12/33
If you want to understand why Bishop Harris felt it was OK to say the things she did, the answer is, this is what a lot of Christians do when confronted with problems involving the Jewish people. This is what Christians have done for centuries. 13/33
We talk like Jews aren’t listening or if they are, can’t defend themselves. We’ve treated Jews as the repugnant other for centuries. 14/33
Once confronted, Bishop Harris did something different from the folks I described above (and MANY, MANY others) who responded with disdain to complaints about what they said about Israel. Harris said she was sorry about what SHE said. That ain’t easy. 15/33
It’s easy to talk repentance when we’re talking about dead Christians who defamed dead Jews. 16/33
When the Holocaust comes up, Christians get all pious and outraged, but when a flesh-and-blood, living Jew gets stabbed in Jerusalem by a Palestinian incited by hate speech from Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, it’s “Well, the settlements…” or “Well, the occupation…” 17/33
The whole point of the Christian-Jewish relations industry is not to set things right between dead Christians and dead Jews, but to make things people better for Christians and Jews who are alive today and who will live tomorrow. 18/33
Change of heart is not achieved by judging folks in the graveyard and by lying to ourselves about how we would have done so much better than they did* but by confronting ourselves while we are alive. Bishop Harris started that process. Let’s hope she continues. 19/33
*We all think we’re the next Bonhoeffer. But we’re not. 20/33
Should Bishop Harris have apologized for spreading misinformation as opposed to passing on unverified stories? Yes. 21/33
Jews are going to interpret what she said at the Episcopal Church’s General Convention through the lens of what they and their families have been through. And false stories from the lips of Christians have started great acts of violence. 22/33
But from where I sit as a Christian, it looks like she made a good faith effort to confront the problem she created with her words. On Friday, she set an example that few other Christians follow. As a Christian, I’m not sure I’d have the guts to apologize like she did. 23/33
And it’s not as if she was alone in her misdeeds. She had company. People in the Episcopal Church’s House of Deputies searched for any reason to dump on the Jewish state while staying quiet about Hamas. Watch the proceedings for yourself. They got called out. 24/33
And no one challenged Bishop Harris in the House of Bishops after she said the things she did. 25/33
One thing I would like to know is WHO told Bishop Harris the stories she passed on. I have my guesses. 26/33
I would also like to see the Episcopal Church admit that the resolutions affirmed by the General Convention were promoted with a lot of one-sided invective and lack the moral force and credibility they hope to achieve. 27/33
People might ask, “What about the Muslims, Dexter? You talk a lot about Christians and Jews, but what about Muslims?” They are right. This is about Christians, Jews AND Muslims. 28/33
Christian peacemakers, if they are doing their job must ask Muslims to do what Christians in the West did not: Find a place in their heart and moral imagination to allow Jews to live in safety, free from oppression and terror and theologically justified hate. 29/33
Remember folks: We are asking Muslims to do what Christians did not. 30/33
One last thing. The controversy surrounding Bishop Gayle Harris’s statements at the Episcopal Church’s General Convention raise questions Christians have been struggling with for a long time. 31/33
What is Christianity about? What or WHO is our meal jar? Is Christianity about experiencing and sharing the love of God with humanity? Is it about the life and sacrifice of Christ? Or do we feast on narratives that portray Jews as the repugnant, evil other? 32/33
What, or WHO, is our meal jar? 33/33
