(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Blessed are the peacemakers – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'December', 'Stephen Underwood'] Date: 2023-12-23 We, the undersigned clergy and lay ministers in the State of Montana, on the occupied ancestral lands of the Oceti Sakowin (Lakota and Dakota), Assiniboine (Nakoda), A’aniih (Gros Ventre), Niitsitapi (Blackfeet), Anishinaabeg (Chippewa-Cree and Little Shell Chippewa), Apsaalooke (Crow), Tsestho’e (Cheyenne), Salish, Ktunaxa (Kootenai), Kalispel, Nu-we (Shoshone-Bannock), and Métis peoples, call on our elected officials—Reps. Ryan Zinke and Matt Rosendale, and Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester—to repent of their harmful actions and inactions in response to the ongoing war in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We stand with people of conscience worldwide in calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, for the release of all hostages currently held by Hamas and Israel, and for a just and peaceful resolution to the untenable, decades-long occupation that has been the backdrop of this most recent resurgence of open warfare. As Montanans and faith leaders, we speak directly and sorrowfully to our four brothers tasked with representing our state: Your response to the ongoing crisis is reprehensible. Firstly, we condemn the recent legislation brought by Daines and Zinke and cosponsored by Rosendale that seeks to ban—and in the case of HR6211, deport—Palestinian refugees and immigrants from the United States. Though these racist, Islamophobic bills will never become law, their mere introduction helps to stoke the flames of bigotry and fear at home and abroad. Such hateful, dehumanizing rhetoric does nothing to aid the cause of peace in the Middle East. Nor does it protect U.S. citizens—citizens like Wadea al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy who was stabbed to death by his landlord on Oct. 14 out of fear of Palestinian Muslims that metastasized into deadly hate, or the three Palestinian students who were recently shot in Vermont. For those among us who belong to the Christian faith, we are particularly grieved—though perhaps not shocked—that such violent and hateful rhetoric could come from men who bear the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace. Our shared humanity is our greatest asset in pursuit of peace, and it is that very humanity that such rhetoric obscures. Dehumanization, as we have seen throughout history, is a prelude and a justification for mass killing and even genocide, and the dehumanization of Palestinians has already become so normalized that our leaders are numb to the wanton slaughter in Gaza. As Israeli officials threaten a second Nakba against a people they have called “animals” and as some of our own elected officials in the United States call for the entirety of Gaza to be leveled, we implore our leaders to remember the humanity of the ordinary Palestinians in Gaza. Remember the humanity of more than 7,000 children killed for the crime of having been born in the wrong place and fenced in on all sides. A permanent ceasefire—not merely a pause in bombardment— is the beginning of any hope for peace, and we call on our elected leaders to join with the majority of Americans and the international community, including tens of thousands of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and people of all faiths and philosophies in calling for that first, essential step toward peace. Finally, as citizens of the United States, we lament our national legacy of violence and oppression and the racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia that permeates our culture, especially the ideology of Christian Zionism that views bloodshed between Jews and Muslims in Israel and Palestine as the long-awaited catalyst for a misguided vision of Armageddon. Peace will not be ushered in through empire-building and warmongering, and we call on our elected representatives to bring an end to our nation’s unconditional arming and enabling of both the current massacre and decades of Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people. We echo the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu in saying: “The sustainability of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people has always been dependent on its ability to deliver justice to the Palestinians.” Animated by the hope of a just and peaceful future for all, we ask you once more to repent of the oppression and apathy that hinder the realization of that hoped-for future. This column was authored by the following: Rev. Stephen Underwood, Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Great Falls; Rev. Dawn Skerrit, Great Falls; Carrie Parker, Great Falls; Rev. Tamara Bull, New Hope Lutheran Church (ELCA), Great Falls; Rev. Marcia Lauzon, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Fort Benton; Rev. Donna Gleaves, Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, Great Falls; Rev. Douglas Garner, Billings Moderator-elect of Northern Lights Region, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Mat Goodrich, Minister, Missoula; Rev. Lynne Spencer-Smith First Congregational United Church of Christ, Great Falls; Rev. Gloria Soja, East Helena; and Rev. Charles Wei, Plymouth Congregational Church, Helena. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/12/23/blessed-are-the-peacemakers/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/