Israel/Palestine: Living out the Wesleyan Tradition within the United Methodist Church
Purpose:
To learn what the United Methodist Church says about social justice in general and the Palestinian/Israeli situation in particular through study of the Social Principles from the Book of Discipline and Resolutions passed by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Materials:
- Have available one or more copies of the Social Principles (either pamphlet form or from The Book of Disciplines) or make copies of the needed portions. See below for needed excerpts
- Copies of the Companion Litany to Our Social Creed (see below).
- Chart paper. (You will post these sheets for each of the following sessions for referral and reflection.)
- Markers
- Copies of p. 3 and 4 of the study guide: Working for a Just and Lasting Peace for Israelis and Palestinians. See below (or have it located on your computer and use a projector to show it) found at the United Methodist website
- United Methodist Resolutions Related to Israel and Palestine
- Copies of the UMC response to the Israelis attack on the Freedom Flotilla going to Gaza on May 30, 2010. (You may wish to shorten discussion on some of the other points to include this document or pass it out to the class members at the end of the session for reading at home. In this case you may briefly discuss it at the beginning of Session 3.) This document is found at the end of this section.
- (Make a copy of the John Wesley quote (below) for each group member, or make a poster of it to be displayed in the meeting room.)
“Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can” ―
- Make a poster of Proverbs 31:8-9.
Method:
- {2 min.} Leader: read Proverbs 31:8-9 and Amos 5:24.
- Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; defend the rights of all those who have nothing. Speak up and judge fairly, and defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Proverbs 31:8-9 NCV)]
- But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. (Amos 5:24)
- {4 min.} Read the following quote together. What does it mean to you?
The Gospel of Christ knows no religion but social, no holiness but social holiness. You cannot be holy except as you are engaged in making the world a better place. You do not become holy by keeping yourself pure and clean from the world but by plunging into ministry on behalf of the world’s hurting ones. -John Wesley, one of Methodism’s founders - {5 min.} (Leader: read the following to the group.)
The Social Principles are adopted by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church. Although they are not church law, they are included in The Book of Discipline. According to the Preface of the Social Principles, “They are a prayerful and thoughtful effort on the part of the General Conference to speak to the human issues in the contemporary world from a sound biblical and theological foundation.Activity: (This is an optional activity, depending on your time frame.)
Have the group stand as able. Explain to the group that you will read a brief statement from the Social Principles. Participants should move to one side of the room if they agree with the statement, to the other if they disagree, and stay in the middle if they are either uncertain or don’t want to make their feelings known. Follow each move with a discussion of why they agree or disagree with the statement. Can you articulate a biblical or theological basis for your belief?- All persons should have equal access to housing, education, communication, employment, medical care, legal redress for grievances, and physical protection.
- We urge policies and practices that ensure the right of every religious group to exercise its faith free from legal, political, or economic restrictions.
- The Church must regard nations as accountable for unjust treatment of their citizens and others living within their borders.
- Persons and groups must feel secure in their life and right to live within a society if order is to be achieved and maintained by law.
- {10 min.} Pass out copies of the social principles. Examine excerpts from Section III- A and B, Section V-A, B, D, E, F, H, and Section VI-Introduction, A, B, C, D. Have each person (or in pairs, depending on group size) read one or more sections and summarize each in a sentence, and write it on a piece of chart paper (each section on a different sheet of paper.) Save these sheets as you will be adding to them, reflecting on them, or referring to them in future sessions.
- {5 min.} How does John Wesley’s quote correlate with the social principles?
- {14 min.} How has the United Methodist Church used the Social Principles as a basis for action by the church?Read the October 17, 2000, General Board of Global Ministries resolution, the May 2001 United Methodist Council of Bishops call, the statement about the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (of which Women’s Division and GBGM are both member organizations and have contributed to its work), excerpts from the 2004 General Conference Resolution, “Opposition to Israeli Settlements in Palestinian Land” (Resolution #312), excerpts from a 2004 statement by the General Board of Church & Society, and excerpts from Resolution #323. (These are found in Appendix ___.) Add summarizing statements to sentences on chart paper, making new sheets if necessary.Read and discuss Resolutions 312 and 323.
(Resolution 312 cites Isaiah 5:8 which cautions against taking the lands and homes of neighbors. It states that the United Methodist Church is against the military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, the confiscation of Palestinian lands and water resources, the destruction of Palestinian homes, and the construction of illegal Jewish settlements. It is for the stop of U.S. government aid for military use in the Middle East (in particular in Israel and Egypt). It calls for a stop to curfews for Palestinians and enclosure of their lands and the dismantling of the Wall of Separation. It encourages all members of the UMC to learn about the conflict.Resolution 323 calls on the United States to accept and abide by United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 and other related resolutions.){5 min.} How do these correlate with the Social Principles, John Wesley’s quote, and Proverbs 31:8-9? - {5 min.}Reflect on the parts of the Kairos Document studied in Lesson 1. How do they correlate to what you learned today?
- {4 min.} Read the Companion Litany to Our Social Creed.
- {2 min.} Close in prayer for our social justice.
Social Principle Excerpts
III. A) Rights of Racial and Ethnic Persons—Racism is the combination of the power to dominate by one race over other races and a value system that assumes that the dominant race is innately superior to the others. Racism includes both personal and institutional racism. Personal racism is manifested through the individual expressions, attitudes, and/or behaviors that accept the assumptions of a racist value system and that maintain the benefits of this system. Institutional racism is the established social pattern that supports implicitly or explicitly the racist value system.
Racism plagues and cripples our growth in Christ, inasmuch as it is antithetical to the gospel itself. White people are unfairly granted privileges and benefits that are denied to persons of color. Racism breeds racial discrimination. We define racial discrimination as the disparate treatment and lack of full access to resources and opportunities in the church and in society based on race or ethnicity.
Therefore, we recognize racism as sin and affirm the ultimate and temporal worth of all persons. We rejoice in the gifts that particular ethnic histories and cultures bring to our total life. We commend and encourage the self-awareness of all racial and ethnic groups and oppressed people that leads them to demand their just and equal rights as members of society.
We assert the obligation of society and groups within the society to implement compensatory programs that redress long-standing, systemic social deprivation of racial and ethnic people. We further assert the right of members of racial and ethnic groups to equal opportunities in employment and promotion; to education and training of the highest quality; to nondiscrimination in voting, in access to public accommodations, and in housing purchase or rental; to credit, financial loans, venture capital, and insurance policies; and to positions of leadership and power in all elements of our life together.
We support affirmative action as one method of addressing the inequalities and discriminatory practices within our Church and society.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
III. B) Rights of Religious Minorities—Religious persecution has been common in the history of civilization. We urge policies and practices that ensure the right of every religious group to exercise its faith free from legal, political, or economic restrictions. We condemn all overt and covert forms of religious intolerance, being especially sensitive to their expression in media stereotyping. We assert the right of all religions and their adherents to freedom from legal, economic, and social discrimination.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
V. While our allegiance to God takes precedence over our allegiance to any state, we acknowledge the vital function of government as a principal vehicle for the ordering of society. Because we know ourselves to be responsible to God for social and political life, we declare the following relative to governments:
A) Basic Freedoms and Human Rights—We hold governments responsible for the protection of the rights of the people to free and fair elections and to the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, communications media, and petition for redress of grievances without fear of reprisal; to the right to privacy; and to the guarantee of the rights to adequate food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care.
The Church regards the institution of slavery, the practice and commission of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression as infamous and atrocious evils. Such evils are destructive of humanity, promote impunity, and therefore must be unconditionally prohibited by all governments and shall never be tolerated by the Church.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
B) Political Responsibility—The strength of a political system depends upon the full and willing participation of its citizens. The church should continually exert a strong ethical influence upon the state, supporting policies and programs deemed to be just and opposing policies and programs that are unjust.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
D) Freedom of Information—Citizens of all countries should have access to all essential information regarding their government and its policies. Illegal and unconscionable activities directed against persons or groups by their own governments must not be justified or kept secret, even under the guise of national security.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House
E) Education—We believe that every person has the right to education. We also believe that the responsibility for education of the young rests with the family, faith communities, and the government.
In society, this function can best be fulfilled through public policies that ensure access for all persons to free public elementary and secondary schools and to post-secondary schools of their choice. Persons should not be precluded by financial barriers from access to church-related and other independent institutions of higher education.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
F) Civil Obedience and Civil Disobedience—Governments and laws should be servants of God and of human beings. Citizens have a duty to abide by laws duly adopted by orderly and just process of government. But governments, no less than individuals, are subject to the judgment of God.
Therefore, we recognize the right of individuals to dissent when acting under the constraint of conscience and, after having exhausted all legal recourse, to resist or disobey laws that they deem to be unjust or that are discriminately enforced.
Even then, respect for law should be shown by refraining from violence and by being willing to accept the costs of disobedience.
We assert the duty of churches to support those who suffer because of their stands of conscience represented by nonviolent beliefs or acts.
We urge governments to ensure civil rights, as defined by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to persons in legal jeopardy because of those nonviolent acts.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
H) Criminal and Restorative Justice—To protect all persons from encroachment upon their personal and property rights, governments have established mechanisms of law enforcement and courts. We support governmental measures designed to reduce and eliminate crime that are consistent with respect for the basic freedom of persons.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
VI. THE WORLD COMMUNITY
God’s world is one world. The unity now being thrust upon us by technological revolution has far outrun our moral and spiritual capacity to achieve a stable world. The enforced unity of humanity, increasingly evident on all levels of life, presents the Church as well as all people with problems that will not wait for answer: injustice, war, exploitation, privilege, population, international ecological crisis, proliferation of arsenals of nuclear weapons, development of transnational business organizations that operate beyond the effective control of any governmental structure, and the increase of tyranny in all its forms. This generation must find viable answers to these and related questions if humanity is to continue on this earth. We commit ourselves as a Church to the achievement of a world community that is a fellowship of persons who honestly love one another. We pledge ourselves to seek the meaning of the gospel in all issues that divide people and threaten the growth of world community.
A) Nations and Cultures—As individuals are affirmed by God in their diversity, so are nations and cultures. We recognize that no nation or culture is absolutely just and right in its treatment of its own people, nor is any nation totally without regard for the welfare of its citizens. The Church must regard nations as accountable for unjust treatment of their citizens and others living within their borders. While recognizing valid differences in culture and political philosophy, we stand for justice and peace in every nation.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House
B) National Power and Responsibility—Some nations possess more military and economic power than do others. Upon the powerful rests responsibility to exercise their wealth and influence with restraint.
We urge Christians in every society to encourage the governments under which they live and the economic entities within their societies to aid and work for the development of more just economic orders.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
C) War and Peace—We believe war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ. We therefore reject war as an instrument of national foreign policy. We oppose unilateral first/preemptive strike actions and strategies on the part of any government.
As disciples of Christ, we are called to love our enemies, seek justice, and serve as reconcilers of conflict. We insist that the first moral duty of all nations is to work together to resolve by peaceful means every dispute that arises between or among them.
We advocate the extension and strengthening of international treaties and institutions that provide a framework within the rule of law for responding to aggression, terrorism, and genocide.
We believe that human values must outweigh military claims as governments determine their priorities; that the militarization of society must be challenged and stopped; that the manufacture, sale, and deployment of armaments must be reduced and controlled; and that the production, possession, or use of nuclear weapons be condemned.
Consequently, we endorse general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
D) Justice and Law—Persons and groups must feel secure in their life and right to live within a society if order is to be achieved and maintained by law. We denounce as immoral an ordering of life that perpetuates injustice and impedes the pursuit of peace. Peoples and nations feel secure in the world community when law, order, and human rights are respected and upheld.
Believing that international justice requires the participation of all peoples and nations, we endorse the United Nations, its related bodies, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court as the best instruments now in existence to achieve a world of justice and law. We commend the efforts of all people in all countries who pursue world peace through law.
We endorse international aid and cooperation on all matters of need and conflict. We urge acceptance for membership in the United Nations of all nations who wish such membership and who accept United Nations responsibility. We urge the United Nations to take a more aggressive role in the development of international arbitration of disputes and actual conflicts among nations by developing binding third-party arbitration. Bilateral or multilateral efforts outside of the United Nations should work in concert with, and not contrary to, its purposes.
We reaffirm our historic concern for the world as our parish and seek for all persons and peoples full and equal membership in a truly world community.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
Study guide: Working for a Just and Lasting Peace for Israelis and Palestinians.
Used with permission by the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society. Taken from Working for a Just and Lasting Peace for Israelis and Palestinians.
1. Introduction
On October 17, 2000, the General Board of Global Ministries directors adopted a resolution firmly based on human rights and international law calling for an end to the escalating violence and systemic human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories. It states in part, “We recognize the current popular protest is an expression of deep Palestinian frustration over the ongoing disrespect, dehumanization, and denial of their basic human and national rights by an unjust political system.” GBGM directors called for several key actions based on longstanding United Methodist Social Principles. The call to action urged “Israel to immediately insure respect for international law” and for the U.S. government to support UN involvement of both the Security Council and the Human Rights Commission. The GBGM resolution also called for the “U.S. Government to halt the sale of new armaments to Israel; [and for] the international
community to ensure that steps are taken to reduce friction, including, the removal of Israeli forces from occupied Palestinian Territories.”
In May 2001 the United Methodist Council of Bishops spoke out forcefully calling on “the U.S. government, through Congress, to use all measures possible, including the cutting off of all funding to the Israeli government, to insure that the following conditions are met: All human rights violations cease. No more Jewish settlements are built in occupied territories. All home demolitions
cease.” Since its formation in October 2001, the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has built wider and wider support for human rights for all Palestinians and Israelis as something that is non-negotiable. The U.S. Campaign affirms that ending military occupation is a necessary precondition for a just and lasting peace. Occupation is illegal under international law and must be ended. The Campaign categorically condemns the targeting of civilians by anyone. The U.S. government rightly condemns Palestinian attacks on civilians; however, the U.S. continues to provide
financial, military and political support for Israeli attacks on civilians. It is such imbalance that the U.S. Campaign, like the United Methodist Church, seeks to end. The U.S. Campaign embodies the core values of human rights, international law, and involvement of the UN that are all espoused by GBGM directors, the United Methodist Council of Bishops and by the General Conference
resolutions pertaining to Palestine/Israel for many years. United Methodists from a growing number of annual conferences have participated in U.S. Campaign educational and advocacy actions and the annual organizing conference. Women’s Division and GBGM are both member organizations of the Campaign and have contributed annually to its work.
Excerpts from the 2004 General Conference Resolution, “Opposition to Israeli Settlements in Palestinian Land” (#312) The United Methodist Church opposes continued military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, the confiscation of Palestinian land and water resources, the destruction of Palestinian homes, the continued building of illegal Jewish settlements, and any vision of a “Greater Israel” that includes the occupied territories and the whole of Jerusalem and its surroundings.
[…]
We urge the U.S government to end all military aid to the region, and second to redistribute the large amount of aid now given to Israel and Egypt; to support economic development efforts of non-governmental organizations throughout the region, including religious institutions, human rights groups, labor unions, and professional groups within Palestinian communities
[…]
The church continues to work with ecumenical and interfaith bodies to advocate for Palestinian self-determination and an end to Israeli occupation; to affirm Israel’s right to exist within secure borders; to affirm the right of return for Palestinian refugees under international law; to call for region-wide disarmament; to urge Israelis and Palestinians to stop human rights violations
and attacks on civilians, such as targeted assassinations and suicide bombings; and to urge the U.S. government to initiate an arms embargo on the entire Middle East region. Excerpts from a 2004 statement by the General Board of Church & Society We recognize there will be no true and lasting peace in the Middle East until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is equitably resolved and both states are safe and secure. We call upon the President of the United States to send a special envoy back to the region to restart negotiations between the parties. We call upon all participants in the conflict to cease military action and violence. We call upon Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories and to tear down the wall it is constructing (an action already determined illegal by the International Court of Justice and denounced by most of the world). We call upon Palestinians to bring an end to terrorist attacks against Israel.
[…]
Finally, we implore persons of faith throughout God’s world to be in constant prayer for the people of the entire Middle Eastern region and for the im-plementation of serious and effective plans of peaceful resolution of the region’s crises. We also recognize the United States has significant power to influence the course of events, and we urge it to use this power to work toward lasting peace
in the region. Our prayer is that Ezekiel’s vision of peace, where all of us “shall no more be a prey to the nations … and none shall make them afraid” (34:28)
A Companion Litany to Our Social Creed
God in the Spirit revealed in Jesus Christ,
calls us by grace
to be renewed in the image of our Creator,
that we may be one
in divine love for the world.
Today is the day
God cares for the integrity of creation,
wills the healing and wholeness of all life,
weeps at the plunder of earth’s goodness.
And so shall we.
Today is the day
God embraces all hues of humanity,
delights in diversity and difference,
favors solidarity transforming strangers into friends.
And so shall we.
Today is the day
God cries with the masses of starving people,
despises growing disparity between rich and poor,
demands justice for workers in the marketplace.
And so shall we.
Today is the day
God deplores violence in our homes and streets,
rebukes the world’s warring madness,
humbles the powerful and lifts up the lowly.
And so shall we.
Today is the day
God calls for nations and peoples to live in peace,
celebrates where justice and mercy embrace,
exults when the wolf grazes with the lamb.
And so shall we.
Today is the day
God brings good news to the poor,
proclaims release to the captives,
gives sight to the blind, and
sets the oppressed free.
And so shall we.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008.
Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.