Can American Christians Cooperate for Holy Land Harmony?
An interview with Churches for Middle East Peace
Last month, 300 Americans descended on Washington, DC for three days of worship, education, and advocacy. Their theme was a Bible verse drawn from Isaiah: “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
Their cause: Uniting Against Oppression in Palestine and Israel.
That title is open-ended enough to match a broad understanding of the organizer’s name—Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP). But the featured speakers may suggest its primary assessment of the source of injustice.
Attendees heard from Palestinian-born Naim El-Yateem, the executive director for service and justice for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a mainline Protestant denomination. Peter Beinart also spoke, a leading journalist with the New York Times and author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, a personal appeal to his religious kin.
The final speaker was Mohsen Mahdawi, raised in a West Bank Palestinian refugee camp, who in America was detained by ICE at an immigration office prior to his interview for citizenship. The diverse ecumenical participants who heard them during the Joint Advocacy Summit then met with staff from over 50 congressional offices on Capitol Hill.
CMEP consists of over 35 American national church organizations from the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant communities. Each is on the board of directors, with decisions taken by consensus. A nonprofit entity formed in 1984, CMEP works to encourage US policies that “promote a comprehensive resolution” to Middle East conflicts, with special focus on Israel-Palestine.
This includes support for a two-state solution and an end to the occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. CMEP opposes unilateral annexation of land, recognizes Jewish settlements as an illegal impediment to peace, and desires a shared Jerusalem with full access to sites considered holy by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
In pursuit of these goals, CMEP supports the right of churches to exert economic leverage on commercial and governmental actors, and the right of individuals to engage in nonviolent resistance. It opposes anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-Islamic actions, and all forms of racism and bigotry. And it believes in religious freedom to ensure the viability of historic Christian communities in the Middle East.
CMEP has been praised on both sides of the political aisle, including former senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and John Kerry (D-MA). But it has also been criticized by Rabbi Kenneth Cohen, who noted its “strong anti-Israel prejudices,” yet considered its members to be “good people” who are “ready to listen.”
American evangelicals may or may not agree with CMEP’s approach to peace. But if they join the coalition, they could be lonely. Friends might be found among conservative members of affiliated Baptist and Presbyterian churches. Yet they may find little in common with the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Middle East Harmony spoke about their possible struggles—political and theological—with CMEP executive director Mae Elise Cannon. An ordained pastor in the Reformed Church in America (RCA), she has led the ecumenical advocacy group since 2016.
Cannon is the author of Just Spirituality and Social Justice Handbook, the latter of which has been endorsed as an “essential text” by Soong-Chan Rah, professor of evangelism at Fuller Theological Seminary.
The following interview has been edited for clarity.
Why should churches have a role in Middle East peace?
There are three primary reasons.
Around the world, Christians consider the Holy Land to be the location where our faith began. It is at the heart of our sacred scriptures, our history, our theology, and the life of Jesus. Because of this, churches are deeply invested in peace.
But what many people do not know is that we have brothers and sisters in Christ who have been present there since the time of Acts. This provides all the more reason to be in solidarity with them as a minority community that is disappearing.
And finally, people are suffering in the Middle East. This is particularly true in Gaza and other areas where Palestinians live without access to basic needs and without basic protections.
What does the Bible have to say about the conflict?
In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Peter pulls out a sword, Jesus told him to put it away, that those who live by the sword, die by the sword (Matthew 26). Violence is not the answer, we follow the Prince of Peace.
If we look to Genesis, when Hagar fled from Sarah’s mistreatment in Abraham’s home, she cried out and the Lord “heard” her—giving the meaning of the name Ishmael (Genesis 16). And when Abraham died, Isaac and Ishmael buried him side-by-side, without enmity (Genesis 25).
Earlier, when Sarah died, Abraham insisted on paying for the burial plot in Hebron (Genesis 23). And after David conquered Jerusalem, he didn’t just take the land. He bought the threshing floor from a Jebusite that later became what the Jews call the Temple Mount, and the Muslims call al-Haram al-Sharif (2 Samuel 24).
Dividing Arabs and Jews is not a faithful reading of the scriptures. God had a covenant with the Jewish people and expected them to behave toward their neighbors in certain ways. We believe these examples are a model and show how land should not be confiscated from Palestinians who have been living there for generations.
What would you say to evangelicals uncomfortable with CMEP because of its partnership with churches they would consider theologically liberal?
I often quote Bishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa, who said that when we make peace we do not sit down at the table with our friends, but with our enemies.
We represent a broad coalition of Christians, and I don’t judge if everyone there is a follower of Christ or not. I founded a separate organization called the Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East (NEME), to create a space for theological work to be done as evangelicals. I know that ecumenical work is not necessarily appreciated by everyone.
But we should work together. We learn from those with whom we disagree. And if we want to be light in the world, we must be light everywhere. This includes those we differ with in theology, whether they are fellow Christians or members of other religions.
Are you an evangelical?
I self-identify as one. Sometimes I say I am a dissenting evangelical, but I hold onto the term because I desperately believe in the good news of Jesus. Before I began my position at CMEP, I worked at World Vision, Compassion International, and my books are published by InterVarsity Press and Zondervan. The CMEP interviewer said to me, “You have a PhD in this field, and you are highly qualified. But boy, you do talk about Jesus a lot.”
At the time my denomination was the Evangelical Covenant Church, and they considered me a missionary to CMEP. I would be doing global work for Middle East peace, but they saw this broader coalition as a part of what missional engagement looks like.
Your tradition is Reformed. How do you view Dispensationalists?
There is a biblical argument to make for Dispensationalism. Our strategy as an ecumenical organization is not to shift anyone’s theology. This would be a losing battle. There are Christian Zionists and Messianic Jews in NEME. They are the exceptions, but they are there.
I lead a Lausanne Movement initiative called the War and Peace Cohort that deals with global issues including the Middle East. The majority of those involved would have Dispensationalist perspectives, many who would not agree with me on these issues.
I respect many Christian Zionists with whom I disagree, while calling attention to ways their beliefs inadvertently cause harm. Some of their ideologies are deeply problematic. But we are called to love and respect each other in the common cause of peace.
The book I edited, A Land Full of God, highlights several. Susan Michael, USA director for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. Michael Brown, a Messianic Jew whose theology I disagree with. Darrell Bock has always been a person of good faith.
These represent some of the people with whom we are in conversation.
How do you pursue peace on a political basis?
Our work at CMEP is to educate, elevate, and advocate.
Like many Americans, I didn’t know much about the realities of the Middle East. The first time I went to Israel I had never heard of the West Bank. We help people understand the realities of the region.
We lift up voices who are committed to peace, especially Christians in the Holy Land. We do religious diplomacy in Washington, DC and with government leaders throughout the Middle East. We seek to be nonpartisan. People tend to come together on Capitol Hill on issues where they agree, even when they disagree on other issues.
We have traction with Republicans, though more with Democrats in this particular moment. But the sustainability of the Christian community in the Middle East is a priority across the aisle.
What would you say to evangelicals who would view CMEP partners as politically liberal?
Consistent with our belief that all people are made in the image of God, we adopt a multi-narrative approach that says the story told by everyone in the Middle East matters. We get criticized for this by Palestinian solidarity groups, as well as those who unilaterally support the State of Israel.
But even for this latter group, it is in their best interest to end continued conflict and war. Ten to 15 years from now, how will 50,000 orphans in Gaza act if the core issues of this conflict are not addressed? All the experts say that the factors leading to militancy and terrorism are present: A lack of self-determination. Utter decimation. Desperate people, who may take desperate measures.
Mother Theresa said we do not have peace because we have forgotten we belong to one another. We want Israel to have security. But this must also address the needs of Palestinians, as their futures are inextricably linked.
Many issues divide the body of Christ. How can the church hold together?
I appreciate this question. The RCA adopted the Belhar Confession in 2010 to serve alongside the Heidelberg Catechism and other documents as a standard of unity, the first addition since 1792. It was drafted by the Reformed churches of color in South Africa, focused on unity, reconciliation, and justice—with every point biblically documented.
Unfortunately, many Christians have a false unity that does not address differences. My former denomination had an expression: Walking hand in hand, without seeing eye to eye. This is part of what God calls us to do.
I think Belhar is a wonderful roadmap for following Jesus together.