OPINION | RELIGION | JUSTICE

Should You Find a New Source of Faith in 2024?

Do your religious leaders have the courage to defend humanity?

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I was raised Catholic with an atheist father. My first art history class led me to question the benevolence of the Catholic Church. My spiritual beliefs are still evolving but I’ve come to question most organized religions. When my children were little, I searched for — and failed to find — a warm, open-hearted faith community we could call home. I’m now looking for a community of people who recognize hypocrisy when they see it and want to work together to cultivate faith in a positive possible future for all.

Too many of us attend services that reinforce the destructive and abusive paradigms the ‘Western World’ has normalized. Those of us who desire a just and joyful future must question all we’ve been told to believe.

With this in mind, I was both deeply saddened and impressed by the courageous Christmas Eve sermon The Reverend Munther Isaac delivered at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. Everyone who considers themselves Christian or faithful to any religion should watch this sermon and reflect on Rev. Isaac’s powerful insights.

He is rightfully angry and discouraged by the fact that few faith leaders around the world have spoken out to help bring an end to the violence in Gaza. He also describes how on a recent visit to the U.S. he was sickened to see Americans going about their holiday shopping as if everything was right in the world. Speaking from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, he notes how the true meaning of Christmas seemed to be lost in the consumer-driven world.

I suggest listening to Rev. Isaac’s sermon with the following questions in mind:

• Have my faith leaders called for a ceasefire in Gaza? Has it even been discussed?
• Do my faith leaders model compassion for all or some sort of selective supremacy that elevates members of our community above others?
• Why am I choosing to be part of this faith community? What does it say about me as a human?

Christ in the Rubble

Rev. Isaac delivered his “Christ in the Rubble” sermon next to a nativity display he helped create with Baby Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh, surrounded by rubble. At the service, church members placed lit candles around the display as they prayed for everyone in Gaza.

If you care about the future of humanity, please take 17 minutes to watch Rev. Isaac’s speech in its entirety. It will be well worth your time. (You may also read a full transcript of the sermon here.)

A few excerpts describing the hypocrisy of religious leaders staying silent as they watch thousands being murdered in Gaza:

We are angry. We are broken. This should have been a time of joy; instead, we are mourning. We are fearful…

We are tormented by the silence of the world. Leaders of the so-called free lined up one after the other to give the green light for this genocide against a captive population. They gave the cover. Not only did they make sure to pay the bill in advance, they veiled the truth and context, providing the political cover. And yet another layer has been added: the theological cover, with the Western church stepping into the spotlight.

Our dear friends in South Africa taught us the concept of the “state theology,” defined as “the theological justification of the status quo with its racism, capitalism and totalitarianism.” It does so by misusing theological concepts and biblical texts for its own political purposes.

Food for thought for Christians around the world:

Here in Palestine, the Bible is weaponized against us — our very own sacred text. In our terminology in Palestine, we speak of the empire. Here we confront the theology of the empire, a disguise for superiority, supremacy, chosenness and entitlement…

In Gaza today, God is under the rubble.

And in this Christmas season, as we search for Jesus, he is not to be found on the side of Rome, but our side of the wall. He’s in a cave, with a simple family, an occupied family. He’s vulnerable, barely and miraculously surviving a massacre himself. He’s among the refugees, among a refugee family. This is where Jesus is to be found today…

To protect our shared future we must begin by recognizing our common humanity:

This war has confirmed to us that the world does not see us as equal… So they say if it takes killing 100 Palestinians to get a single “Hamas militant,” then so be it. We are not humans in their eyes…

What are your faith leaders doing to help the people of Gaza?

Rev. Isaac also says, “Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world.”

People often wonder what they would have done during the Holocaust. If you had lived in the U.S. in the 1930s, would you have had the courage to speak up in defense of Jewish people when the Nuremberg Laws were enacted? Would you have spoken out when the deportations began when it was not yet a popular stance?

Look at how you are responding to the genocide in Gaza now and you will have your answer.

In a country whose leaders are funding a genocide, our voices matter. Statements from our faith communities matter.

The Catholic Church could have played an important role in saving lives or even helping to end the Holocaust. Instead, church leaders apologized decades afterward.

In mid-December, the Pope delivered a statement appealing, “for an end to the war ravaging the Holy Land, praying especially for Christians holed up in the Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza.” The fact that he waited until the IDF attacked a Catholic Parish to deliver a statement and then prayed “especially for Christians” says a lot.

What will you do to help protect our shared future?

At this pivotal time for humanity when so many of our leaders have a distorted sense of right and wrong we must all join courageous conversations.

If your faith leaders have yet to call out the genocide happening in Gaza and call for a ceasefire, please join or begin this conversation.

If you find that your faith leaders and/or faith community are unwilling to act in defense of the thousands of innocent men, women, and children being murdered in Gaza, I suggest you consider finding a new source of faith.

True faith eradicates fear, hate, and indifference. It stems from a place of radical unconditional love for all.

We don’t need organized religions to light the path to a healthy shared future, we simply need to look inside our hearts and listen to our innate wisdom. In doing so, we can begin to remember our universal roles as beings sharing this miraculous, abused planet.

That’s not to say that all religions are worthless or that all faith leaders lack courage. Instead, we should look to Rev. Isaac’s courageous words as a model. Religious leaders like Isaac who speak with honesty and integrity can help us examine and repair broken systems. Their radical, authentic leadership can help us to co-create the future we all want and need.

Gail Valker McNulty 🕊️🌱 is parenting three teenagers while getting to know herself and her parents who are in the late stages of life. She writes to explore how we can love our way through these times and work together to create the tomorrow we all want and need. If you’re dreaming about the future we can co-create as we save what we love, regenerate what we need, and learn to live in just and joyful ways, let’s connect! LinkedIn • Twitter