At the Educational Intensive for the Israel-Palestine resolutions, we were asked to think of one thing we learned at that seminar - here's mine: The speaker, Dr Pete Moore from Case-Western Reserve University, told us that the vast majority of non-tenured professors and career-minded students will not speak or write of the Israel-Palestine issue because they fear reprisals against their careers. Their names and faces are posted on a web site and they are accused of anti-Semitism. I had heard of such things in online debates but never directly stated by a credible individual.
Since the churches I grew up in were more traditional and not at all inclusive, I have sometimes struggled to understand or explain to friends the UCC's fixation on underrepresented groups. Yesterday I heard from the Synod stage the metaphor that clarified things for me: Jesus said "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" but there are seats at His table that remain empty. I would not dare point at a single person and say that salvation is not for that one, so what makes it possible to point at a group and say the same? All the seats must be filled before the party can start.
Sanjay Cherian
Delegate
Brookline Community Church
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