A theologian shares their perspective on the ongoing conflict in Palestine, shedding light on the truth and advocating for social justice in the Middle East.
In a world filled with brutal violence, one must ask the fundamental question: why does evil continue to happen? Why do we allow these vicious acts of violence to happen and be silent due to cowardice? As a theologian buoyed by black liberation theology, I must write for the liberation of ALL people, including my Palestinian friends and family.
This article aims to show my advocacy for the recent war in Gaza and why I am for the freedom of the Palestinian people. I must begin by writing about how I came to love black liberation theology and am conscious of Palestine’s social conditions. My love for Black Liberation Theology began in 2020.
After the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others due to police violence, I needed to find a theology that was connected to the struggles of black America. In his book Jesus and the Disinherited, Dr. Howard Thurman posed the fundamental question that still echoes across the pages of history: “What does our religion say to them?” 1 Thurman’s work led me to read the works of James Cone, Kelly Brown Douglas, Michael Eric Dyson, Renita Weems, Delores Willaims, and Gustavo Gutierrez.
But what does Black Liberation Theology have to do with the recent war in Gaza? As a believer in Jesus Christ, I have a moral obligation to be on the side of the oppressed.
I side with the struggles of the Palestinians because I serve a black Palestinian Jew named Jesus Christ, who identified himself with oppressed people. Jesus was lynched on the cross for his social activism in the Roman Empire. Jesus was a social activist for his Palestinian people, and because I believe in the gospel of Jesus, I must do the same. Therefore, I am calling for a ceasefire for the war in Gaza and in Congo, Sudan, and Haiti.
In closing, I am reminded of a story in Matthew when the Pharisees approached Jesus about the law. Jesus summed up the law by stating, “You shall love the Lord your God will all 1 Howard Thurman, Jesus and The Disinherited (Boston: Beacon Press, 1949), 3 your heart and with soul and with your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39) 2.
Bibliography
Thurman, Howard. 1949. Jesus and the Disinherited . Boston: Beacon Press.
2 This verse came from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
