An essay by Rabea Eghbariah for the Harvard Law Review, first published in The Nation (18 November 2023) Genocide is a crime. It is a legal framework. It is unfolding in Gaza. And yet, the inertia of legal academia, especially in the United States, has been chilling. Clearly, it is much easier to dissect the… Continue Reading →
The Rev. Peter J. Miano4 March 2024 Almost no one regards the October 7 attack on Israel’s border communities near Gaza as anything but barbaric. Israel claims that its attacks on Gaza in retaliation against Hamas are legitimate self-defense. So far Israel’s self defense has resulted in the deaths of over 31,000 people in Gaza…. Continue Reading →
The Rev. Peter J. Miano I recently returned from a month in Palestine-Israel. In addition to my usual peregrinations, I also lead a 10 day fact finding mission. We traveled from the Mediterranean coast to the Jordan River, from points all around the Gaza border and the Negev in the south of Israel to locations… Continue Reading →
The Rev. Peter J. Miano Antisemitism is a very real and repugnant form of prejudice and hostility toward Jewish people. However, it is often confused with legitimate moral critique of the State of Israel. Most recently the charge of antisemiticism is cynically trotted out to blunt morally informed criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza that… Continue Reading →
By Rev. Peter J. Miano Some call it inscrutable. Some consider it scary. Others sincerely want to revere it, but give up in frustration trying to decode its symbolism. Today, it is widely used in so-called evangelical circles and for some mainstream readers, that is all it takes to view it with suspicion. Still others… Continue Reading →
Peter J. Miano You know, lately I’ve been doing some thinking. It seems that in my lifetime, I don’t remember a time when the moral imperatives that Jesus announced demanded more of our attention and action. Consider this one… Jesus said, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you love one another. By… Continue Reading →
Peter J. Miano Like so many others, I am carefully watching the escalating violence in Israel and Palestine, with a combination of disgust and horror. Quite a few of our travelers have made inquiries. These include expressions of care for the people of Israel-Palestine, requests for insight into the recent escalation of violence in Israel-Palestine,… Continue Reading →
By Dr. Stephen Pattee Every morning I work on Wordle, read my email, make coffee, and catch up on the news. And just about every morning, I wish I had skipped the news. All too often, the news leaves me with feelings of despair and hopelessness. Ukraine. Skyrocketing inflation. Economic meltdown. Dysfunctional government. Immigration. Climate… Continue Reading →
I bet I am not the only one who has noticed that the quality of discourse on Facebook is poor, if not pathetic. Yet, Facebook can be a place for productive conversation as well and, as much I get Facebook fatigue and occasionally drop out, I would like to think that it has a role… Continue Reading →
How do we love one another, as Jesus commanded, and still engage social activism? My 31 July post in this group, on Jesus’ commandment “love one another,” generated a lot of feedback. There were also a lot of questions. How do we love one another when we come face to face with individuals or systems… Continue Reading →