Posted on 11/04/2023 12:04:02 PM PDT by Morgana
AMMAN, Jordan (RNS) — Yasmine Faraa, a Jordanian of Palestinian heritage, was angered when an Israeli missile hit a building belonging to St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, killing 18 and injuring 20.
Faraa, a Muslim, came up with the idea to hold a vigil outside the Orthodox Christian Church, in the Jordanian capital’s Sweifieh neighborhood, to show solidarity. The numbers that turned out for the vigil on Sunday (Oct. 22) surprised even the Jordanian police, who had initially decided that they didn’t need to block the roads leading to the church. The crowd was largely composed of middle- and upper-middle-class Jordanian families, who brought their kids and held signs denouncing the continued attack on Gaza.
After the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City — founded by Baptist missionaries in the 1880s and now run by the Anglican Episcopal Church in Jerusalem — was struck four days later, Mohammad Al-Momani, a former Jordanian deputy prime minister who is secretary general of the new Mithaq Party, quickly organized a small rally again in opposition to the war. (Israel has made claims that the hospital attack was a misfired Palestinian rocket, but this claim has not been confirmed either way according to major world media outlets.)
Christian and Muslim relations in the Mideast have a long history of cooperation, and the pan-Arab nationalist movement has always included Christian intellectuals, writers, poets, political leaders and professionals of all kinds. Faraa noted that in the 1970s her mother studied at the American University in Beirut, one of several leading institutes of higher education in the Middle East founded by Western Christian missionaries.
But these bonds have been strained in recent years by the rise of Islamic radical movements, which have sometimes attempted to create schisms within the Arab world. Radical Islamists discourage their followers from congratulating their Arab Christian neighbors celebrating Christmas or Easter. When Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli snipers in May of 2022, some cautioned devout Muslims not to call for mercy on her soul.
But Palestinians who had watched Abu Akleh on Al Jazeera for years, many of whom had no idea she was Christian, were outraged when mourners trying to carry her Palestinian flag-draped coffin to the Christian cemetery in Jerusalem’s Old City were disrupted by Israeli police.
The Israeli action in Gaza has now further cemented the bond between Arab Christians and Muslims. Arab Christians, meanwhile, feel increasingly alienated from their fellow Christians in the West, not least by the United States’ whole-hearted support of Israel from the start of the war. A statement by 12 Palestinian Christian institutions calling on Christian leaders to denounce the violence against Palestinian civilians has since garnered more than 15,600 signatures.
“We deeply mourn the death and suffering of all people because it is our firm conviction that all humans are made in God’s image. We are also profoundly troubled when the name of God is invoked to promote violence and religious national ideologies,” the statement read.
The statement concludes, “We refuse to give in, even when our siblings abandon us. We are steadfast in our hope, resilient in our witness, and continue to be committed to the gospel of faith, hope, and love, in the face of tyranny and darkness.
“In the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope. We believe in God, good and just. We believe that God’s goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land.”
You all this is a good thing. The Muslims need Jesus and so do the Jews in Israel.
You gotta be kidding.
You do know the Islamic version of Jesus is utterly heretical, right? It’s written in 1 John 2:22 that those who deny the Father and Son (like in Islam) are antichrists. Why are Christians (so called) comporting with antichrists here? It can only be because of antisemitism.
The Arab Christians in Palestinian areas HATE Israel, almost as much as the Muslims HATE Israel, as they have no choice, if they want to survive.
The Fatima Prayer
O My Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy. Amen.
The real Jesus!!
And no I’m not kidding.
I mean the real Jesus Christ. They both need the real Jesus Christ. Both the Muslims and the Jews.
Check out a website of this organization I learned about when I was in Israel called Abrahamic Reunion.
> You all this is a good thing. <
It all depends on why these Muslims are associating with Christians. Are they looking for a deeper understanding of Jesus? Or are they cynically looking for allies against the Jews?
Perhaps I’m being the cynical one here. But Islam is not open to valuing other religions. So I am suspicious of what’s going on here.
Yeah, I’ll be holding my breath on that proposition.
Right — just like the Jewish version of Jesus Christ.
Always remember that in 1968 Bobby Kennedy was MURDERED by a Palestinian immigrant who claimed to be a Christian.
Anti-Semites come in all shapes, forms, religions and political philosophies... Haters gotta hate, because that’s what haters do.
One good cure... Kill as many as you can, before they kill you.
Strange bedfellows.
“The day may come when the lion will lie down with the lamb but I doubt the lamb will get much sleep that night.”
—Woody Allen
No.
Islam admits that Jesus is the Messiah, but presents an heretical form.
There isn’t a “Jewish version of Jesus”. Take that nonsense to Stormfront.
Not saying they don’t, but the real Jesus will take care of that in His time.
To be sure, sharing the real Jesus with Mahometans is not the motive here.
keeping a rattle snake warm in winter is a kind and thoughtful act until its warm enough to remember its a snake.
taqiyya is the prime mover in Islam until the are strong enough to kill or subjugate you. Enjoy the peace for now. Ayatollah Khomeini says there is no moderation in Islam only disbelievers to be disposed of.
Ayatollah Khomeini says there in no moderation in islam. only Taqiyyah and war is deceit.
<< Yasmine Faraa, a Jordanian of Palestinian heritage, was angered when an Israeli missile hit a building belonging to St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, killing 18 and injuring 20. >>
A whole lot more angered than when Hamas murdered 1400+ innocent Israeli Jews in the most horrific manner imaginable, I’m guessing.
That is a prayer to Mary, who was a sinfully women (although worthy of honor) like us all.
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