Anglican Friends of Israel recently had this guest post published on Cranmer.
Israel’s Christian opponents have long contended that Palestinians, whether Christian or Muslim, speak with one voice. Certainly many Palestinian Christian leaders insist that relations between themselves and their Muslim neighbours are cordial and that all Palestinians are united in believing that their greatest problem is Israel, and their greatest enemies (Jewish) Israeli.
To listen to the favourite Palestinian Christians of, say, the Anglican, Methodist or Quaker establishments one would think that all Palestinian Christians have embraced a particularly Palestinian version of Liberation Theology, such as that developed by Naim Ateek. In this theological system, the God of the Old Testament is downgraded Marcion-style, His covenant with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is airbrushed out and – recalling the discredited Christian theology of deicide – today’s Jewish state is re-cast as Herod or Pilate trying to crucify or murder a Jesus who has become ‘the first Palestinian’. Ateek and other members of his ‘Sabeel’ organisation command almost god-like respect as they parade around Britain’s cathedrals spouting their faulty theology.