Bruce - I have read and re-read this post about 10 times now, trying to get to a place where I had words of response that would convey how your thoughts land in this place where I sit. I wonder what would demonstrate to you that many of us are responding to the pain of Palestine but we are probably not on your radar. I wonder how using words like disappointing, gross, nihilistic, and cowardly helps to create space for questions and conversation. I wonder if the only way you see us is if we are physically present in the places you inhabit. I wonder how you will know what many of us are saying and doing in our own small spaces with our own communities. You continue to challenge me to pay attention to where I am putting my time and my energy and for that I am grateful. I’m not grateful for content that blames and shames. How do we get past that?
There is frustration in my writing of this one, which I think is entirely justified, and I will always reserve the right not to always be as palatable and pastoral as I usually am. That said, my guess is that I am NOT talking to you, so thank you for doing what you can do to elevate what is happening to Palestine to the same levels as the many other important issues. There is always a danger in taking ones view and making it everyone's view, but I think people only poke there when that view pokes back. In my role as this weird public writer, I am always making generalizations based on some of me experiences (though I think I'm better than others).
I really am addressing places that I have seen, followed but with anything, there will always be exceptions, which I am grateful for. I do know this is a constant frustration behind the scenes in organizing conversations and trying to draw in more folks a deeper activism. I am confident my assessment is not off the mark.
Lastly, this was not an invitation as many of my previous posts and videos over the past 18 months. It's a call out. There is room and a role for both.
I don't disagree with Mark. I'm absolutely against the actions happening in Palestine but I'm also only a 2 hour a week pastor and a 50 hour a week worker to make a living. Show me how I can make my vice heard with the amount of time I have left after everything else I'm supposed to do and I'm on it!
I just responded to Mark as well. My only hope is that as you elevate other issues, Palestine gets a fair hearing as well. How does Palestine show up in the community and what narratives are enforced when Palestine is mentioned? I know ministry and time are difficult. I also know that doing so may create conflict (my post is an example, right). That said, we all have to take measures of our capacity and be okay with what we are or are not able to do. I do the same, as I wish I could do more about many things. I also have to be honest about those places where I have chosen to compromise and compare.
You have become the "my cause is more important than any other cause" person that you and I both previously decried. This post makes it clear that you consider anyone who considers themselves progressive but champions something else as the focus of their energy as deficient. It's a Pro-Palestinian purity test.
LIke many here I have a lot on my plate right now. I want to live in a democracy. I want my LGBTQ+ folks to be safe. I want people who don't have enough to eat to be able to live. I want immigration reform, especially for DACA kids/now adults. I want the rule of law to mean something in the USA. I want Russia's invasion to be repulsed. And after the last 8 years in the USA I'm just tired.
The progressive wing of politics has this serious problem of "My cause is the most important" that tears apart mutual support. I'm really sorry to see you in that group.
Well, I have to disappoint sometimes, and I mean that in a let's wrestle with this way.
I am not arguing ONE over the others, but one of MANY. For some reason, many progressive churches can raise multiple other issues and truly live into an intersectional expression of faith, but time and time again, Palestine does get dropped. Too much is at stake not to elevate just as much as others reinforcing progressive values. I have had the chance to preach at over 25 churches this year alone, which I have seen repeatedly.
One reason is that there is fear that it will cause tensions within progressive movements, and we are afraid of pushing one another. I think we believe that we cannot handle it, but I think we can and must.
Lastly, I push my people because I love my people.
Hi Mark! I don’t know you 🥹🫶 but I know this conversation well. I wonder if this reframe is helpful: Palestine is a lens through which we might view so many other causes, and so being in right relationship with Palestinian liberation work doesn’t add more to our plate, but instead is a commitment to the other work we do in the world. How does that land?
That avoids the idea that one cause is better than the other and emphasizes how: when we avoid Palestine, we are narrowing the scope of how we might together seek the liberation of all people.
Rather than a purity test, the way I’ve understood my liberation work in community is that if I discover someone avoids Palestine, I don’t consider them impure, I consider that decision on their part to be an unfortunate boundary to the ways I might work toward liberation with them. This happens all across liberation work: seeing that our comrades have limits is not unique to Palestine.
When we in the free Palestine movement look to our comrades and say “Come over! We can do this! It is easier together!” - it is disappointing (and often surprising) when that invitation is not received. I hear in Bruce’s post that he is sad to name there are now limitations in the ways he will need to move forward with some folks who used to be his comrades in movement work, and a disappointment that the invitation to join our work has not been received. When I’ve been in ruptured relationships that needed repair in my life, the first step I took was to name my disappointment and my feelings of disconnect with that friend—only then could we begin to move toward each other again.
I hope Palestine opens itself up to you and you to it. It’s amazing over here! 🤲
Bruce - I have read and re-read this post about 10 times now, trying to get to a place where I had words of response that would convey how your thoughts land in this place where I sit. I wonder what would demonstrate to you that many of us are responding to the pain of Palestine but we are probably not on your radar. I wonder how using words like disappointing, gross, nihilistic, and cowardly helps to create space for questions and conversation. I wonder if the only way you see us is if we are physically present in the places you inhabit. I wonder how you will know what many of us are saying and doing in our own small spaces with our own communities. You continue to challenge me to pay attention to where I am putting my time and my energy and for that I am grateful. I’m not grateful for content that blames and shames. How do we get past that?
There is frustration in my writing of this one, which I think is entirely justified, and I will always reserve the right not to always be as palatable and pastoral as I usually am. That said, my guess is that I am NOT talking to you, so thank you for doing what you can do to elevate what is happening to Palestine to the same levels as the many other important issues. There is always a danger in taking ones view and making it everyone's view, but I think people only poke there when that view pokes back. In my role as this weird public writer, I am always making generalizations based on some of me experiences (though I think I'm better than others).
I really am addressing places that I have seen, followed but with anything, there will always be exceptions, which I am grateful for. I do know this is a constant frustration behind the scenes in organizing conversations and trying to draw in more folks a deeper activism. I am confident my assessment is not off the mark.
Lastly, this was not an invitation as many of my previous posts and videos over the past 18 months. It's a call out. There is room and a role for both.
Thank you for pushing back though. Always good.
I don't disagree with Mark. I'm absolutely against the actions happening in Palestine but I'm also only a 2 hour a week pastor and a 50 hour a week worker to make a living. Show me how I can make my vice heard with the amount of time I have left after everything else I'm supposed to do and I'm on it!
I just responded to Mark as well. My only hope is that as you elevate other issues, Palestine gets a fair hearing as well. How does Palestine show up in the community and what narratives are enforced when Palestine is mentioned? I know ministry and time are difficult. I also know that doing so may create conflict (my post is an example, right). That said, we all have to take measures of our capacity and be okay with what we are or are not able to do. I do the same, as I wish I could do more about many things. I also have to be honest about those places where I have chosen to compromise and compare.
I'm really disappointed in this post.
You have become the "my cause is more important than any other cause" person that you and I both previously decried. This post makes it clear that you consider anyone who considers themselves progressive but champions something else as the focus of their energy as deficient. It's a Pro-Palestinian purity test.
LIke many here I have a lot on my plate right now. I want to live in a democracy. I want my LGBTQ+ folks to be safe. I want people who don't have enough to eat to be able to live. I want immigration reform, especially for DACA kids/now adults. I want the rule of law to mean something in the USA. I want Russia's invasion to be repulsed. And after the last 8 years in the USA I'm just tired.
The progressive wing of politics has this serious problem of "My cause is the most important" that tears apart mutual support. I'm really sorry to see you in that group.
Well, I have to disappoint sometimes, and I mean that in a let's wrestle with this way.
I am not arguing ONE over the others, but one of MANY. For some reason, many progressive churches can raise multiple other issues and truly live into an intersectional expression of faith, but time and time again, Palestine does get dropped. Too much is at stake not to elevate just as much as others reinforcing progressive values. I have had the chance to preach at over 25 churches this year alone, which I have seen repeatedly.
One reason is that there is fear that it will cause tensions within progressive movements, and we are afraid of pushing one another. I think we believe that we cannot handle it, but I think we can and must.
Lastly, I push my people because I love my people.
Hi Mark! I don’t know you 🥹🫶 but I know this conversation well. I wonder if this reframe is helpful: Palestine is a lens through which we might view so many other causes, and so being in right relationship with Palestinian liberation work doesn’t add more to our plate, but instead is a commitment to the other work we do in the world. How does that land?
That avoids the idea that one cause is better than the other and emphasizes how: when we avoid Palestine, we are narrowing the scope of how we might together seek the liberation of all people.
Rather than a purity test, the way I’ve understood my liberation work in community is that if I discover someone avoids Palestine, I don’t consider them impure, I consider that decision on their part to be an unfortunate boundary to the ways I might work toward liberation with them. This happens all across liberation work: seeing that our comrades have limits is not unique to Palestine.
When we in the free Palestine movement look to our comrades and say “Come over! We can do this! It is easier together!” - it is disappointing (and often surprising) when that invitation is not received. I hear in Bruce’s post that he is sad to name there are now limitations in the ways he will need to move forward with some folks who used to be his comrades in movement work, and a disappointment that the invitation to join our work has not been received. When I’ve been in ruptured relationships that needed repair in my life, the first step I took was to name my disappointment and my feelings of disconnect with that friend—only then could we begin to move toward each other again.
I hope Palestine opens itself up to you and you to it. It’s amazing over here! 🤲