Christians Can’t Fix The Israel-Hamas War

Christianity Today, Christians Can’t Fix the Israel-Hamas War:

Jesus could end this crisis. His followers almost certainly can’t. ...

We cannot fix this crisis, no matter how faithful, factual, and fervent we are.

This bears saying, I think, for two reasons. One is our modern habit of “awareness,” as in, I am posting this article on Facebook because I want to raise awareness.

On many issues of great import, the reality is most of us can do very little to effect significant change. Sometimes we can give money to a relevant cause. Always we can pray (1 Thess. 5:17) and take care we do not sin in our hearts or our speech as we react to the news (Matt. 5:21–30). But most of us are not scientists who can find a cure for cancer, or politicians who can rewrite American immigration law, or generals who can decide on whom bombs will fall. Our duties to God and neighbor are usually more imminent and mundane, and if God answers our prayers, that is far more God’s work than ours. ...

The other reason is that, as Christians, we rightly have a high opinion of faithfulness and its effects. By faith, God’s people have “administered justice,” “shut the mouths of lions,” and “received back their dead, raised to life again” (Heb. 11). We can be “co-workers in God’s service,” as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, whose faith rests “on God’s power” (1 Cor. 3:9, 2:5). The “prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective,” James taught, reminding us of the story of Elijah—“a human being, even as we are”—whose earnest prayer led to both famine and plenty (5:16­­–18).

[F]aith is not magic, nor is it a guarantee of a happy ending on this side of eternity. It does not always succeed in protecting us or turning others away from evil. ...

Christian faithfulness also can’t have effect where it does not exist. A recent essay about the Israel-Hamas war at Red Letter Christians ends with an exhortation from a Palestinian Christian peacemaker, who, “when asked what he thinks will contribute most to ending this violence,” said, “When we follow the Jesus we talk about, this crisis will be over.”

The part of me that’s convinced Jesus calls his followers to peacemaking and nonviolence wants to agree, but the realist in me says this simply is not true.

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TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Arnold Barba, Paul Caron, Jason Jarvis & Chalak Richards (Pepperdine), Personal Statements On Hamas And Israel (Oct. 22, 2023)

• New York Times, Should Law Schools Weigh In On Political Matters? (Oct. 12, 2023)
• New York Times, At NYU Law And Harvard, Fallout From Israel-Hamas Student Comments Continues (Oct. 13, 2023)
• Wall Street Journal Op-Ed (Steven Davidoff Solomon (UC-Berkeley)), Don’t Hire My Anti-Semitic Berkeley Law Students (Oct. 16, 2023)
• Stephen Carter (Yale), Should University Presidents (And Law School Deans) Embrace Neutrality? (Oct. 17, 2023)
• New York Times, Davis Polk Rescinds Offers To Three Students At Columbia And Harvard For Statements On Israel, But May Reverse Itself (Oct. 18, 2023)
• Law.com, Mitchell Hamline Adjunct Law Professor Resigns, Claiming School Supports Antisemitism (Oct. 26, 2023)
• New York Times, Who Decides Penn’s Future: Donors Or The University? (Oct. 28, 2023)
• Los Angeles Times Op-Ed (Erwin Chemerinsky (Dean, UC-Berkeley)), Nothing Has Prepared Me For The Antisemitism I See On College Campuses Now (Oct. 31, 2023)
• New York Times, Big Law Firms Warn T14 Law Schools About Antisemitism (Nov. 2, 2023)
• New York Times Op-Ed (Amaney Jamal (Dean, Princeton) & Keren Yarhi-Milo (Dean, Columbia)), Israeli Dean And Palestinian Dean Of Top 25 Schools: Universities Should Condemn Massacre Of Israeli Civilians By Hamas As Terrorism And Vigorously Debate How To Secure The Safety Of Israelis And Palestinians (Nov. 6, 2023)
• John Inazu (Washington University), The Lack Of Clarity And Courage In Higher Education On Hamas And Israel (Nov. 12, 2023)
• Wall Street Journal Op-Ed (Leslie Lenkowsky (Indiana)), Terrorism And Tax Advantages: Universities And Anti-Israel Groups May Face Scrutiny Of Their Nonprofit Status (Nov. 18, 2023) 
• Aaron Sibarium (Washington Free Beacon), Anti-Israel Protesters Overrun Columbia Law School And Disrupt Classes (Nov. 22, 2023)
• The Messenger, 25 Year Old Law Student, Presumed To Be A Hostage Since October 7, Found Dead Under Ambulance (Nov. 25, 2023)