Dear Bishop Eaton, Salaam and grace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to thank you for your letter of support and comfort. It comes at a time when we find ourselves in a terrible situation. I have always written that we in the Holy Land are in a continuous state … [Read more…]
CHICAGO (ELCA) – As the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip further escalates, the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), expressed her profound concern for members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land in a July 17, 2014, letter to … [Read more…]
A threatening letter was sent to the General Vicar of the Latin Patriarchate in Nazareth, Boulos Marcuzzo, which stated that Arab Christians had until May 5th, 2014 to leave the country. If they did not leave, 100 Christians would be killed for each hour of delay. A person of interest from Safed was arrested and … [Read more…]
JERUSALEM – With many people around the world, I am deeply troubled by the apparent use of chemical weapons inside Syria. Such weapons have no place in our world and their use by any party is unacceptable under any circumstance. While the use of chemical weapons is wrong, the forms of intervention being predicted thus … [Read more…]
JERUSALEM, 3rd June, 2013 – During the month of May an unprecedented number of sites holy to all three religions have been attacked, some repeatedly. Synagogues in Bat Yam and Haifa, a mosque in Umm Al-Qutuf, graves in As-Sawiya, and the Church of the Dormition on Mount Zion have all been desecrated with offensive graffiti. The … [Read more…]
JERUSALEM, 8/4/2013 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land condemns in no uncertain terms the violence perpetrated against Coptic Christians as they mourned the deaths of four Copts at a funeral service on Sunday, April 7, 2013 at St. Mark Cathedral in Cairo. The victims were killed on April 4 … [Read more…]
JERUSALEM – Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and current Lutheran World Federation President sent his congratulations to the newly formed Egyptian Council of Churches. “Now as you begin a new chapter in your living martyria to the Gospel as a united Council of Churches, please know that the people … [Read more…]
JERUSALEM – On hearing the sad news of the brutal rape and subsequent death of the young woman in India on December 16th, the Women’s Desk of the ELCJHL wrote a response to the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India. The full response is printed below: Dear Rev. Dr. A. G. Augustine Jeyakumar, The Evangelical … [Read more…]
JERUSALEM, 20 February 2012 (CRIHL) – Following the acts of desecration of the Baptist Church in West Jerusalem, the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land (CRIHL) released the following statement: The Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land condemns the acts of desecration of the Baptist Church in west Jerusalem this morning. … [Read more…]
JERUSALEM, 7 December 2011 – The Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land condemns the acts of desecration of the mosque in the village of Burkin in the northern West Bank yesterday. The Council calls upon people from all faiths – Christians, Jews and Muslims – to respect all Holy Places and sites for … [Read more…]