There was a time when American clergy were the nation’s conscience. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many abolitionist Protestant ministers were leaders in the movement to end slavery. Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards, Jr. (1746-1801) was among the many outstanding voices in the Abolition Movement.
Since World War I, few members of the clergy have shown the courage to speak out against the socio-economic evils of the day, such as our corrupt system of capitalism. Fewer still have shown the courage to oppose our national addiction to war; instead, they pray for the troops. During the American War on Viet Nam, Catholic priests like the Berrigan brothers, Phil and Dan, awakened people of all faiths to the crimes of the United States.
Today, amidst the U.S. backed slaughter in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, and elsewhere, the complicity of silence of U.S. clergy is shamefully ubiquitous. Has our national conscience been numbed and desensitized by our acceptance of government-led violence that incinerated multi-millions of German, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Afghan and Iraqi civilians?
Americans have little hope of seeing the likes of an abolitionist clergy movement or droves of Catholic priests to end United States support of Israeli terrorism. Silence is complicity, said Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., many times in the 1950s and 1960s, before he was silenced by gunfire.
The U.S. supports Israeli terror in Gaza with almost total support of the religious community. Pope Francis was outspoken in his condemnation of the Israeli killing of Palestinians in Gaza and called for an international investigation to determine genocide, but few of his bishops or priests speak to this from the altar.
Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, seems willing to take a stance. It is highly unlikely, however, that Catholic clergy will change their devotion to the flag over any plea to follow the non-violent Jesus. Catholic priests, like most loyal Americans, have been indoctrinated to accept U.S. government killings, not as murders, but as a way to keep Americans safe and secure. The U.S. flag is embraced by clergy more than the symbolic cross of the loving, non-violent Christ.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the great supporters of the Civil Rights Movement led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., has no match today among American rabbis. Rabbi Heschel saw protests against injustice as a form of prayer.
Jewish Voice for Peace has been able to enlist a few rabbis but, like Protestant ministers and Catholic priests, most rabbis find solace in the safety of silence—no Zionist friends are offended by silence.
Veterans For Peace and allies know they must act to prick the conscience of Americans. Their 40-day 250-calorie starvation diet outside of the U.S. Mission to the UN is an attempt to awaken Americans to compassion. It is a search for the soul of America, a search abandoned by the silence of religious institutions that have abandoned their claim as the moral conscience of America.
On May 22nd, Veterans For Peace members and allies held a press conference at the Isaiah Wall across from the United Nations in Manhattan. The press conference was the starting moment of a 40-day fast in solidarity with the children and families of Gaza as the U.S.-backed genocide continues to kill and starve the people of Gaza.
Kathy Kelly introduced the 40-Day Fast for the people of Gaza. Kathy witnessed the malnutrition of children in Iraq (1990-2003), when sanctions were imposed and people died of malnutrition by the tens of thousands. By 1997, UN estimates showed more than half a million children died of malnutrition imposed by sanctions. That same year, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright famously reacted by saying of the sanctions, the price was “worth it.”
Ann Wright spoke at the press conference. Ann was just back from Malta, where her ship, the Conscience, was attacked in international waters by Israeli drones. Ann was preparing to deliver food and medicine to the people of Gaza. It was her fourth mission to do so over the course of 20 years. Israelis killed some of her colleagues on those missions of mercy—some wounded, some beaten, and all jailed by the Israelis.
Former Director of Veterans For Peacer Mike Ferner and former Marine Phil Totterman, who called for a 40-day fast after recently witnessing first-hand the misery of Palestinian people under Israeli apartheid. The youngest speaker, recent Air Force Academy graduate Joy Metzler, mixed heartfelt emotion with indisputable facts of Israeli genocide.
Fasters then walked from the Isaiah Wall (proclaiming They Shall Beat Their Swords into Plowshares) to the United States Mission to the United Nations, one block away.
Seven fasters began the 250-calorie per day intake on which so many people in Gaza barely survive and many die of malnutrition.
The core fasters included: former Marine Phil Totterman of Toledo, Ohio, Mike Ferner, also of Toledo, Ohio, Russell Brown, of Buffalo, New York, a Marine combat veteran, Ken Ashe, a Vietnam combat veteran, Joy Metzler, Air Force Academy graduate, all members of Veterans For Peace, and Kathy Kelly, VFP Board Member and President of World Beyond War.
Overall, over 700 fasters have committed to the VFP Fast for Gaza.
Twenty-two days into the 40-Day Fast for Gaza, Kathy Kelly was told by medical doctors that she was near organ failure. She has increased her daily caloric intake as such. Mike Ferner was hospitalized with severe potassium deficiency and is now undergoing infusions. Mike is a two-time cancer survivor, completing 27 radiation treatments this past spring.
No national media other than Democracy Now, small media stations, and radio podcasts like Essential Dissent tell the truth of U.S. complicity in the starvation and genocide of Gaza’s Palestinians. After 20 days of grueling 250-calorie-per-day intake, Mike Ferner organized a June 9 visit to major media in New York City to request coverage of the 40-Day Fast for Gaza.
It was an exhausting and disappointing day for the weary, energy-deprived team. No contacts were made after cab drives and extensive walking. The team of fasters was unable to talk to any media.
Appeals to clergy in the greater Binghamton, New York, area, which has 240 churches, yielded only one active pastor and two retired pastors. Greater Chicago, Illinois, with more than 10,000 churches, invited clergy to its 40-Day Fast for Gaza event and had several active clergywomen in attendance. In both cities, the clergy who showed up for the 40-Day Fast were familiar voices for justice. There was no outpouring of new faces or voices to end the genocide in Gaza.
In Binghamton, Father Tim Taugher was the only pastor representing an active congregation in solidarity with the 40-Day Fast for Gaza. Binghamton TV channels covered the event and interviewed Father Tim, as well as retired United Methodist Minister Rev. Dr. Gary Doupe, who had just returned from Israel and the West Bank, and Rev. Arthur Suggs, a retired Presbyterian/Congregationalist pastor with experience in Israel and the West Bank.
On Flag Day, June 14th, celebrated around the U.S. as No Kings Day, Veterans For Peace faster Mike Ferner, with life-threatening low potassium levels, left his New York City hospital bed with IV tubes dangling at his side and his jaunty VFP cap on his head and joined the No Kings parade near the VA hospital. (He was later readmitted to his bed by a worried VA staff.)
With little hope in religious institutions to bring peace, organizations such as Veterans For Peace, Pax Christi, CodePink, Jewish Voice for Peace, ANSWER, Peace Action, Ban Killer Drones, and other non-sectarian organizations collectively serve as the conscience of America. Waiting for the clergy to be peacemakers is as futile as “waiting for Godot.”
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About the Author
Jack is an anti-drone activist.
His plays and novels focus on young men and women who resist war. You can read more at www.bensalmon.org.
Jack can be reached at: jgilroy1955@gmail.com.
The situation in Gaza is very sad and tragic, so much pain and suffering. Here is an interesting article that was written before October 7, 2023 on March 23, 2023.
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/03/13/senior-muslim-clerics-issue-fatwa-against-hamas/