...What is this nonsense - talking about apologies and repentance and then defending that which we should be apologizing and repenting for? Veliko's comments are disturbing on a number of levels - but most importantly, her rationalization of deicide based on our "theology of suffering" is not only inaccurate, it is repugnant no matter what your opinion is of the conflict in Israel...

...In spite of all of the problems we see in the leadership in the UCC, we have never called for the resignation of anyone - until now. Veliko's comments are so wrong and so damaging that she must be called on to resign immediately and without hesitation. As Veliko notes in her article, charges of deicide have been used historically to harm Jews. No UCC leader has the right to promote a theology that can be used to harm others and rationalizing deicide this way does embolden those who would harm Jews. The UCC leadership, and specifically UCC President John Thomas, must repudiate Veliko's comments and immediately ask for her resignation...

Unrepentant, persistent and defiant are the best words to describe Anglican priest Naim Ateek and his supporters in the United Church of Christ. For the past few months Ateek, a Palestinian Christian who has long been one of Israel’s most ferocious and unfair critics, has come under fire for his ongoing campaign to portray Israel as a baby-killing and Christ-killing nation that blocks the political salvation of the Middle East. Ateek and the officials in the UCC who defend him assert that he is just using the language of the Cross to describe what is happening to the Palestinians.

On the contrary, Ateek has used crucifixion imagery to describe Israeli behavior, not Palestinian suffering. He has portrayed Israeli government officials trying to defend their citizens from terror attacks as modern day Herods, intent on destroying the innocent baby Jesus. He has written that the Israeli crucifixion machine operates daily in the disputed territories and has compared the occupation as the stone blocking Christ's tomb. Language like this is not about Palestinian suffering; it is about Jewish savagery...