Reflections from Chile: Day 2
Christian Zionism and Religious, Political and Economic Fundmentalisms: A Palestinian-Latin American Conversation
Report - November 6, 2022
by Joe Roos
Today is Sunday and we all went to one of four locations for worship: Presbyterian; Orthodox; Catholic Base Community and a Mosque. Because I have admired base communities since the early 1970s, I chose that one. We joined roughly 20 people for their service, all sitting around in a circle. The sermon mentioned Matthew 25 and its “when did we do this to you.” Responses to the sermon reflected on justice and peace and the Kingdom of God.
These four photographs show the altar with a Palestinian flag, base community members along with eight of us from the conference, a mural with Latin American martyrs (you might see Oscar Romero in the bottom right corner) and a mural with martyrs from their congregation. Two years after the founding of this base community in 1971, President Salvador Allende was assassinated in a military coup, partially orchestrated by United States president Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and thousands of Chilean citizens were arrested, tortured and executed by coup leaders at the orders of the new dictator Augusto Pinochet.
It was with much gratitude that I worshiped with this base community, but also with a heavy heart knowing the deep sadness within those walls back in 1973.
After our return from worship, we engaged in our next section, “Testimonies of Apartheid and Exclusion.” Moderated by Dennis Smith, long-time mission worker with the Presbyterian Church USA, three people shared their testimonies.
Muna Nassar, Palestinian Christian living in Bethlehem, author and participant in Kairos Palestine, spoke to us virtually because Israel would not allow her a visa to attend in person. She told us that “Palestine is a troubled land,” with great suffering and injustice from Israeli apartheid. The domination and subjugation of the Israeli occupation weighed heavy on the hearts of Palestinians. She emphasized the power of resistance and remarked that the impact of bad theology (Christian Zionism) had a negative effect, but the impact of positive theology (liberation theology) gave hope.
Guatemalan pastor, Delia Leal, spoke passionately about the oppression of women from religious fundamentalism, both Zionist and Christian Zionist. When she visited Palestine and met with women there, she was told, “Let’s do more Palestine and Latin American discussions because women especially need to be together.”
Machi Marcelina Antil Rupallan, the spiritual leader of the Mapuche tribe that led our opening ceremony, spoke to us again. Machi is the revered title of role she plays in the tribe, “the link between the natural world and the human world.” Much of what she shared expressed the pain and suffering of her people. She bemoaned that her tribe is losing its language and diminishing in numbers as younger people leave their village to start a family and make a living. Long ago being forced off their land and relocated to a less desirable location, they are not allowed to live “where our ancestors lived.” It is disheartening to her that she can no longer pass along the knowledge of the tribe.
From all three of the women’s testimonies, the sense of exclusion was powerfully present.
We concluded our day with a presentation of Kairos Palestine Dossier on Apartheid, led by Xavier Abu Eid, Chilean-born Palestine and political activist, discussed the dossier, created by Kairos Palestine and Kairos Global for Justice, and described how Israel controls Palestine through its system of apartheid. He said that “Palestinian Christians are not asking any other Christians to speak for them” and criticized the use of theology (Christian Zionism) to justify crimes. Silence not an option and apartheid is not an option because it violates international law.
