The Indiana Conference joins the global religious community in sorrow and prayer with the Beth Israel Congregation in Colleyville, Texas.
Our brother Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
The recent hostage situation in Texas is one of many attacks on peaceful gatherings and places of worship. We want our Jewish sisters and brothers to know that we are appalled by this senseless violence and are supporting them from afar with our prayers.
When it comes to hate crimes, I borrow the words of Rabbi Abraham Heshel when he said, “Few are guilty, but all are responsible “
Therefore, I call on Indiana United Methodists to stand up and speak out against anti-Semitism and other hate speech and acts. As our United Methodist Guiding Principles on Christian-Jewish Relations says
It is essential for Christians to oppose forcefully anti-Jewish acts and rhetoric that persist in the present time in many places. We must be zealous in challenging overt and subtle anti-Semitic stereotypes and bigoted attitudes that ultimately made the Holocaust possible, and which stubbornly and insidiously continue today. These lingering patterns are a call to Christians for ever-new educational efforts and continued vigilance, so that we, remembering and honoring the cries of the tortured and the dead, can claim with Jews around the world to be faithful to the post-Holocaust cry of “Never Again.”
Our eyes are wide open to the need to denounce violence, bigotry, and hatred of all kinds. Evil will not have the last word. Amen and amen.
Bishop Julius C. Trimble
Resident Bishop
Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church