Saturday, November 30, 2024

Protestors Blockade Foreign Office Demanding End of Arms Sales to Israel

28th November 2024Leave a Comment

“No worker should be forced by their employer to facilitate unlawful acts, least of all be made complicit in horrific war crimes. We support these workers and stand in solidarity with them.”

A coalition of Pro-Palestinian activists and trade unionists, including the Palestinian Youth Movement, Workers for a Free Palestine, Sisters Uncut, Queers for Palestine, and London for a Free Palestine, are blockading and aiming to shut down access to the two Government departments which license arms exports Israel.

The coalition is demanding Labour stop arming Israel, after court documents revealed the Government did not fully suspend export licences to Israel to avoid “undermining US confidence in the UK”.

Applications by companies for export licences are made to the Export Control Joint Unit, which sits within the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) carries out evaluations against the licensing criteria. Protesters are currently blockading the DBT with an ‘Arms Embargo Now’ rally and are shutting down access to the FCDO, letting off red, green and black smoke flares, with banners saying “Genocide Made in Britain” and “Lammy: Stop Arming Israel”, while declaring support for workers who refuse to be complicit and workers on strike today.

This disruptive direct action marks International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and is part of a National Day of Action for a ceasefire in Gaza called by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

Banner reading: “Lammy Stop Arming Israel” during the blockade of the Department of Business and Trade in central London for International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Photo credit: London for a Free Palestine.

Protesters assembly outside of the Foreign Office demanding an end to arms sales to Israel.

It comes amid legal action in the High Court over UK arms supplies to Israel. The Government is accused of continuing to supply Israel with components for F-35 fighter jets despite knowing there was a “clear risk” these could be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law, with court documents revealing its decision was impacted by a desire to reassure the US Government.

This week, human rights groups are also applying for an emergency High Court injunction in light of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. Protesters are calling on the Government to commit to arresting Netanyahu and Gallant if they ever set foot in the UK, in line with Britain’s legal obligations as a member of the ICC. While the Government has said it would comply with such legal obligations under domestic and international law, Downing Street has been “reluctant to commit” to saying Netanyahu would be arrested if he comes to the UK, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper refused to answer the question on LBC. Starmer refused to answer the same question or comment on the arrest warrant, despite having made a personal statement welcoming the ICC’s decision to open a war crimes case against Vladimir Putin.

Britain made £8.5 billion from arms sales in 2023 and has licensed £560 million worth of arms sales to Israel since 2008, with FOIs revealing last week that the UK approved an additional £51.6m in arms sales to Israel via the US. In September, Keir Starmer’s government suspended 30 of the UK’s 350 arms export licences to Israel, with the remaining 90% remaining intact, despite the implicit acknowledgement that Israel is using British-made weapons in gross violations of international law. The number of Palestinians murdered in Gaza has climbed to at least 44,200 and 85% of the population has been displaced, while Israel’s expanded attacks on Lebanon are being treated with similar impunity.

A spokesperson for Workers for a Free Palestine said:

“We’re simultaneously blockading access to complicit Government departments, while the Government is in court attempting to defend the indefensible and facing an emergency injunction application to suspend the British weapons being used to wage Israel’s extermination campaign. We’re here today for International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, showing real, tangible solidarity by blockading the Trade Department and shutting down access to the Foreign Office – the two departments licensing arms exports being used to slaughter Palestinian people.

“We are taking this action as workers and trade unionists, responding to the call from the Trades Union Congress and Palestinian trade unions on workers to take action today in solidarity with Palestinians. This is a people’s arms embargo enforced from below – we refuse to allow our taxes to be used to arm this genocide and we will continue to shut down key Government buildings and arms factories until Labour suspends all arms sales to Israel.

“Polling shows we represent the vast majority of people in Britain, who do not want arms supplied to Israel in our name and subsidised by our taxes. And we know many civil servants in these same Departments do not want to carry out work which contributes to Israel’s genocide. No worker should be forced by their employer to facilitate unlawful acts, least of all be made complicit in horrific war crimes. We support these workers and stand in solidarity with them.”

A spokesperson for the Palestinian Youth Movement said:

“Court documents even reveal that this spineless Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have continued to arm a murderous Israeli regime in a pathetic attempt to pander to the US Government. We say to Keir Starmer and David Lammy, the blood of the children killed in Gaza is on your hands – your arms have contributed to Israel killing more children in just four months than all children killed in four years of war globally.

“The British public support an arms embargo on Israel and an end to the genocide, yet this Government is not only ignoring the will of the people but even criminalising protest against Britain’s complicity, with pro-Palestine activists facing an unprecedented crackdown according to human rights groups. Instead of representing the British public, the Labour Government is representing the vested interests of arms companies and other complicit corporations, which profit from death and destruction in Palestine and a Middle East ravaged by imperialism. We will not stop our work until this Government stops selling arms to Israel and its unconditional support for Israel’s colonial occupation and the violent political ideology of Zionism.”

A spokesperson for Sisters Uncut said:

“It’s shameful that this Labour Government pays lip service this week to the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, while arming Israeli forces violating women in Gaza on multiple fronts. Israel is disproportionately killing women and children, who make up nearly 70%, of Palestinians murdered in this genocide. There is also overwhelming evidence of sexual and gendered violence perpetrated by the Israeli army, with UN experts calling for a full investigation of sexual assault and rape of Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention.

“Keir Starmer, David Lammy and Yvette Cooper call themselves feminists, yet refuse to confirm that the war criminals who have overseen the use of sexual violence as ordinary practice in Israel’s military would be arrested if they ever set foot on British soil.”

You can follow London for a Free Palestine on Instagram here, the Palestinian Youth Movement here, Sisters Uncut here, Queers for Palestine here, and Act Up here.

HubMP2012

Foreign and Trade Departments targeted by protesters demanding Israeli arms embargo

On International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 1,000 protesters blockaded the Foreign Office and Department of Business and Trade in central London today to demand an embargo on arms to Israel and that the UK Government commit to arresting Benjamin Netanyahu if he comes to Britain.

Those taking part in the disruptive direct action, which is part of a National Day of Action for a ceasefire in Gaza called by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) declared support for workers refusing to be complicit in arms exports and workers on strike today.

A coalition of pro-Palestinian activists and trade unionists, including the Palestinian Youth Movement, Workers for a Free Palestine, Sisters Uncut, Queers for Palestine, and London for a Free Palestine, blockaded two Government departments which license arms exports Israel. The coalition is demanding Labour stop arming Israel, after court documents reveal the Government did not fully suspend export licences to Israel to avoid “undermining US confidence in the UK”.

Applications by companies for export licences are made to the Export Control Joint Unit, which sits within the Department for Business and Trade (DBT); and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) carries out evaluations against the licensing criteria. Protesters blockaded the DBT with an ‘Arms Embargo Now’ rally and shut down access to the FCDO, letting off red, green and black smoke flares, with banners saying ‘Genocide Made in Britain’ and ‘Lammy: Stop Arming Israel’, while declaring support for workers who refuse to be complicit and workers on strike today.

This direct action comes amid legal action in the High Court over UK arms supplies to Israel. The Government is accused of continuing to supply Israel with components for F-35 fighter jets despite knowing there was a “clear risk” these could be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law, with court documents revealing its decision was impacted by a desire to reassure the US Government.

This week human rights groups are also applying for an emergency High Court injunction in light of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. Protesters are calling on the Government to commit to arresting Netanyahu and Gallant if they ever set foot in the UK, in line with Britain’s legal obligations as a member of the ICC. While the Government has said it would comply with such legal obligations under domestic and international law, Downing Street has been “reluctant to commit” to saying Netanyahu would be arrested if he comes to the UK, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper refused to answer the question on LBC. Keir Starmer refused to answer the same question or comment on the arrest warrant, despite having made a personal statement welcoming the ICC’s decision to open a war crimes case against Vladimir Putin.

Britain made £8.5 billion from arms sales in 2023 and has licensed £560 million worth of arms sales to Israel since 2008, with Freedom of Information requests revealing last week that the UK approved an additional £51.6m in arms sales to Israel via the US. In September, Keir Starmer’s government suspended 30 of the UK’s 350 arms export licences to Israel, with the remaining 90% remaining intact, despite the implicit acknowledgement that Israel is using British-made weapons in gross violations of international law. The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has climbed to at least 44,200 and 85% of the population has been displaced, while Israel’s expanded attacks on Lebanon are being treated with similar impunity.

A spokesperson for Workers for a Free Palestine said: “We’re simultaneously blockading access to complicit Government departments, while the Government is in court attempting to defend the indefensible and facing an emergency injunction application to suspend the British weapons being used to wage Israel’s extermination campaign.

A spokesperson for the Palestinian Youth Movement said: “Court documents even reveal that this spineless Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have continued to arm a murderous Israeli regime in a pathetic attempt to pander to the US Government. We say to Keir Starmer and David Lammy, the blood of the children killed in Gaza is on your hands – your arms have contributed to Israel killing more children in just four months than all children killed in four years of war globally.

A spokesperson for Sisters Uncut said: “It’s shameful that this Labour Government pays lip service this week to the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, while arming Israeli forces violating women in Gaza on multiple fronts. Israel is disproportionately killing women and children, who make up nearly 70%, of Palestinians murdered in this genocide. There is also overwhelming evidence of sexual and gendered violence perpetrated by the Israeli army, with UN experts calling for a full investigation of sexual assault and rape of Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention.

The direct action follows a blockade of the Department of Business and Trade on May Day this year, when hundreds of protesters and trade unionists shut down access to the department over complicity in underwriting arms contracts for Israel. A message was sent by the Department to all employees informing them that all entrances to the Department, and therefore the entire building, were closed due to the protest.

The protest was organised in support of PCS members in the Department who requested to “cease work immediately” on arms export licences to Israel over fears they could be complicit in war crimes in Gaza, leading PCS to announce that it is considering bringing legal action to prevent their members from being forced to carry out unlawful acts. Today’s protest also coincides with strike action at the Department by Public and Commercial Services Union members working in security and facility management roles.

See the video here.

End arms sales to Israel – Jess Barnard takes message to Downing Street

28th November 2024Leave a Comment

“While every day Palestinians are being killed, it was only right to remind Keir of Britain’s role in enabling Israel to continue this genocide.”

By Matt Willgress, Labour Outlook

This week, Labour NEC members were invited to a drinks reception inside number 10 by Keir Starmer. Arguing that, “While every day Palestinians are being killed and their homes destroyed, it was only right to remind Keir of Britains role in enabling Israel to continue this genocide,” Left NEC member Jess Barnard took the opportunity to wear a t-shirt designed by Katherine Hamnett for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign demanding the government stop arming Israel.

Jess also wore this at the Labour NEC away day, where she again called on Starmer to uphold international law, respect the ICC arrest warrants and to ban all arms exports to Israel.

Speaking to Labour Outlook, peace and Palestine solidarity campaigners, plus voices from the Left of the labour movement welcomed these initiatives in support of justice for Palestine, and echoed the importance of the call to end all arms sales to Israel.

Ben Jamal, Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said, “By wearing this t-shirt into 10 Downing Street and confronting Keir Starmer directly with the message that there must be no more arms sales to Israel, Jess Barnard was doing her job as a representative of ordinary Labour Party members and expressing the moral stance shared by millions of people across Britain. It is grotesque that the British government continues to supply weapons and provide diplomatic cover to a state which is not only on trial for genocide but is led by a fugitive from international justice who is wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

MP Richard Burgon said, “We need to continue to press the Government to end all arms sales to Israel. It’s simply not legally or morally justified to continue exporting fighter jets parts, that are being used to kill Palestinian children, to an Israeli leader facing an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Labour National Executive Committee member Jess Barnard has again highlighted this hugely important point and we must all continue to raise it until the government takes the necessary action.”

Fellow MP John McDonnell also tweeted his support for Jess’ message.

Mads Wainman, Labour Students Disabled Students Officer, said, “Jess Barnard has my unreserved solidarity in her resistance against the sale of arms to Isreal. After a year of genocide against the Palestinian people, the Prime Minister must divest from Isreal, enforce sanctions and comply with the ICC and international law. Every day this action isn’t taken, more lives are lost. I applaud Jess Barnard’s call for justice and reiterate her stance against Britain’s role in this genocide. We must act now.”

Also speaking to Labour Outlook, Carol Turner of Labour CND commented, “Jess Barnard is one of a handful of courageous campaigners prepared to speak truth to power when it comes to the suffering and injustice in Gaza.

The terms of under which the UK grants arms export licenses make clear that no license should be granted which might be used to ‘commit or facilitate’ serious violations of international humanitarian law. By failing to turn words into action, the government brings shame on us all.

Labour’s hesitant first step is welcome. Now it must go the whole way by suspending the licensing of F35 parts which are used to bomb Gaza and the West Bank.”

Meanwhile, the Stop the War Coalition said Jess was “reflecting the ever-growing call in wider society for Starmer and Lammy to end all support for Israel and to commit unequivocally to upholding international law.”

From the Labour Left, Rachel Garnham of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy said, “The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy supports the call for Britain to stop supplying arms to Israel. Britain should not be assisting in the daily massacres of Palestinians. It’s excellent to see Jess Barnard raising this issue at the highest level and ensuring the views of so many grassroots members are represented.”

The Arise – A Festival of Left Ideas volunteers also expressed their solidarity.

Let’s keep up the campaigning on this issue – see you on the streets Saturday!

Join an event marking UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 1pm, Friday 29th November – with Richard Burgon MP; Jess Barnard; Hugh Lanning, Labour & Palestine, Louise Regan, Palestine Solidarity Campaign; plus guests from Palestine. Register here.
Join the National Demonstration on 30th November – details here.

UK

Stand with Palestine on the UN Day of Solidarity – build BDS campaigns!

Matt Willgress

27th November 20241 Comment

“Despite the shameful stance of Starmer’s government, our BDS movement is growing in Britain and is part of a significant global call.”

By Matt Willgress

At the time of writing, Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, injured more than 93,000 and displaced over 75 per cent of the population.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled earlier this year that this war on Gaza amounts to a plausible case of genocide, and since then arrest warrants have been issued for leading figures in the Israeli regime. This is the context to the massive Palestinian solidarity movement here, which is part of a global movement for justice.

There is also growing recognition here and globally – including from reports from Human Rights Watch to Amnesty International – that Palestinians are subjected to a system of apartheid by the Israeli state.

In terms of the policy of governments internationally, including the UK, genocide and apartheid should be met with a principled foreign policy. Under the Genocide Convention, that requires all steps be taken to prevent genocide and punish those responsible. Specifically, it means sanctions against individuals and entities that have incited genocide.

As was the case with South African apartheid, we therefore urgently need a concerted effort from the labour movement and civil society to see the dismantling of Israel’s apartheid against the Palestinian people.

It was therefore particularly significant that the recent TUC Congress called for BDS – namely boycotts, divestment and sanctions.

As Craig Mokhiber, a former senior UN human rights official, puts it, the ICJ ruling makes BDS “not only a moral imperative and constitutional and human right, but also an international legal obligation.” This is also the setting to the passing of the historic UN motion recently, which Britain abstained on, that called for sanctions on Israel in order to end the illegal occupation.

Despite the shameful stance of Keir Starmer’s government, our BDS movement – spearheaded by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign – is growing here in Britain and is part of a significant global call, which must be prioritised in the time ahead, and is making real advances.

In July, Waltham Forest Council, for example, committed to divesting their pension fund from arms companies. Also in July, it was confirmed Islington Council will not renew its banking contract with Barclays due to Barclays’ investments in Israeli apartheid, and funding of companies arming Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.

Then, in September, Lewisham Pension Fund, a fund of the Local Government Pension Scheme, committed to “review and update its responsible investment policy” with a view to “move away” from companies facilitating human rights abuses, such as through the arms trade.

In response to the student encampments for Palestine making clear disinvestment demands, wins have also been made in this sector.

In August, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the UK’s largest private pension scheme, divested from £80 million of Israeli assets including Israeli government bonds, following pressure from the UCU trade union and others.

This followed the news in June that Swansea University had committed to divest from Barclays Bank, as part of ensuring all of its investments follow an ethical investment policy.

Kings College meanwhile has now become the first London college to halt direct investments in Israel’s arms suppliers. Middle East Eye reports that “the divestment will see a stop in all of KCL’s direct investments in companies such as Lockheed Martin, L3Harris Technologies and Boeing, known to be leading military suppliers for Israel’s military and involved in the manufacturing of cluster bombs, land mines, depleted uranium weapons and other armaments.”

In the cultural field, earlier this year after at least 163 artists and venues boycotted The Great Escape, the UK music festival ended its partnership with Barclays.

Moving forward, local Labour Parties, Labour councils and other bodies should now be lobbied hard to build on these campaign successes and immediately engage in such campaigns, as part of a movement across the whole of civil society for concrete actions to be taken to help end genocide and apartheid.

Our message is clear – Israel must face real consequences when it doesn’t abide by international law.

Join an event marking UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 1pm, Friday 29th November – with Richard Burgon MP; Hugh Lanning, Labour & Palestine, Louise Regan, Palestine Solidarity Campaign; plus guests from Palestine. Register here.
Join the workplace day of action on 28th November and the National Demonstration on 30th November – details here.
This article was originally published on LabourHub on 26 November, with thanks to Celie and Lewis at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign for research and suggestions.

SCOTLAND

The unreported torture and killing of Palestinian healthcare workers in Israeli detention

We reproduce an edited version of a speech made by Doctor Josie Shakur at a vigil held last month in Edinburgh of Healthworkers for Palestine.

Thank you for being here today. I’d like to focus on the torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons particularly health care workers.

Between 2019 and 2022, nearly 2,000 complaints of abuse were made against Israeli prison officers. None resulted in any criminal conviction. In the past year alone, ‘officially’54 Palestinians have been tortured to death in Israeli custody.

Healthcare Workers Watch Palestine have documented over 300 detentions of healthcare workers. They collected 31 accounts from healthcare workers describing torture and other abuses by Israeli authorities: rape, beatings with metal bars, starvation, handcuffed-induced amputation, electrocution, psychological terror. The list of atrocities is endless. ‘Officially’ four healthcare workers have been tortured to death in prison since October 2023.

These are war crimes as stated in the Geneva convention. Israel has been perpetrating these acts because for 76 years they have held a global pass to do whatever they want, unchecked.

The United Nations have been aware of this situation for years yet, they do nothing. Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, wrote to them in September of last year pleading for change.

Yet there is no outcry from mainstream media, politicians or our medical establishments. It’s the same tired impunity and it must stop!

Today we want to highlight the four health care workers tortured to death.

Dr Iyad Al Rantisi was director of maternity services at Kamal Adwan Hospital. He was kidnapped in November while trying to flee to safety with his family. He was wearing scrubs after finishing work. His daughter Dina recalls an IOF soldier summoned him from the crowd with two words: “Nurse, come.”His family never saw him again.

After six days of torture in Shikma prison, he died from internal bleeding from his stomach. Israeli newspaper Haaretz – not the authorities – reported his death in June, six months after his death.

Dr Adnan Al Bursh was head of orthopaedics at Al-Shifa hospital and he was also medical advisor to the Palestine national football team. Incidentally, Palestine’s legendary football player Mohammed Barakat, known as “The legend of Khan Younis” was murdered by an IOF bomb in March but there has been no mention of this in Western sports press. No mention either of the 344 Palestinian footballers who have been killed in this genocide.

Dr Adnan completed his fellowship in Kings College London. He was married with five children and described as compassionate, heroic and much treasured in every orthopaedic department across Gaza’s hospitals.

He was kidnapped while at work in December along with other healthcare workers and taken to Ofer Prison in the West Bank. Four months later his death came to light only when some detainees released reported it on April 19th.

A UN statement confirmed his dead body showed signs of torture. What have they done about it? Nothing – as per usual. His body remains with the Israeli authorities despite pleas from his family for it to be returned to them.

Dr Ziad Al Dalo was Deputy Director of internal medicine at Al -Shifa hospital. He was abducted whilst he was working on March 18th 2024 during the massacre at Al-Shifa. Very few details are available but he also endured severe torture before his death.

Paramedic Hamdan Anaba was kidnapped while co-ordinating patient transport at the Netzarim checkpoint in December 2023. He too was tortured and murdered in an Israeli prison.

May God rest their souls and give them and their families the peace they so badly deserve.

They are just the tip of a huge iceberg.

So Biden, Harris, Starmer, leaders of the Arab world and all those complicit in this genocide: stop torturing and murdering our healthcare worker colleagues and innocent civilians. We demand boycott, sanctions and real arms cessation to Israel.

Torture is a stain on our humanity and silence in the face of torture is complicity. We must continue to speak up and believe that hope can endure even in the darkest of cells.

No justice – no peace!

End the genocide! Demonstrate Saturday 30th November, 12 noon, Park Lane, London.

Labour must avoid nuclear confrontation – Labour CND

29th November 2024Leave a Comment

“These decisions risk the spread of war across Europe with the potential for nuclear exchange.”

Labour CND statement

As the war in Ukraine intensifies, at the recent G20 Summit in Brazil Keir Starmer failed to address a direct question about the risks of nuclear war with Russia. The Trident nuclear weapons system together with the UK government’s consent for the stationing of US nuclear weapons in Britain makes us a target.

The Prime Minister and Defence Secretary continue to insist that the UK is ‘doubling down’ on support for Ukraine. Britain commits £3 billion a year; we are the third largest donor after the US and Germany. Keir Starmer says the UK will back Ukraine ‘for as long as it is needed’.

The decision by the UK government to allow Ukraine to fire long-range Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory, following a similar decision by the United States, is a reckless escalation in the conflict which has already lasted over 1000 days and cost countless lives. These decisions risk the spread of war across Europe with the potential for nuclear exchange.

President Putin considers an attack by Ukraine using weapons supplied by another state will be viewed by Russia as an attack by that third country. The Russian Ambassador to the UK has said he considers Britain to be ‘directly involved’ in the conflict. Russian nuclear doctrine has recently changed. The nuclear threat must not be underestimated.

While the majority of commentators continue to back the war, downplaying the possibility of its spread across Europe, public opinion is moving in the opposite direction. Support for a negotiated settlement to end the war in Ukraine is growing in both the United States and West Europe.

A large-scale survey in June this year by the US Institute for Global Affairs, for example, found two in every three Americans and Western Europeans wanted their government to avoid escalation and prevent further suffering of the Ukrainian people more than they wanted to deter Russia or see the restoration of Ukraine’s borders.

The dramatic population decline in war-torn Ukraine reveals the extent of their suffering – the combined result of battlefield and civilian deaths, a drop in the birth rate, and the exodus of refugees. In February 2022, the population of Ukraine was 43 million. It is an estimated 35 million today

More than 20,000 men are believed to have fled Ukraine to avoid military service. Conscription has been described as ‘chaotic’ and ‘tarnished by corruption’. In April Ukraine introduced a controversial new law lowering the draft age and introduced stringent penalties for evasion.

The people of Russia have also been hard hit. The Pentagon estimates there are more than 600,000 Russian casualties of war. While sanctions have not had the impact the Nato allies were hoping for, present estimates put the cost of war for Russia at between $500 million to $1 billion. It is reported that Russia spends approximately one third of its GDP on the war effort.

The spread of war across Europe and the potential for nuclear confrontation can only be averted if the war is ended by a negotiated settlement. The outstanding question is how long that will take and how many more deaths there will be in the meantime.

We call on the Government to:

Take a lead in ending the suffering of the people of Ukraine!
Stop promoting endless war!
Support de-escalation, ceasefire, and negotiations now!

Follow Labour CND on Twitter, or for more information, see their website.

MAGNUS NUNTIUS

Pope Francis enshrines synod's final report as church teaching

(RNS) — Bishops will be asked to report to the pope about how they are implementing synodality in their churches every five years.

Cardinals attend a Mass presided by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Nov. 24, 2024.

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Claire Giangravé
November 26, 2024

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In a note released Monday (Nov. 25), Pope Francis reinforced that the final report issued by delegates to the recently ended Synod on Synodality constitutes church teaching.

“Acknowledging the value of the synodal journey that we have made,” the pontiff wrote, “I now hand over the instructions contained in the Final Document to the entire Church, as a restitution of everything that has matured over these years through listening and discernment, and as an authoritative indication for its life and mission.”

“The Final Document participates in the ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter and thus I ask that it be accepted as such,” he added, using the church’s term for its teaching authority.

The synod was a three-year consultation with Catholics from the parish level to continental assemblies of bishops, and twice brought together bishops and a diverse group of other church leaders in Rome, including male and female religious and lay Catholics, once in October 2023 and again this past October. Working from ideas submitted by Catholic churchgoers, clergy and institutions around the world, the group was asked to discern “a new way of being church,” focused on inclusivity, transparency and welcoming.
RELATED: Pope Francis approves simpler, quicker procedures for papal funerals

Participants in the summit voted on a final document on Oct. 26, and Francis quickly ratified it. It contained a series of suggestions aimed at promoting a more horizontal structure for church leaders, more accountability for bishops and increased lay involvement, which Francis’ note makes clear is official church doctrine.

“The final document is official, magisterial teaching, and so no one can say that following the synodal path is optional,” said Brian Flanagan, an ecclesiologist and senior fellow at the Catholic LGBTQ outreach organization New Ways Ministry, commenting Tuesday on the pope’s note. Flanagan said that local churches are given freedom to implement the synod within their “different ecclesial, cultural, and local contexts.”

Participants attend a session of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

But controversial issues raised by many Catholics during the synodal process, particularly the role of women and LGBTQ Catholics, were relegated to 10 study groups formed by theologians, canon lawyers and experts, charged with submitting their findings in 2025. Many, particularly those hoping that the synod would open the diaconate, a form of holy orders, to women were disappointed that the synod did not go further toward approving some reforms.

Commenting the final document, the pope said its teaching needed to be adapted to the realities of ministering to 1.3 billion Catholics. “Local churches and groups of churches are now called to enact, within the various contexts, the authoritative indications contained in the document,” the pope said on Monday, stressing that the synodal process did not end with the Vatican synod in October.

“Pope Francis is trying to foster greater freedom of further discernment in a global ‘church of churches’ that is too diverse and complex for a heavy-handed, one-size-fits-all approach,”said Flanagan, who is also a research fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University.

Francis said the document offers instruction on enacting its proposals, adding that many of its reforms will be a matter of implementing existing canon law, not rewriting it. When necessary, local churches can “creatively enact new ministries and missionary roles” and submit their experiences to the Vatican.

When the representatives of national bishops conferences meet the pope and Vatican officials at their required “ad limina” visits every five years, the pope said, “each bishop will make sure to report which choices were made at his local church regarding what is contained in the final document, which challenges they faced, and what were the fruits.”

Francis added that the General Secretariat of the Synod, along with other Vatican departments, will ensure that the individual national churches join the synodal journey.

GREEN CATHOLICISM

Pope Francis’ eco-village to promote ecological conversion at 2025 Jubilee

(RNS) — Pilgrims and visitors will walk through an immersive experience of the pope’s zero-waste farm and gardens.

Views of the Borgo Laudato Sì project at the Pontifical Villas’ Gardens

in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024. (RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

Claire Giangravé
November 29, 2024

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Francis’ plan to build an eco-village in the historic gardens of Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the popes, will be complete for the 2025 Jubilee, allowing pilgrims and tourists to participate in an immersive experience of “ecological conversion,” organizers said.

In February 2023, after delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Francis finally launched his “Borgo Laudato Sì” project, which combines sustainable agriculture with environmentally friendly teaching programs aimed especially at vulnerable and marginalized groups. The pope’s ambitious project, inspired by his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Sì,” emphasizes sustainability, a circular economy and integral human ecology, which places the human being at the center and in connection with the environment.

The aim of the Borgo is to become self-sustainable through the use of solar panels and to achieve zero water waste. Pope Francis, who reinforced the care of creation in his 2023 apostolic exhortation “Laudato Deum,” describes water as a fundamental human right in his encyclical, and the Borgo will reflect this principle by using containers to collect rainwater and restructuring the plumbing of the garden’s many fountains to recycle water. Organizers are working to make all intra-garden transport electric. Plastic is banned within the garden.

The goal of the project “is to share with as many people as possible the beauty that there is in caring for creation,” explained Donatella Parisi, the communication coordinator of the teaching programs offered at the Borgo, speaking to a group of Vatican journalists who previewed the papal gardens on Wednesday (Nov. 27).

The lush gardens, about an hour’s drive south of Rome and extending across 140 acres on the slopes surrounding Lake Albano, were chosen by Roman Emperor Hadrian in 100 C.E. to build his monumental villa, and in the late 1500s, the popes adopted it as their summer residence to escape the bustle and heat of Rome.

The Pontifical Villas’ Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024.

(RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

Pope Benedict XVI had a special appreciation for the summer estate and could often be seen walking through its manicured topiaries and shady groves. But Pope Francis made clear once he was elected that he had no intention of spending his time at the estate during the summer, or of taking any vacation time. He decided to restructure the estate, devoting over 60 acres of land to the Borgo project. The rest is UNESCO protected land, and the Vatican will limit itself to improving its sustainability and efficiency.

The Borgo will not impact Vatican finances, Parisi said, relying on partnerships with external companies and organizations to pay for the projects.

The Jubilee celebrations, which will last all of 2025, occur on the 10th anniversary of “Laudato Sì” and the 800th anniversary of the “Canticle of the Sun,” St. Francis of Assisi’s famed song honoring creation. The Borgo will inaugurate its farm and agriculture projects in February and will be among the suggested visits for the 30 million pilgrims expected to visit Rome for the Jubilee.

For decades, the popes oversaw a small farm in the garden that produced dairy products and a vineyard that made a modest “wine of the popes.” The Borgo plans to resume this activity, with an eye for sustainability. “It will adopt the most modern techniques to develop an agriculture system that will waste nothing,” Parisi explained, adding that they will not use pesticides.

The Pontifical Villas’ Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024.

(RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

Olive oil will be made from the 1,000 olive trees of the Borgo, and the garden will produce its own honey and tea. The cow farm is set to become an interactive experience for visitors and will produce organic milk, cheese and even ice cream. As visitors walk through the garden, they will encounter 30 signs, each with one word — such as “water,” “silence” or “tree”— followed by a spiritual and environmental reflection, highlighting both the botanical and spiritual significance of the over 3,000 plant species in the garden.

Trees will guide the visitors through the park, Parisi said. They will be greeted by Mathusalem, a 700-year-old oak. “Trees have a lot to teach us about human relations,” she said, pointing to how they communicate in a horizontal model and warn each other of threats.

Mathusalem, a 700-year-old Holm Oak, at the Pontifical Villas’ Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024.

(RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

To highlight the pope’s support for the project, he recently announced that he will make the general director of the Borgo the Rev. Fabio Baggio, a cardinal at the upcoming consistory on Dec. 7. “It was a kind of seal of approval of the assignments that I had been given recently,” Baggio said shortly after the announcement in a video published by the Borgo.

“We want to prove that it’s possible to be stewards of creation today,” he said. “Small changes can lead to big changes, which can address human challenges.”

A large greenhouse will feature symbolic and ancient plants. Nearby, the Borgo will host teaching projects for groups wanting to learn more about the pope’s ecological vision at the Laudato Sì Center for Higher Education. In collaboration with the charitable cooperative Paths to Citizenship, the Borgo will teach vulnerable groups — including migrants and refugees, former prisoners, disabled individuals and victims of human trafficking — how to care for gardens and land in a sustainable way.

Views of the Borgo Laudato Sì project at the Pontifical Villas’ Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024. (RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

Twenty people from these marginalized groups have already gone through the formation process, and 10 have found stable employment. The 20 experienced gardeners of the Borgo teach the classes. “It’s aimed at people who wish to prove that their vulnerability can be a strength for a community that wants to be welcoming and inclusive,” Parisi said.

Students and children will also be invited to participate in summer schools and projects to raise environmental awareness, and the Borgo will host cultural and artistic events. Businesses that want to be inspired by the principles of “Laudato Sì” will have the chance to participate as well, after passing a rigorous vetting process, Parisi explained.

Pope Francis selected the parish priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Rev. Manuel Dorantes, to become the director of the Borgo’s Center for Higher Education starting Dec. 1. In a statement, Dorantes expressed “humility and gratitude” for the appointment, which will take him away from his urban ministry to serve the marginalized groups welcomed at the Borgo.

Francis’ decision to turn the papal gardens into a sustainable haven has also been met with criticism. Ten families currently live and work on the land and feared, according to recent reports on Italian media, that the pope’s activity would upend their way of living.

The Pontifical Villas’ Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024.

(RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

At least one of the families living and serving in the pope’s garden has decided to find jobs elsewhere. Parisi said the Borgo hopes to begin a “positive dialogue” with everyone involved. “The pope will leave no one on the street,” he said, responding to reports suggesting the families would soon be evicted.

Francis’ changes to the way of life of Castel Gandolfo were not immediately welcomed. The mayor of the town at the time said citizens and shop owners were “in mourning.” But 11 years into this pontificate, the town continues to thrive, attracting visitors who wish to experience its beauty, art and rustic cuisine all year round.

Organizers hope this newest project will attract faithful, especially young people, wishing to be inspired by Pope Francis’ vision for a sustainable, faith-filled and human-centered environment.

India's anti-conversion law is fine-tuned to allow policing of Christians

ARYAN SUPERMACISTS ARE ZIONIST ALLIES

NEW DELHI (RNS) — While they purport to protect poor Hindus from being exploited, anti-conversion laws have been found to have a more demonstrable effect of generating violence against Christians.

Mohammad Ali
November 29, 2024

NEW DELHI (RNS) — In July, more than two years after a Christian prayer service at his home was raided by police, a court in Uttar Pradesh in northern India acquitted Abhishek Gupta, a 41-year-old radiologist, of violating the state’s anti-conversion law.

Legally, his victory was more than a win; it was a rout: The judge in the case cleared Gupta and a co-defendant of trying to recruit Hindus into Utter Pradesh’s tiny Christian minority, but further ruled that the complainant, a member of a Hindu nationalist activist group, was not eligible to file the case and that police investigators were “the real culprits.”

But personally, the case has ruined Gupta, he said. “My entire family is Christian. I pray on Sundays. I don’t know why anyone would think I was converting anyone,” Gupta told RNS by phone from his home village in Gorakhpur, where he moved after he and his wife, a nurse, were asked to resign their jobs for fear their employers would be harassed by vigilantes. “We exhausted our life savings, and our life was turned upside down,” he said.

A study by Article 14, a watchdog group, revealed that in the first year after the original 2021 statute passed, half of the 101 reported violations came from third parties. Most of the third parties were Hindu nationalist outfits that were using the law to harass Christians.

RELATED: The fight against Hindu nationalism in the United States is multifaith, says a newly formed coalition

Gupta plans to file a civil case against the police and the Hindu nationalist group, called Hindu Jagaran Manch, that accused him. But the day Gupta was acquitted, the Uttar Pradesh government passed a series of amendments to the conversion statute, making converting others a crime punishable by life imprisonment, and empowering third parties to file complaints.

In this March 7, 2021, file photo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public rally in Kolkata, India. (AP Photo/Bikas Das, File)

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, are often accused of advancing Hindutva, a political ideology usually referred to as Hindu nationalism, that seeks to empower the country’s Hindu majority while relegating Muslims and Christians to second-class citizens. The BJP has historically presented Christians as a threat because of their history of missionary work in the country.

The BJP and the Hindutva group RSS that gave birth to the political party have historically accused evangelical Christian missionaries of misusing medical and educational welfare efforts to convert India’s vulnerable tribal and Dalit populations.

Eight of India’s 28 states have passed laws banning conversions, including Modi’s home state of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, whose chief minister, Adityanath, is a prominent yogi and a Hindu nationalist.

While they purport to protect poor Hindus from being exploited, anti-conversion laws have been found to have a more demonstrable effect of generating violence against Christians.

A 2019 paper by Nilay Saiya and Stuti Manchanda, professors of public policy and global affairs at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, showed that the states that enforce anti-conversion laws are statistically more likely to give rise to violent persecution against Christians than states that have no such laws.

In 2003, allegations of conversion led to the brutal murder of Australian Christian missionary Graham Stains and his two young sons, Philip and Timothy, who were burned alive by members of Bajrang Dal, an RSS affiliate.

There have been 733 incidents of violence against Christians in the past two years, according to the United Christian Forum, with 585 such incidents through September of 2024 alone. Most have been spurred by false allegations of conversion.

Leaders and hundreds of followers from various Christian denominations gather for a protest in New Delhi, India, on Oct. 26, 2024, objecting to what they describe as a mounting pattern of harassment, persecution and violence directed at India’s Christian minority. (Photo courtesy United Christian Forum)

UCF officials told RNS they are preparing to meet with senior ministers in the Modi government to request that the government issue an advisory to the state governments to repeal the anti-conversion laws.

Pramod Singh of the Christian Legal Association, which has been overseeing the legal defense of hundreds of Christians across India, called the amendments to the UP anti-conversion law “absolute madness.”

“Can a citizen of India be harassed by a mob like this?” he said. “Now, anyone can barge inside your home with the police, accusing you of converting people when you are praying in the privacy of your home.”

He said the law imposes undue limitations on individuals’ ability to choose their faith and puts the onus of proving their innocence on the accused, not the police or the complainants.

But Vivek Premi, a BJP official in Uttar Pradesh, defended the law on religious freedom grounds. “Everyone has a right to pray as per their religious tradition, but it is totally unacceptable to use your way of praying to lure anyone and convert them.”

Premi, a former member of the Hindu nationalist youth organization Bajrang Dal, has used WhatsApp and Facebook to create a network of hundreds of volunteers who alert him of conversion.

The National Council of Churches of India has strongly objected to the new Uttar Pradesh measure, saying it violates the Indian Constitution, which supports religious freedom of Indian citizens.

The Rev. Asir Ebenezer, general secretary of NCCI, said the amendment encroaches on the constitutional right to freely practice and profess religion, a fundamental human right recognized by the Indian Constitution.
RELATED: An anti-Hindutva teach-in spurs debate about Hindu representation on college campuses

The UP government, however, described the ordinance as a “good legislation” necessary to “check cases of deceitful, fraudulent and forceful conversions.”

A senior state official told RNS, “The law does not espouse any motive to single out any religion or faith. Such legislation was necessary to prevent only those marriages that are done with the sole purpose of conversion. The law, in fact, safeguards human rights by preventing fake, fraudulent or deceitful premises of marriage.”

PROTESTANT CAPITALI$M U$A

After exiting the Christian music industry, these artists engage religion on their terms

(RNS) — After interrogating their beliefs, some onetime CCM artists are revisiting faith in some fashion, trying on elements they’d previously discarded and writing music for listeners who might be more spiritual than religious.

People participate in the Mystic Hymnal Songwriter’s retreat, organized by Michael Gungor, at the Glen Eyrie Retreat Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in late Sept. 2024. (Photo by Jason Hogan)

Kathryn Post
October 28, 2024

(RNS) — When former Christian artist Michael Gungor first hosted a new spiritual community in Los Angeles this year, worship began not with an organ blast or sermon series video promo, but with blowing bubbles.

Appropriately dubbed “Play,” Gungor envisioned the event — which featured painting, dancing, corporate singing and meditation, but no religious creed — as a celebration that “redefines worship.”

“I want to be in a room and see each other’s eyes and smell each other and hear each other singing out of key. This is something we’ve always done as a species,” Gungor said. “I think there’s something important, really grounding and human about it.”

Gungor’s idea of worship wasn’t always so experimental. In packed churches and concert venues, thousands once sang along to the band Gungor’s 2010 hit “Beautiful Things,” a song that became a permanent fixture on the setlists of youth group bands. But in 2014, Gungor’s critiques of the Christian music industry — as well as his public musings on Genesis as a poem rather than historic fact — led to his exclusion from the Christian music business. Now, after a long process of wrestling with his inherited evangelical faith — documented on his podcast “The Liturgists” — Gungor says he’s more interested in embracing the current lived moment than being tethered to a set of religious beliefs, though he describes Christianity as his “native tongue.”

Michael Gungor. (Photo by Lily Glass)

For those like him who have “deconstructed” — a popular term today for the process of questioning and sometimes letting go of the teachings of one’s faith tradition — Gungor still sees a desire for ritual and for communal gathering. He recognizes the power of the collective — and aims to write non-dogmatic music for corporate, if not religious, worship.

“We’ve gotten rid of some of the shame-based stuff and some of the dogmas that were oppressing and hurting a lot of us, but now we’re kind of just wandering around alone … What are we missing? Is there anything we can find back here?”

In the last two decades, several Contemporary Christian Music powerhouses — Audrey Assad, DC Talk’s Kevin Max, Hawk Nelson’s Jon Steingard, among several others — have publicly exited the CCM industry. For many of these musicians, questioning the industry’s theological parameters meant becoming unwelcome in mainstream CCM spaces. Years later, after interrogating their beliefs, a handful of these onetime CCM artists are revisiting faith in some fashion, trying on elements they’d previously discarded and writing music for listeners who might be more spiritual than religious. In many ways, these artists’ break from institutional Christianity and hunger for a broader form of belonging exemplifies national religious trends.

One of the earliest CCM artists to publicly depart the industry was Jennifer Knapp, who burst onto the Christian music scene with her debut album “Kansas” in 1998. But while Knapp was drawn to Christianity’s teachings on human dignity and divine love, she soon realized that the Christianity promoted in the CCM world drew hard lines around who belonged, and who didn’t. Her lyrics about the Christ’s humanity and questions about the necessity of substitutionary atonement — the idea that Jesus died as a substitute for humanity — began to draw criticism.

“I was already getting critiqued at the time and being basically told you weren’t a Christian anymore,” said Knapp. “And then I was like, oh, well, I’m wondering what you guys are going to think about my sexual orientation.”

In 2002, Knapp “pushed the eject button” on the Christian music scene and her faith. When she returned in 2010, it was as an openly gay musician no longer publishing music under the Christian banner.

Jennifer Knapp in 2024. (Courtesy photo)

For longtime Bethel Music recording artist William Matthews, it was in part the rigid homogeneity of the Christian Music industry that ultimately led him to walk away. Raised in a Black Church of God context, he came to Christian music by way of spontaneous worship models promoted by Morningstar Ministries in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri. Though skeptical about the existence of hell, Matthews, who spent his evenings watching Bill O’Reilly on Fox News, largely felt at home in the prophetic corner of the Christian music world. In the early 2010s, he led worship at the conferences of charismatic leader Lance Wallnau, now known for his pro-Trump prophecies.

But by 2015, Williams found non-violent Christian theology a more compelling approach. He watched as anti-immigrant rhetoric and opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement reached a fever pitch in evangelical circles and grew frustrated with what he saw as the Christian music industry’s “conservative bias.” After spending nearly 15 years thinking he’d been bridging cultures as one of the only Black people in white-majority evangelical spaces, he was shattered to discover that many of those he’d grown close to seemed ambivalent toward racism.

“That led me to really walk away from Christian music,” said Matthews.

He attributes the CCM industry’s apparent conservative slant to its target audience of “white, suburban, Midwest or Southern moms.” In catering to that demographic, Christian radio executives and Christian bookstores are known to censor songs or albums that cross conservative theological or political boundaries.

The Mystic Hymnal Songwriter’s retreat at the Glen Eyrie Retreat Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in late Sept. 2024. (Photo by Jason Hogan)

“What the CCM industry, or Christian music, is selling is security,” said musician Derek Webb, founding member of the Christian rock band Caedmon’s Call. “The people who run or appear to be gatekeeping the CCM industry are not doing that as a means of holding some kind of moral plumb line.” Webb believes the pushback usually has more to do with a company’s bottom line than personal convictions.

Despite the Christian music industry’s restrictions, exiting the industry often means leaving behind record labels, the Christian music festival circuit and radio play and requires promoting music to a market that’s much less defined. While some boundary-pushing Christian artists like Semler and Flamy Grant, two queer artists who’ve scored top spots on the Itunes Christian charts, have found success via social media and streaming platforms, many onetime Christian artists are labeled “too Christian” for mainstream music spaces and “too secular” for explicitly religious ones.

“It’s this kind of no man’s land, algorithmically,” said Gungor. “I still have more listeners of ‘Beautiful Things,’ than anything else I make.”

Creating music for a more nebulous spiritual audience might not guarantee commercial success, but if it means creating music that feels authentic, for many former Christian artists, it’s worth the tradeoff.
RELATED: Ancient ‘heresies’ set to Gungor’s music in new Pelagius musical

Known for his provocative approach to songwriting, Webb says his lyrics cause him to both “shed” about a quarter or third of his audience every 18 months and gain new listeners. After 30 years in the music industry, he’s comfortable with the ebb and flow. In 2017, three years after his divorce from fellow Christian artist Sandra McCracken, Webb released “Fingers Crossed,” an album documenting his departure from Christianity. But though he still considers himself an agnostic, his latest album, “The Jesus Hypothesis,” grapples more explicitly with Christian themes.

Derek Webb. (Photo by Emily Tingley)

“I wanted to go back into the rubble of where all this was pulled down and burned down, and where I was in here with an ax before, I want to come back in with a scalpel,” he said of the album.

Webb’s return to the debris of his Christian faith coincided with a return to Caedmon’s Call, which recently produced a re-record of its self-titled debut album in honor of its 25th anniversary. The 2022 release is emblematic of the ways several former Christian artists have been coming back to reclaim elements of their religious heritage.

More than a decade since her return to the music world, in May, Knapp offered a re-release of her first album, “Kansas 25.” She graduated from Vanderbilt Divinity School in 2018, and now views Christianity as a source of wisdom whose teachings on liberation have fueled her own LGBTQ+ advocacy. The outpouring of support for “Kansas 25,” Knapp said, caused her to see her early music in a new light.

“If ever I had any bitterness about my role inside of evangelical Christianity, or concern that maybe I tied people down, exposed them to too much religious trauma because of the conservative evangelical space that I came from, this was a real joy to be able to witness, that our faith can teach us something, and it can expand beyond some of the harms sometimes that our smaller religious spaces offer to us,” said Knapp.

Gungor’s next project has emerged from his desire to see communal songs that trade religious lyrics for more universal themes, like love and unity. This fall, he gathered with over 20 other songwriters in Colorado for a songwriting retreat to begin writing and recording music for the project, called The Mystic Hymnal.

William Matthews. (Photo by Lina Khatib)

After a long hiatus from Christian music, William Matthews, too, is releasing new, honest songs about spirituality. Earlier this year, he was invited by the evangelical authors of a recent anti-culture war statement to write and produce a corresponding album intended to call the church out of political idolatry. Titled “Return to Love,” the September album was recorded by artists from a range of theological and political perspectives and is designed for those who are “full of faith or struggling to believe.”

“I’m always in the middle of wrestling. Does church even matter to my life?” said Matthews, who leads worship at a progressive LGBTQ-affirming church in Los Angeles where former evangelicals regularly attend. “I will say, in my life, I’ve somehow always managed to come back. Maybe it’s cyclical. You’re always returning home or to a sense of home or to a better expression of home.”

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Saturday, November 30, 2024

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