Category: Subverting Empire

From Golden Calf to Sacred Dwelling: Reimagining Jewish Identity Beyond the Nation-State

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By Ariel Gold

When Pope Leo XIV rebuked Pete Hegseth on Good Friday for using biblical language to justify war, it stopped me cold. What was a red line for the American pope — and sparked a “tidal wave” of complaints from active duty U.S. service members — has become so normalized in American Judaism that our siddurim (prayer books) include prayers that the State of Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces, with God’s help, be “crowned with victory” in all military endeavors.

I thought back to the Torah portion of the prior few weeks and the lessons it offers.

In Parsha Ki Tisa, the Israelites build a golden calf while Moses is on Mount Sinai receiving the Torah. Newly freed from bondage in Egypt, anxious and unmoored, they melt down their gold and create an idol to worship.

As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Despite thousands of years of Torah study, we have done it again — given in to fear and replaced our faith in God with the worship of another idol — this time, a nation-state.

When European Jews in the 19th century were allowed out of ghettos and into broader society, it raised a genuinely thorny question: was Judaism, as a religion, even necessary anymore? Like the Jews of biblical times, our emancipation created a void. What rushed in was nationalism. Zionism offered a secular answer — shift faith in God into faith in political and military power. But God was removed from the language while biblical promise continued to drive political action. Messianic longing was not replaced; it was nationalized.

Continue reading “From Golden Calf to Sacred Dwelling: Reimagining Jewish Identity Beyond the Nation-State” →

Not Our End Times

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Christians for a Free Palestine is hosting another community call this Wednesday, April 15 at 8pmET. Register here.

For more than two years, the U.S. government has enabled and normalized genocide against Palestinians in Gaza with impunity, and yesterday morning, President Donald Trump made overtly genocidal threats “that a whole civilization” could die in order to achieve his military goals in Iran. 

The U.S. and Israeli governments have already committed enormous harm in Iran, including war crimes. Even as a fragile ceasefire in Iran begins, Israel is continuing to bomb Lebanon, dropping bombs in 100 locations in just 10 minutes today. Over the past month, U.S. and Israeli actions in the region have displaced millions of people from their homes.

For years, the Christian Zionist lobby paved the way for this moment. According to them, any violence, war, and destruction can be justified and even celebrated if it is seen to help usher in the end times. That’s why Christian Zionists are cheering on the ethnic cleansing set to take place in Lebanon as a step toward “Greater Israel,” and hailing the war in Iran as the Battle of Armageddon. As Christians, we oppose genocide and ethnic cleansing against any people, and believe in a future for our world grounded in true and just peace— not false peace held up by domination, violence, and empire. 

Our April 15 Community Call, “Not Our End Times” will focus on how Christian Zionism has fueled the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and how we respond. Join us to hear from:

  • Joy Metzler, a military defector and conscientious objector
  • Izzy Mustafa, campaigns coordinator with Adalah Justice Project
  • Tommy Airey, a leader with CFP-Detroit, and member of CFP’s Theo-Politics Team.

We hope to see you on April 15 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT to build community, make sense of this moment together, and continue creative, nonviolent resistance to Christian Zionism, including preparing for this summer’s action to counter Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest Zionist organization in the country. 

Let us work together toward the “world that ought to be.”

Preserved Proudly

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From author and professor Susan Muaddi Darraj, re-posted from social media.

I wish American Christians who are cheering Israel’s actions in Palestine and Lebanon could attend a Lebanese Maronite Church and hear the prayers read in Aramaic.

That was the language spoken by Jesus, and it is preserved proudly by these ancient Arab Christian communities.

They won’t recognize the language as Jesus’ language though, just as I cannot recognize their actions and thoughts as anything remotely resembling Christianity.

Amen, Amen, and Amen.

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Dr. Stacey Patton’s closing prayer from yesterday’s sermon “Is it a Sin to Cheer for Iran?“

God of the oppressed and the overlooked. God who heard the cries in Egypt and still hears the cries of the suffering today. Steady our hearts in a world filled with violence, confusion, and Empire.

Teach us to hunger for justice without losing our compassion. Teach us to celebrate deliverance without forgetting the sacredness of life. Give us the courage to ask hard questions. Give us the wisdom to discern truth from propaganda. Give us the strength to stand with the oppressed wherever they cry out.

Remind us, O lord, that the mighty do not rule forever. That justice still rises, and that your spirit still moves among the lowly. Let our voices speak truth. Let our hands build peace. And let our hope remain stubborn in the face of despair.

Let the church say Amen, Amen, and Amen.

A Cancer

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By Alec Karakatsanis, re-posted from social media.

One thing not getting enough attention now that the U.S. has admitted to exterminating hundreds of elementary school girls is that many very powerful people lied about it.

They knew it was on the target list, they knew they had launched the missiles, they knew the school had been hit multiple times. And they tried to hide it and deflect blame to boost support for the early days of the illegal war.

In any reasonable society—as opposed to a deeply sick one where there is no pretense to caring about truth or accountability or law or justice—a lie of this magnitude would mark the end of a person’s public life and extensive public proceedings to uncover everyone involved and to eradicate the institutional arrangements capable of such crimes and corruption.

It’s similar to the complete rejection of truth and accountability that I have seen in police and prison corruption/violence. In the most fascist corners of our society, the only principle is who has—and is willing to ruthlessly deploy—power over others. Once a society tolerates this kind of thing, it’s like a cancer that spreads and cannot be stopped.

Utterly Alien to the Core of Christian Faith

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This is an excerpt from “Kairos Palestine II: A Moment of Truth – Faith in a Time of Genocide” released by Palestinian Christians in November 2025. Read the whole thing here – and sign on in solidarity here.

We reject the oppression and injustice produced by the theology of racism, colonialism and ethnic supremacy embodied in Christian Zionism, a theology that has produced apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of indigenous people.

Christian Zionism calls on a tribal, racist god of war and ethnic cleansing, teachings utterly alien to the core of Christian faith and ethics.

Christian Zionism must therefore be named for what it is: a theological and moral corruption. After all efforts to invite Christian Zionists to genuine repentance have been exhausted, moral, ecclesial and theological responsibility requires that they be held accountable and that their ideology be rejected and boycotted.

The time has come for the churches of the world to repudiate Zionist theology and to state clearly their position on Palestine: this is a case of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing of an indigenous people.

The Fraternal Twins of Settler Colonialism

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From journalist and professor Dr. Stacey Patton, re-posted from social media

Zionism and white supremacy are the fraternal twins of settler colonialism. Both were raised on the same myths of divine entitlement. Fed on the same fear of demographic ‘replacement.’ And sustained by the same logic that calls displacement and land theft ‘security’ and calls genocide ‘self-defense.’

Crossing Over

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By Tommy Airey, re-posted from his Substack

This week, the stars will align.

The Christian season of Lent will kick-off on the exact same day as Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.

This is not just a coincidence. This is a divine conspiracy.

It all starts on Ash Wednesday, February 18.

I am wondering what it might look like for a network of Christians and Jesus-adjacent folks in North America to cross over and fast from food and drink during daylight hours for the entire month of Ramadan.

I see this as a small act of solidarity with Muslims all over the planet – and specifically with Palestinians who are enduring ethnic cleansing and genocide abroad, and constant demonization here in the US.

I also see this as a tangible way for Christians to repent from all the anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia built into the body of Christ.

Continue reading “Crossing Over” →