(RNS) — Addressing policymakers at home and abroad, American evangelical Christian leaders responded Wednesday (Oct. 11) to the attacks on Israel by Hamas by issuing a letter calling for moral clarity, both supporting Israel’s right to defend itself and proclaiming the need to protect the lives of innocent civilians.
“In the wake of the evil and indefensible atrocities now committed against the people of Israel by Hamas, we, the undersigned, unequivocally condemn the violence against the vulnerable, fully support Israel’s right and duty to defend itself against further attack, and urgently call all Christians to pray for the salvation and peace of the people of Israel and Palestine,” the letter reads.
The letter, signed by 60 institutional leaders, will be delivered to the White House, Congress and leaders at the United Nations, said Brent Leatherwood, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which helped organize the letter.
In a phone interview, Leatherwood said the letter was prompted by what he said were responses to attacks on Israel that drew “false equivalence” between the attacks by Hamas, a group identified by the United States as a terrorist group, and the actions of Israel’s military.
“It is time for clear-eyed thinking and moral certainty,” he said.
SBC officials are strongly represented among the signers, including the denomination’s president, Texas pastor Bart Barber, as well as SBC seminary presidents Al Mohler, Danny Akin, Jason Allen and David Dockery, and several SBC state convention leaders. Other signers are the president of Awana, a popular children’s ministry, and several Christian college presidents.
Two former ERLC presidents — Russell Moore, now editor of Christianity Today, and Richard Land, now executive editor of the Christian Post website, also signed the letter.
The letter draws on the Christian justification for war known as just war theory to support Israel’s right to defend itself from attacks.
The letter also ties the current violence to past attacks on Jews and Israel.
“Since the inception of the modern state of Israel in 1948, Israel has faced numerous attacks, incursions, and violations of its national sovereignty,” the letter reads. “The Jewish people have long endured genocidal attempts to eradicate them and to destroy the Jewish state. These antisemitic, deadly ideologies and terrorist actions must be opposed.”
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