Statement from Beacon's Lead Ministry Team on the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza
November 15, 2023
Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation's Lead Ministry Team – Rev. Dr. Robin Tanner, Dr. Tuli Patel, and emilie boggis – has released this video statement on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including a call to release the hostages and a call for a ceasefire.
Please take care and know we are here for you to call or reach out. For those who are less directly impacted, please reach out to colleagues, friends, Beacon members and friends, neighbors who you know are impacted to share that you care, that you are with them. Speak out – now is the time.
Transcript of the statement:
Dear beloved Beacon,
We come to share what has been troubling our hearts.
Nearly five weeks ago, we issued a statement on the horrific attacks in Israel. In the time between then and now, so many of us here within Beacon and across the United States are experiencing fear, hopelessness, desperation, and horror.
After courageous conversation with one another and with Jewish and Muslim folx in our communities, and after deep moral discernment as a Lead Ministry Team, we need to speak again in light of the last five weeks and the impact within our wider community.
We’ve been reflecting on that early minister of Beacon, Rev. Doan, who brought the FBI to the door of our church when he spoke out against World War I at a time when it was not popular to do so. While the Board of Trustees acknowledged that they did not agree with his position, they nonetheless defended his right to hold it as an act of conscience. From our very beginnings, we have been a congregation who could hold the “both/and” nature of human society, especially in times of great conflict in our world.
This is one of those times. Once again, we feel compelled to hold both/and.
The attacks by Hamas on Israelis were a human rights atrocity. An act of terrorism. We name this without equivocation. Release the hostages.
We cannot be silent in the face of the devastating murder of thousands of Palestinians, many of them children. The human rights crisis in Gaza must be remedied immediately. We call for a cease-fire, but more than this, we call on world leaders to enable humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the West Bank. We demand that all hostages must be released and that their release be made a priority. We beseech the Israeli government to reestablish access to water and electricity and other essential life-saving resources.
What is also true and very real is the dramatic rise across New Jersey in anti-semitism, Islamophobia, racism and the many tentacles of white supremacy. Just as we can clearly uphold the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and the right of all of humanity to live in peace, we also know attacks of hate on any group of people are inextricably connected to the dehumanization of all people.
We must be beacons in our communities affirming our collective humanity.
This is the time… Now is the moment... where we must speak to our shared humanity.
This is the time… Now is the moment… to demand peace through a non-violent justice that still could save lives in the balance.
This is the time… now is the moment… to prioritize all human life, those held hostage, those pushed from their homes, those under the constant threat of bombs and terror, those holding to the last threads of safety as fragile as they may be here in the United States.
We do not believe that violence is the answer. And we believe that every human life matters.
Just like in Rev. Doan’s time, we do not expect or even desire complete agreement.Many will have differing points of view, grounded in their own histories, relationships and knowledge. This is a community of conscience where we can hold the both/and. May we do the hard work of discernment and listening, of loving one another enough to hear our faith emerge in each other’s voices and to be unrelenting in our resolve to protect, and preserve our collective humanity as we work toward a peace born of the hard truths, the real justice, and the future all of our children should live to know.
Authored and shared by Beacon’s Lead Ministry Team: Rev. Dr. Robin Tanner, Dr. Tuli Patel, and emilie boggis.