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Fleming Rutledge is a preacher and teacher known throughout the mainline Protestant denominations of the US, Canada and parts of the UK. She is the author of seven books and has received a grant from the Louisville Foundation to complete a book about the meaning of the Crucifixion.
One of the first women to be ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal Church, she served for fourteen years on the clergy staff at Grace Church on Lower Broadway at Tenth Street, New York City. Fleming and her husband celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2009 and have two daughters and two grandchildren. She is a native of Franklin, Virginia.
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Ruminations: A call to the PalestiniansThursday, June 04, 2009A call to the PalestiniansThe thing that struck me most about President Obama's speech in Cairo was its direct address to the Palestinians. With particular authority as an African-American, he referred to the history of the civil-rights movement in the United States and the anti-apartheid crusade in South Africa to strengthen his appeal to the Palestinians to set aside violence. It has often been noted that if the Palestinians had mounted a campaign of nonviolent resistance (a la Gandhi's, Tutu's, or Martin Luther King's), they would have been successful, especially in view of the deeply rooted values of the Torah in Judaism. Obama, addressing the Palestinians, said, with regard to violence, "That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is surrendered."The Palestinians have never had a leader with the commitments of a Gandhi or a King. The Palestinian I respect most, Sari Nusseibeh (author of the indispensable Once Upon a Life) said an astonishing thing in an interview with David Remnick in The New Yorker, a few years ago--he wished the Palestinians would try to act more like the Christian ideal.
Permanent Link for this Post: http://www.generousorthodoxy.org/ruminations/2009/06/call-to-palestinians.htm |
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2 Comments:
... With particular authority as an African-American, he referred to the history of the civil-rights movement in the United States and the anti-apartheid crusade in South Africa to strengthen his appeal to the Palestinians to set aside violence.
Any reference to a "crusade" is often a deal-breaker for most Muslims, and most of the so-called Palestinians are Muslims, which makes any call to "the Christian ideal" very difficult for them as well.
The Palestinians have never had a leader with the commitments of a Gandhi or a King ...
In fact, the Palestinians never had a legitmate leader, or any kind of "king" for that matter.
Arab-American journalist Joseph Farah said there is no distinct Palestinian language or culture, or has there ever been a land called Palestine ruled by Palestinians (WorldNetDaily, Oct. 11, 2000).
Perhaps Golda Meir said it best when she told the Sunday Times in '69 that "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people ... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist."
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