Christianity in Palestine: A Fading Identity?
Ivan Plis Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Many Westerners' initial reaction when hearing about Palestinian Christians is to attribute the presence of Christianity in the Holy Land to Protestant missionary activity.[1] This mindset ignores the centuries-long continuity of Christianity in Palestine as an indigenous religion predating Islam. Perhaps in a conscious or unconscious response to "the indifference and ignorance of the Christian brother or sister, the pilgrim, to the living stones,"[2] Palestinian Christians have begun embracing primary identities other than "Christian." In a recent study, over half of Palestinian Christian respondents identified first as "Arab" or "Palestinian."[3]
This shift can be attributed to solidarity with Palestinian leaders who are Muslims, as well as the fact that Palestinians often associate modern Christianity with the United States' support of Israel and Zionism. Feeling betrayed by their co-religionists, it is unsurprising that Palestinian Christians feel a closer allegiance to their Muslim neighbors than to Christians in the West. Their grim outlook is confirmed by the shrinking figures of the local Palestinian Christian population, which has decreased from some 350,000 in 1948 to a current estimate of 175,650.[4]
To understand how Palestinian Christians perceive their identity today, it is important first to explore this community's past. Where did the Palestinian Christian community come from? How has it interacted with Islam in the Holy Land in the past? And most important, what are its prospects for a sustainable future in the region?
After Pentecost
Palestinian Christians point to Pentecost's miraculous occurrence in Jerusalem as the foundation for global Christianity, but also for Palestinian Christianity in particular.[5] In the apostolic era, local Christians were not yet identifiably Arab in character, despite the presence of a few Arab settled tribes; according to the biblical narrative they were a varied mix of Jews and Gentiles.[6] Taking control of Palestine[7] in 313 CE, the Byzantine Empire communicated a very clear vision of "right-believing" (Orthodox) Christianity and discouraged local doctrinal diversity. Though imperial rule helped Christian monasticism and scholarship flourish, Palestinians saw mainstream Christianity as influenced by Greek philosophy and tied to Greek cultural identity.[8] This experience characterized European Christianity as foreign, alien, and uninterested in the well-being of Christians in the Levant.
In contrast to this estrangement, Muslim rulers encouraged support for Christian institutions and healthy dialogue between the religions.[9] During the early Islamic years (about four centuries beginning with the conquest of Jerusalem in 638 CE), the Christian community in Palestine became linguistically and culturally Arabized. With the emphasis placed on cooperation and diversity by each local Muslim regime, it is not surprising that Palestinian Christians welcomed Islamic governance. Meanwhile, Palestinian estrangement from the West was only reinforced by the Crusades, which targeted many Palestinian Christians.[10]
As the centuries passed, Middle Eastern encounters with the West became more frequent, particularly political and cultural contact with Christians of a "missionary" or colonialist outlook. In response to these encounters with a foreign, Christian other, a movement called al-Nahda ("the Awakening") took place among Arab intellectuals in the second half of the 19th century. The advocates of al-Nahda dreamed of a common Arab identity with a "secular tone"—but considered Islam to be crucial to Arabs' self-concept.[11] This re-shaping and re-definition of Arab identity secured a privileged place for Islam and rejected Western Christian colonialism. In practice, though, this meant that intellectuals and governments could extend a warm policy of tolerance to Arab religious minorities, allowing them to participate in public life. This precedent for Muslim-Christian cooperation is essential to understanding how Christians operate in modern Palestinian society and politics.
Christians in Palestine Today
Today's Palestinian Christians are by no means a homogenous demographic. Approximately 41% are Greek Orthodox, 36% are Latin (Roman) Catholic, and 9% are Greek Catholic; the rest are either non-Chalcedonian Orthodox (Armenian, Coptic, Syrian) or Protestant (Anglican or Lutheran). Eighty percent are unaffiliated with any specific political party.[12] Their income and level of education tends to be above average when compared to other residents of the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip;[13] this may help explain why a proportionally high number of Palestinian emigrants are Christian.[14]
It is worth noting that there are Israeli citizens, in East Jerusalem and the rest of Israel proper, who are ethnically Arab and religiously Christian. In fact, Arab Christians make up a higher proportion of Israel's population than that of the Palestinian Territories.[15] Both groups — Palestinian and Arab Israeli Christians — are vocal in the public square.
For Palestinian Christians, a healthy relationship with their Muslim neighbors, politics aside, trumps allegiance to the Christian West, which has often "betrayed" its co-religionists by supporting the very state that threatens to drive them out. Western Christians see organizations like Hamas as irrevocably opposed to Christianity; in fact, Hamas leaders are comfortable sending their children to Christian schools.[16]
When it comes to relations with the Israeli government, local Christians face unique challenges. For Arab Israelis, loyalty to Israel has been slowly contradicted by Israel's growing tendency to officially define "Israeli-ness" on a racial and religious basis, not a political one. Christians' "spiritual link" to Judaism puts them in a difficult situation when antagonized by the Israeli authorities.[17] Christians who affirm their faith's spiritual heritage in the Abrahamic covenant can have trouble reconciling themselves to the Jews they see as violating their human rights.
The Promise and Peril of Identity
The dynamics of identity are changing very rapidly for all Palestinians. While Palestinian society is historically reputed for its secularity and generous pluralism, Muslim Palestinians are becoming more attached to their religious identity, augmenting the politicization of Islam.[18] This leaves Christians in the crossfire, and their impulse is to identify themselves foremost as Arabs and as Palestinians to ensure common ground with their neighbors, in the spirit of al-Nahda.[19]
Palestinian Christians place a high political priority on the restoration of a Palestinian homeland, and this stance requires alliance with Muslims in the region. As throughout Palestinian history, the dynamics of identity are also tied to political currents. Solidarity with the rest of the (predominantly Muslim) Palestinian populace is to the greatest advantage of the local Christian populace, and so their Arab and Palestinian self-image takes precedent over their Christian one.
There are therefore two forces leading Christians in the Holy Land to define themselves foremost as Arab and Palestinian. On the one hand, the rise of politicized Islam is pushing Christians away from their distinctiveness, and on the other, a desire to see their homeland intact has pulled them into allegiance with their Muslim neighbors in a pan-Arab spirit of solidarity.
If diluted distinctiveness threatens Christianity's presence in the Holy Land, what will the next generation of Christian Palestinians look like? We may see a new wave of assimilation, with Palestinians embracing Islam's dominance as the only hope for their homeland. This may entail actual conversion to Islam, or it may lead to an alienating, potentially fatal creep: as Muslims move toward religious identity and Christians move away from it, the two communities may come to share less and less in common, and the long-standing good relations between Palestinian Christians and their last strong ally may dissolve.
Theologically, many leading Palestinian Christian actors, such as the Sabeel Center, are moving toward a kind of Latin-American-style liberation theology, which while uplifting and inspiring for a people dealing with oppression, is a significant break with Christian tradition in the region. Liberation theology can often be confrontational in its exercise of righteous outrage. This movement toward a faith-based discourse of indignation is an understandable reflection of Palestinian Christians' crisis of faith, but another confrontational Palestinian voice may be a harmful, if indigenous, roadblock to reconciliation in the region.
Today, Palestinian Christians flourish in emigrant enclaves from Michigan to Australia. While maintaining an identity abroad may be a feasible solution for the short term, in the long term it almost always gives way to some form of assimilation or disappearance. Some Christians argue that assimilation and disappearance are not necessarily tragedies; some would even argue that an undue attachment to geography is encumbering, and that Palestinian Christians' preoccupation with an enduring presence in Jerusalem is restricting for global Christianity.[20]
Despite these concerns, Christianity's presence in the Holy Land may help change the way Westerners perceive the Arab-Israeli conflict. Palestinian Christians have the opportunity to serve as a mediator among actors in the region, rather than being caught in the crossfire. Aside from the historical and symbolic reasons for Christians to maintain a faithful presence in the Holy Land, a consistent and well-articulated indigenous Christian voice in the conflict can contribute another perspective that relies more on practical realities than ethno-religious rhetoric. Palestinian Christians know firsthand the damages wrought by ethnic pride and religious partisanship. If Christians in Palestine can present a united message and witness of the Gospel, they have the opportunity to bring a frank, radical spirit of reconciliation and brotherhood to the region.
[1] Donald E. Wagner, Dying in the Land of Promise (London: Melisende, 2001), 41.
[2] Riah Abu El-Assal, "Arab Christians: An Endangered Species," Jerusalemites.org, http://www.jerusalemites.org/jerusalem/christianity/2.htm (accessed 25 June 2010).
[3] Rania Al Qass Collings, Rifat Odeh Kassis, and Mitri Raheb, "Palestinian Christians: Facts, Figures, and Trends 2008" (Bethlehem: Diyar Consortium, 2008), 44, http://www.annadwa.org/en/media/pdf/pal_chr_booklet.pdf (accessed 25 June 2010).
[4] Collings, Kassis, and Raheb, "Palestinian Christians," 12.
[5] Remarks by Andrea Bartoli and Mubarak Awad, "Overcoming Violence: A Dialogue on Conflict Resolution in the Middle East," panel sponsored by the Institute for Global Engagement and Nyack College's Institute for Public Service & Policy Development, 20 May 2010, Washington, DC.
[6] Wagner, Dying in the Land of Promise, 47.
[7] The term as used here is derived from the Roman name for the province, Palestina, not as a contemporary political statement. This usage is consistent with Wagner, Dying in the Land of Promise, 19.
[8] Abu El-Assal, "Arab Christians."
[9] Wagner, Dying in the Land of Promise, 62-63.
[10] Ibid., 67.
[11] K. Luisa Gandolfo, "The Political and Social Identities of the Palestinian Christian Community in Jordan," The Middle East Journal 62, no. 3 (Summer 2008): 443.
[12] Collings, Kassis, and Raheb, "Palestinian Christians," 42.
[13] Bernard Sabella, "Palestinians and Christians: Challenges and Hopes," Al-Bushra, www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm (accessed 25 June 2010).
[14] Sarin Abado, "‘When did you become Christian?' Identity and perception of Christian Palestinians," Palestine Note, http://palestinenote.com/cs/blogs/blogs/archive/2010/01/10/when-did-you-become-christian-identity-and-perception-of-christian-palestinians.aspx (accessed 25 June 2010).
[15] Silvia Nicolau-Garcia, "Christian-Muslim relations in Palestine," Middle East Monitor, 24 June 2010, http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/briefing-papers/1208-christian-muslim-relations-in-palestine (accessed 26 June 2010).
[16] Nicolau-Garcia, "Christian-Muslim relations."
[17] Abado, "‘When did you become Christian?'"
[18] Aziz Abu Sarah, "Palestine between religion and secularism," Common Ground News Service, 4 February 2010, http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=27212&lan=en&sid=0&sp=0&isNew=1 (accessed 25 June 2010).
[19] "[H]e is not preaching ‘Christianity', he is rather ‘spreading the light of knowledge in his Palestinian nation'. Father Emanuel declares himself first an Arab, then a Palestinian, and then a Christian." Nicolau-Garcia, "Christian-Muslim relations."
[20] I have heard this opinion in personal contact with individual evangelicals, who cite John 4:20-24.