CNN Features Evangelical Leaders on Middle East

20 September 2007

20 September 2007 – IGE President Chris Seiple, Ron Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action and Rev. Joel Hunter of Northland Church are featured in a CNN International news story released today focusing on evangelicals who signed a letter to President Bush supporting a two-state solution in the Middle East. Jill Dougherty, CNN International’s U.S. Affairs Editor, reported on a new movement aimed to correct widespread views that all evangelicals are opposed to a two-state solution.

The letter, which was printed in the New York Times on July 27, asserts that "loving people (including Jews and the present State of Israel) does not mean withholding criticism when it is warranted." The letter’s signers also call on President Bush to provide robust leadership to push both Israelis and Palestinians to make the necessary compromises for a just, permanent, and peaceful solution. The signatories are committed to educating other Christians about the Israel-Palestine conflict as a human rights issue, and working to eradicate the perception held by many Muslims that evangelical Christians are strident and unforgiving.

The CNN story’s release comes only days after Secretary Rice’s visit to the Middle East to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Rice has been urging Abbas, Olmert and other regional leaders to commit to a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference scheduled for mid-November.

Last updated 29 November 1999