The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope

  BREAKING SILENCE ABOUT THE HATEFUL FAITH OF U.S.-ISRAELI ZIONISM, SETTLER COLONIALISM, APARTHEID, WHITE SUPREMACY, XENOPHOBIA,  AND VIOLENCE AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN THE “HOLY LAND” In the U.S.-funded and sponsored project to dispossess the indigenous Palestinians, we are witnessing an overt and bald expression of white supremacy, racism, Anglo-European imperialism, settler colonialism, apartheid, genocide, and xenophobia. Zionism has historically played and continues to play a key role in the crimes committed against the Palestinian people by Israel and its supporters in the West. Expressing itself potently in Christianity from the time of the Reformation to the present day, and more recently in Judaism, Zionism has propelled and served to legitimate the actions of our government and other Western powers to support Israel’s project of colonialism and ethnic cleansing.   Both forms of Zionism betray the values of love, compassion and equality that are fundamental to their respective f

  ©Wendell Griffen, 2024 I am a public theologian, pastor in the religion of Jesus, retired jurist, legal scholar, activist for peace and justice, and cultural competency and inclusion consultant who has written and spoken publicly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [1] I now offer my latest and most extensive judgment about the impact of the hateful faith of U.S./Jewish Zionism, white supremacy, racism, Anglo-European imperialism, settler colonialism, apartheid, genocide, and xenophobia on Palestinians, other people of African descent in Palestine and Israel, and on the Muslims, Christians, and persons of other faiths in the region of Africa between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that is called “the Holy Land.” The United States government has invested over $150 billion in foreign aid to Israel since 1948. Israel has used that money to arm its military and depopulate indigenous Palestinians from Palestine, Zionist Christian and Jewish settler colonies in Palest

  ©Wendell Griffen, 2024 Early voting for the Arkansas primary elections begins February 20 across Arkansas, and March 5 is Election Day.   So, candidates are working hard to attract attention and influence voting decisions by voters. This essay is my effort to inform voters in Arkansas about election contests involving candidates for positions on the Arkansas Supreme Court, Arkansas Court of Appeals, circuit courts, and district judges. Because judicial candidates are the least well known of all political office contenders those of us who understand what judges do must help voters decide whether to support certain candidates over others. I have been a licensed attorney in Arkansas since 1979. I am also a retired state court judge who served on the Arkansas Court of Appeals (from 1996 through 2008) and as a Circuit Judge (from 2011 through 2022). I taught law   at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law from 2009 through 2011. I share this information so rea