November 8, 2024
As part of Christianity Today’s “One Kingdom Campaign,” the publication is publishing stories illuminating the global church. Today, CT’s editors posted online the contributions from 22 evangelical leaders around the world about their reactions to US election results. The responses are segmented by region: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, the Middle East, and Oceania. Below, is a quote on Lebanon (Middle East section) that was written by 21Wilberforce President Wissam al-Saliby. If you would like to read the entire article here is the link at Christianitytoday.com
Lebanon
Wissam al-Saliby, president, 21Wilberforce
The people of my home country historically do not see much difference between the policies of Republicans and Democrats concerning Israel and Lebanon. However, many Lebanese in Lebanon and in the US supported the election of Donald Trump because they prefer the “unknown” of his presidency over the current administration’s policies, which have permitted the war in the Middle East to continue and to expand.
Regardless, this region is being emptied of its Christian population because of war—first Iraq, then Syria, and now Lebanon. Many of my friends and family have left. And the Palestinian Christians in the West Bank continue to lose their lands and livelihood to Israeli settlers.
We urgently need a peace process that addresses the genuine grievances and the injustice at the root of the conflict, and we’ve never had that to date.
Furthermore, the destruction of Gaza and now of large parts of Lebanon has badly eroded US credibility. If the US administration reached out to a Muslim-majority country to call out the persecution of Christians in that country, the answer they would hear is “First, stop the war in Gaza; then, come back and ask us about our own human rights record.”