Rev. Dr. Molly T. Marshall, President of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, shared the following message with students amidst the war between Israel and Hamas:
In the days following the brutal attack of Hamas on Israeli citizens, each of us has experienced many emotions of horror at the carnage of the violence. We also acknowledge the pent-up anger of marginalized Palestinians who bear insufferable conditions of displacement in their homeland.
War only escalates internecine suffering and makes rebuilding trust as well as a decimated infrastructure more difficult, and we stand against war.
Fundamentalist theology and white nationalism conspire to prompt standing with Israel as an unwavering national commitment. This stance must be interrogated and corrected. At United, we have Jewish students and adjunctive faculty, a professor whose ethnicity is Palestinian, and it is our desire to respect them all amidst the complexity of regional conflict generations old.
We believe that justice is necessary for peace, and it is our deepest longing to cultivate the sensibilities and skills that can contribute to human flourishing in our fragile and deeply connected world.
In service to the beloved community,
Molly T. Marshall
President