Mark Lewis Taylor, a professor of theology and culture at Princeton Theological Seminary, blamed U.S. churches for not calling Israeli aggression what it is-in his terms, “slaughter.” In a guest commentary published Thursday by RNS, Taylor says:

“With few exceptions (a statement from the United Church of Christ, and occasional notes about Israel’s “disproportionate” response from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and others), U.S. churches concentrate on general laments about escalating violence. Such laments that grieve for the men, women and children on all sides are surely the right place to start, but it cannot be the place to stop.”

He continues:

“Where are the U.S. churches? They are often silent. Too many churches are in lockstep with growing Christian Zionist movements, exchanging faith in the God of Jesus Christ for a nationalist loyalty to an imperial Pax Americana/Israelica, thus giving a blank check to U.S. and Israeli governments’ attack policies.

“Too many U.S. Christian Zionists imitate Islamist fundamentalists, seizing upon sacred texts to justify a messianic apocalypticism, leading them to welcome wars as prelude to their fantasies of end-times salvation and damnation. And too many other U.S. Christians seem silent from fear that their criticism of Israel will bring charges of anti-Semitism. Yes, anti-Semitism is a destructive force that often gives birth to other racist bigotries, and it must be resisted. But criticizing Israel’s attack policies, or U.S. support of Israel, is not anti-Semitism. Yes, churches, we can and must say this.”

In response, Dan Webster and Pat Pattillo over at the National Council of Churches fired back, blaming Taylor for not recognizing the statements the NCC and others have made, as well as the media for not paying attention:

Webster goes first:

Since July 14 the National Council of Churches USA has been regularly updating our website with statements from numerous churches and church organizations calling for immediate cease-fire, or an immediate cessation of hostilities. We have published the laments and well as the call for immediate steps to non-violence. If you visit www.councilofchurches.org today you will see a headline that reads: Church leaders appeal to all sides: stop the war. Right below that is a comprehensive list of other church statements since this war broke out. Some email responses have been very pointed. We have been called anti-Semitic and worse. It is my belief that many church leaders in this country and around the world have spoken up strongly and vocally for the killing to stop immediately. Unfortunately the secular media says that is an expected position of mainline Christian leaders so they concentrate their news coverage on Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and John Hagee who want this war to feed their distorted “end times” theology. We are making efforts to get our position-we believe it to be the majority Christian position-that God and Jesus are opposed to war, that there is no such thing as a holy war, and that God can take care of the ‘end times’ without human beings having to indiscriminately kill other human beings.

Pattillo then adds his 2 cents:

I’m not sure where you have been for the last three months, but your obvious ignorance of the statements by the Protestant and Orthodox church community regarding the Middle East situation came as a shock to many of us. Just this week, on the home page of the National Council of Churches (www.councilofchurches.org), is a generous sampling of those statements-had you simply taken time to look before writing your piece on “Where are the U.S. Churches?” for Religion News Service. You are aware, of course, that a virtual blackout on statements from the mainline Christian community exists in the media, who are interested in our opinions only when they address “pop culture” issues or reflect internal conflict. Discussion of more serious issues that critique public policy are largely ignored. As a result, much of our prophetic voice is muffled, confined to communication channels which we control. But you, as a well-positioned member of the mainline community, have full access to those channels, which makes your lack of information all the more surprising. If you had written a piece that concluded that the voice of the mainline Christian churches has not been heard in the public square because the media has not been reporting what the churches have said, that would have been an accurate-and helpful-commentary.

So who’s to blame? Depends on who you ask. From where I sit, there’s probably enough blame to go around-for the media who perhasps should pay closer attention to the NCC and other church statements, and from critics who see anything with the NCC logo as tainted.

Either way, it’s an interesting question.