In June 2011 a group of U.S. clergy, theologians and laypersons inaugurated a new movement for American Christians. The impetus for the formation of Kairos USA was the 2009 call of our Palestinian sisters and brothers in Christ to stand with them in their struggle for their fundamental human rights. In taking a bold, prophetic stand for justice in the Holy Land, we are also expressing our love for our sisters and brothers in Israel who for their entire history as a state have been suffering from the social, psychological and spiritual costs of militarization and war itself.
There is an urgent need to support nonviolent resistance to oppression on the part of Palestinian and Israeli civil society and to continue to build the growing international grassroots movement that will break the current political logjam.
We lift up the example of the 1985 South African Kairos document "Challenge to the Church" that called its own government and the church itself to rise up and name the evil of apartheid, signaling the beginning of the end of the system that had so poisoned their society.
We recall the central role of the church in the Civil Rights movement in our country, when the courage of African American pastors spread throughout the churches of our land, changing the political and social landscape of America.
Kairos USA is committed to the following goals:
- Provide a home for American Christians in their work for a just peace in Israel/Palestine, bridging the denominational, racial, and evangelical-mainline divides.
- Call for pilgrimages to the Holy Land that witness the suffering and connect with those working for peace.
- Disseminate the “Call to Action: a U.S. Christian response to the Palestine Kairos document.” This document will be accompanied by study materials for churches, schools and local groups and serve as a catalyst for conversation, learning, connection, and action
- Develop a contemporary theology of land, peoplehood and promise that will enable clergy, scholars and laypersons to better pursue open conversation, study, and positive action
- Connect denominations, congregations, and peace organizations here in the U.S., and link to Kairos movements across the globe
- Connect with congregations in Palestine and Israel, and with civil society organizations in the region working for peace and human dignity
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