Religion without ethical responsibility is like a murdered man whose devious relatives continue to cash in on his social security allowances. It is a sham. I am not judging any religion here, only the usurpers who abuse it, and the so-called faithful who let them get away with it.
Many religious hierarchies now are more concerned with appearances and authority than with the kindness that may have been at the heart of the original message of their founders. Many are more intent on condemning people because of whom they choose to be consensually intimate with, than about whom they allow to be killed; and they are more obsessed about having you grovel to the god on paper, than to respecting that divine spark within every living soul.
The response of religious establishments to the ongoing slaughter in Gaza is a prime example of this.
The genocide in Gaza is not only one of the most brutal in history, it is one that is being livestreamed before our very eyes like no other. And yet, the silence of religious leaders is deafening. They seem to give credence to Jean Rostand’s famous 1938 quote: “Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a God”.
They seem to treat the crimes of conquerors as being beyond the scope of current religious concern despite the millions or billions of individuals who bolster these power hubs. Moreover, these very individuals are the people who make up their own ranks as well. Not only are “the faithful” allowed to feed the State monsters that wreak havoc and destruction, they are sometimes even encouraged to do so, as is the case with Putin ally, Patriarch Kirill, who brazenly supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Chief Rabbi of France, Haim Korsia, who praises Israeli actions in Gaza and urged Israel to “finish the job”.
The main threat to religions nowadays is not conquest or heresy, but the dying empathy of its leaders.
The genocide in Gaza, of course, has left Judaism most at risk. In a brilliant interview with Middle East Eye, Israeli medievalist, military historian and science writer, Yuval Noah Harari has warned that Israel’s worship of power is creating a “spiritual catastrophe” for Judaism which could “void 2,000 years of Jewish thinking and culture and existence”.
In other words, Israel’s current trajectory is leading it towards the emergence of a Judaism without a soul. Many Jews, such as Hungarian-born Canadian physician and holocaust survivor Gabor Maté and British/Australian actress Miriam Margolyes, and some Jewish organisations, such as the Jewish Voice for Peace and Neturei Karta, are aware of how Zionism has hijacked their religion and they are boldly fighting back.
Indeed, faithful from other religions, who are equally appalled at the indifference of their leaders, are also speaking out, not necessarily against their leaders, but at least against the genocide, like Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna, who, during a service on the eve of the Assumption on August 14, read out the names of every child who died in Gaza and Israel since 7 October 2023.
Although he started with the names of the 16 Israeli children who died during the 7 October Hamas attack (as if to give some equivalency to his position), his subsequent reading of the names of the 12,211 Palestinian children killed by Israel until July 25, 2025 took over seven hours to read and was clearly an indictment of the mass murderers of children.
Our research team has identified five main categories: one the one hand, those religious leaders who boldly support the genocide, then those who are more subtle in their support of it and finally those who are indifferent to it; while on the other, those who openly condemn it and those who oppose it only in the most veiled terms.
The cheerleaders of war and the shepherds of silence
The prime culprits when it comes to cheerleading are certain Chief Rabbis and Evangelical Ministers.
When, in a recent interview with The Times of Israel, Rabbi Kalman Meir Ber, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel and President of the Chief Rabbinate Council, was asked whether the campaign in Gaza should be considered as a milhemet mitzvah, that is, a divinely sanctioned war that Jews are obligated to fight, he answered that there was no doubt about it.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Hacham David Yosef who is the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel. Last November, he went as far as confronting Pope Francis and accusing him of “taking the side of murderers and not the victims.”
This support for Israel’s offensive is echoed by Rabbis across the globe, such as Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who serves as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. Last June he defended the IDF stating, contrary to all the facts, that “Israel was fighting a war in the most ethical manner.”
Is it any wonder, then, that the slaughter continues unabated? When such is the stance of the religious establishment and the Israeli government, even silence becomes complicity. This silence hums in synagogues around the world as thousands of innocents perish.
The silence emanating from other religious heads is not quite the same, as the respective hierarchies are not openly fuelling the war with incendiary words. Nevertheless, the indifference is far from innocent. When people in power, especially those with moral standing, and a voice that is heard owing to their position, merely look on as innocents are massacred, they become guilty of acquiescence in the face of violence and injustice.
This is particularly the case in the East, where various creeds plod on as though faraway barbarities belong to different worlds. Although Hinduism is diverse and decentralised, without a single supreme religious authority, it has many spiritual teachers, gurus and leaders across different traditions, such as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma), the Shankaracharyas, Swami Avdheshanand Giri, Swami Chidanand Saraswati, Radhanath Swami, Swami Tejomayananda and Sadhguru (Jaggi Vasudev).
To date, none of these, apart from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Founder of the Art of Living Foundation), as far as our sources can tell, have publicly issued statements condemning the slaughter in Gaza. Sadhguru, however, defended his indifference to the situation in Gaza by stating in an interview that he does not take sides in war: “because I’m against war. … war is wrong. Who is right, who is wrong doesn’t arise.” I wonder if he feels the same about rape.
The Indian Government too, which is affiliated with Hindu nationalist ideology has been turning a blind eye and even cosying up to Israel. In a June article in The Hindu, grandee Sonia Gandhi highlighted the betrayal:
“New Delhi’s silence on the devastation in Gaza and now on the unprovoked escalation against Iran reflects a disturbing departure from our moral and diplomatic traditions. This represents not just a loss of voice but also a surrender of values.”
Eastern Buddhist leaders also appear to be keeping a low profile with regards to the onslaught on Gaza, with the most renowned leader, 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), who also happens to be Nobel Peace Prize laureate, acting as though he is totally oblivious to the atrocities being carried out by Israel.
Thankfully, Western Buddhist societies have been more vocal , such as One Earth Sangha and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and their proactive concern has spared Buddhist establishments from blanket condemnation.
Evangelical ministers have been particularly belligerent, although their motivation is perhaps even more sinister. The National Association of Evangelicals, however, has recently become more cautious in its support for Israel and quoting Psalm 146 on its website, calls for “provision of urgently needed humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza”.
Nevertheless, Christian Zionism remains entrenched, especially in the US. William Franklin Graham III, the son of Billy Graham, who is president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and one of the most prominent US Evangelists, met with Prime Minister Netanyahu early on during the intensifying of the Israeli onslaught to pledge his full support. In so doing, he likened the Palestinian side to “the Devil” and the conflict a battle between good and evil.
With the encouragement or acceptance of genocide becoming a new normal, Antonio Gramsci’s disturbing words resonate once more: “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.”
Pussyfooting around a genocide
On August 11, Madonna posted an Instagram message to Pope Leo XIV urging him to go to Gaza to take his light “to the children before it is too late.”
However, unlike Pope Francis who did occasionally stick his neck out to call out the “cruelty” of Israel, Pope Leo is behaving even less effectively than Pope Pius XII did during the holocaust. His relatively few public statements have focussed solely on the victims, while never challenging the perpetrators for their death and torment.
Leaders of other Christian denominations may not be tearing their garments in horror at Israel’s atrocities, but as the Head of the largest Christian denomination, and a media darling, the Pope has a privileged position.
He is always under the spotlight and could be making life very uncomfortable for the genocidaires; but while journalists are dying by the dozen in order to highlight Israel’s crimes, the Pope errs on the side of caution, behaving more like our gormless politicians than a leader of a religion whose main message is to love one’s neighbour as one’s self.
During this madness, it is the voices and actions of the likes of Francesca Albanese and Greta Thunberg that remind us that we are not alone in our outrage; it is the selfless deed of a 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell. It is ironic that a star called Madonna, should be prodding a Pope whose pontifical name means lion, to show courage; it is tragic that the lion sleeps tonight.
Religion is what religion does
Islamic leaders have been more outspoken against Israel’s crimes. Cynics may claim that this is just Muslim solidarity, but if that were the case, we should have also witnessed it from the Heads of Muslim-majority countries, which differ significantly in their level of approach, ranging from the mostly tepid response of North African countries to the complete ban of Israeli passport holders from the Maldives.
Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed El-Tayeb, who is the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, has been condemning the genocide tirelessly from the start. Sadly, however, even he had to buckle somewhat under pressure, when a 22 July statement condemning Israel for the genocide had to be withdrawn after threats from the Egyptian government. Part of the statement targeted Israel’s backers:
“Anyone who provides this entity with weapons, supports it through political resolutions, or offers hypocritical words of encouragement is a partner in this genocide…”
Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh, the current Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has been remarkably silent on the issue.
His involvement appeared to have stopped at a condemnation of the October Hamas attacks in the strongest terms possible, although even these comments were swiftly debunked as false and fabricated by the Saudi publication Inside the Harama and the fact-checking website Misbar.
Still, several Muslim councils and institutions have spoken out unequivocally. These include: the Muslim Council of Britain, the Council on American–Islamic Relations, U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations and the GCC Ministerial Council (Gulf Cooperation Council).
Despite the reassurance of these positive voices, they are still too few and far between. At the very least, religious leaders and organisations should be more vocal and proactive in their own spheres and call for the justice and respect that they exist to promote.
Ideally, however, they should set aside their differences in the face of these atrocities and issue a joint statement condemning them.
In the words Martin Luther King, Jr: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
- UN-aligned will be setting up a work party toward getting something like the joint statement done. If you are interested in getting involved in this project, please email us.
- Additional research for this article was provided by our interns, Savannah Schwarz and Sabih Abdul.
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