1. Unwavering Nonviolence

Every speaker affirmed an explicit, emphatic commitment to nonviolence. This was the unwavering consensus.

Recall the grim context. We heard again and again about Israel's devastation of Gaza, including the killing of around 20,000 Palestinian children and the destruction of Gaza's hospitals, schools, and homes. But I didn't hear a single call for violence. I didn't hear a single attempt to justify violence, whether with the Bible, theology, or political philosophy. I didn't hear a single defense of Hamas's violence on October 7th.

Again and again, all violence was condemned as a betrayal of Jesus' teaching and our shared hope for a better future. Several speakers went out of their way to condemn the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who was a prominent supporter of Israel’s war against Gaza. A full workshop was dedicated to helping attendees wrestle with violent passages in the Bible and to disarm these verses as followers of Jesus – not to deploy them.

To be clear, this was no tame nonviolence. We repeatedly heard the call to condemn injustice, to disrupt oppression, and to struggle for our shared flourishing, even if it gets us into "good trouble" as John Lewis said. The drumbeat was to claim our responsibility and act. But violence had no role in this vision of liberation. None.