Religious Studies Scholars Statement of Solidarity with the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement
Official Statement
As scholars of religion, ethics, theology, and/or scriptures, we embrace diversity, democratic accountability, inclusivity, human equality, justice, non-violent social change, critical reflection, and equal educational and occupational opportunities for all.
Because of these values, we stand in solidarity with Palestinians who cry out for justice in Israel and Palestine. We condemn the illegal occupation of their lands, violations of their human rights, and discriminatory laws that deny them equal educational and economic opportunities in Israel and Palestine.
We take ethical responsibility for our own ethnographic, archaeological, and archival research in Israel and Palestine, and we do not condone the use of such research to justify or normalize the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.
We pledge to defend freedom of expression, intellectual curiosity, engaged pedagogy, political commitment, and open scholarship for all, including Palestinian children and university students whose rights to an education are systematically violated. We embrace the right of all people, including those with whom we disagree, to make their voices known.
Affirming our own right to work for justice in Palestine, and remembering the power of non-violent social change in the U.S. civil rights movement and the international campaign against South African apartheid, we support the broad-based call of Palestinian civil society to boycott, divest from, and sanction the institutions–not the people–of the State of Israel until it meets its obligations under international law by:
- Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall;
- Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
- Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.
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Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs & Professor, Religion
Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Professor, Law
University of California Los Angeles School of Law
Carpenter Associate Professor , Feminist Theology
Vanderbilt Divinity School
Lecturer, University of California Berkeley and Professor , Islamic Law and Theology
Zaytuna College
Hermann P. and Sophia Taubman Professor , Talmudic Culture
University of California, Berkeley
Millennium Chair of Liberal Arts & Professor, Religious Studies
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor , Systematic Theology
Union Theological Seminary
Director of Youth Theological Initiative and Associate Professor, Candler School of Theology
Emory University
Professor, Religious Studies
University of Johannesburg
University Professor of Religion and International Affairs, Georgetown University
Past President, American Academy of Religion
Associate Professor, American Studies and Religious Studies
Yale University
Kenan Rifai Scholar of Islamic Studies & Associate Professor , Religious Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
King Faisal Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture & Professor, Religion
University of Southern California
Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies, St. Antony’s College
Oxford University
Associate Professor, African American Studies and Religious Studies
Northwestern University
Editor, Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies, Associate, Centre for Palestine Studies
University of London
Visiting Professor of Feminist Theory, Claremont School of Theology, Georgia Harkness Emerita Professor
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt Divinity School
Past President, American Academy of Religion
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
Arizona State University
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
Franklin and Marshall College
Professor, History
UC Irvine
Associate Professor, History
University of Illinois
Assistant Professor, Islamic Studies
American Islamic College
Director of Research, IIIT
International Institute of Islamic Thought (US)
associate professor, Religious Studies
UNO – retired
Visiting Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
Kenyon College
Associate Professor , Religion
Colorado College
Assistant Professor, Humanities and Religious Studies
California State University Sacramento
Assistant Professor , Religious Studies
Whittier College
Associate Professor, Religion
Concordia College
Associate Professor , Anthroplogy and Cross Cultural Studies
University of Houston-Clear Lake
Assistant professor, Religion
Middlebury
Visiting Professor, Candler School of Theology
Emory University
PhD Candidate, Graduate Program in Religion
Duke University
PhD Candidate, Graduate Program in Religion
Duke University
Associate Professor, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice
University of British Columbia
Professor of Religion and Humanities, Religion
Reed College
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law
University of Toronto
Research Fellow in Islamic Studies and History of Middle East, Religious Studies
Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Milan
Professorial Reseach Assocaite , Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Law
SOAS, Universityof London
Assistant Professor, Family Medicine/Graduate Division of Religious Studies
Boston University
Associate Professor, Theology
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Professor, Religious Studies
Kenyon College
Professor, Religion
Swarthmore College
Associate Professor, Religion
Florida State University
Professor, Religion
Rutgers University
Associate Professor , Religion and Social Justice and Peace Studies
King’s University College @ Western University
Associate Professor, Religious Studies
Vanderbilt University
Doctoral Candidate, Anthropology
Harvard University
Professor, Classics and Religious Studies
University of Ottawa
Professor, Philosophy and Christian Practice
Union Theological Seminary
Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization, School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
Research Professor of Catholic Studies, Center for World Christianity
New York Theological Seminary
Dr., WATER
Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual
Associate Professor, Religious Studies
University of North Carolina – Charlotte
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
University of Edinburgh, UK
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
University of Missouri
B.A., Religious Studies
Georgia State University
Visiting Scholar, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
University of Pennsylvania