Influential group of black churches push for cease-fire in Gaza as Pelosi calls it ‘Putin’s message’

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Monday, January 29, 2024 Jamal Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, speaks during the “Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” protest against racism and police brutality, on August 28, 2020, in Washington, D.C. | AFP via Getty Images/Jacquelyn Martin An influential group of more than 1,000 black pastors with thousands of congregants are calling on President Joe Biden and his administration to push for a cease-fire in Gaza as the war between Israel and Hamas deepens, but former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the call for a ceasefire is the message of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Black faith leaders are extremely disappointed in the Biden administration on this issue,” the Rev. Timothy McDonald, senior pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta, which has more than 1,500 members, told the New York Times. “We are afraid,” said McDonald who was one of the first pastors of more than 200 black clergy in Georgia to sign an open letter calling for a cease-fire. “And we’ve talked about it — it’s going to be very hard to persuade our people to go back to the polls and vote for Biden.” The call...