Baylor actions in response to Israel-Hamas conflict

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff:

Baylor University is blessed to be comprised of students, faculty, and staff from a diversity of religious backgrounds – including Jewish and other faiths.

We accept that no institutional words or deeds can erase the unfathomable pain and sorrow many of you feel because of the horrible Hamas terror attacks in Israel and the Gaza Strip. These attacks have been senselessly carried out on thousands of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilian men, women and children – creating a devastating humanitarian crisis in the process.

Our response to these atrocities is grounded in our commitment to love our neighbors as ourselves and to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service.

• As a Christian research institution, we believe we have a responsibility to teach. Therefore, on Wednesday in the Barfield Drawing Room at 3:30 p.m., we will provide Baylor students, faculty, and staff with an opportunity to learn and understand the political, historical, and religious context to the war now being waged.


• In addition, at Baylor we believe in prayer, and on Thursday in Elliston Chapel at 4 p.m., we will hold a Prayers for Peace gathering for those impacted by this conflict. Led by University Chaplain and Dean of Spiritual Life, Dr. Burt Burleson, this will be a time for reflection and support for those around us.


• If you need additional support in helping personally manage these terrible events, we strongly encourage you to contact the Counseling Center or the University Chaplain.


• Finally, in solidarity with a fellow faith-based institution, we have signed onto the Yeshiva University statement against Hamas:
  
  We Stand Together with Israel Against Hamas
  
  “We are horrified and sickened by the brutality and inhumanity of Hamas. Murdering innocent civilians including babies and children, raping women and taking the elderly as hostages are not the actions of political disagreement but the actions of hate and terrorism. The basis of all universities is a pursuit of truth and it is times like these that require moral clarity. Like the fight against ISIS, the fight against Hamas is a fight against evil. We, the presidents of universities across the United States of America and the world, stand with Israel, with the Palestinians who suffer under Hamas’s cruel rule in Gaza and with all people of moral conscience."

We know these are indescribably challenging days for the Baylor Family, and in this moment, we weep with those who weep and look forward to a day when the Lord will make peace our governor and when violence will no longer be heard in our world, ever heeding Christ’s words: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

Sincerely,

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
President