Evangelical leaders push for evenhanded policy

WASHINGTON — Several dozen evangelical leaders have signed a letter to President Bush urging an “evenhanded U.S. policy toward Israelis and Palestinians” and saying the religious right’s blanket support of Israel is not affirmed by all evangelicals.

“An evenhanded U.S. policy toward Israelis and Palestinians does not give a blank check to either side, nor does it bless violence by either side,” 43 leaders wrote in a July 2 letter to the president.

Signatories included Clive Calver, president of World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals; Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.; David Neff, editor of Christianity Today magazine; Eugene Rivers, special assistant to the president of the Pan-African Charismatic Evangelical Congress; and Ronald J. Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action.