Baptist Church in Bethlehem Declared Illegitimate By Palestinian Authority

3/14/2012
Dexter Van Zile

A week after Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told an audience of evangelical Protestants from across the world that his government respected the rights of its Christian minorities, officials from the Palestinian Authority (PA) have informed Bethlehem pastor Rev. Naim Khoury that his church lacked the authority to function as a religious institution under the PA.

The church can still gather to pray, for now, but the PA’s decision conveyed on Saturday will have a real impact on the members of First Baptist, which endured numerous bomb attacks during the First Intifada.

“They said that our legitimacy as a church from a governmental point of view is not approved,” said Khoury’s son, Steven, who serves as an assistant pastor at First Baptist. “They said they will not recognize any legal paper work from our church. That includes birth certificates, wedding certificates and death certificates. Children are not even considered to be legitimate if they don’t have recognized paperwork.” the rest