In partnership with Boston University students, Where Mainstream Media Fails is a four-part series highlighting critical issues in underserved communities across Boston that have gone underreported. This series comments on how mainstream media continues to ignore or misrepresent Boston’s racially and ethnically diverse communities.
Each piece is merely a starting point for MA Latino News’ reporters, and hopefully other Boston-centered newsrooms, that inspires a deeper dive into complex issues that uniquely impact diverse and historically underrepresented communities across the city.
SPECIAL EDITION: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’
Rev. Carrie Ballenger awoke on a quiet Saturday morning to the constant beeping of her cell phone.
Hamas attackers in Israel killed about 1,200 people and took about 240 Israelis hostages, severing the last tenuous boundaries on Oct.7. Israel launched a massive war in response. The death toll continues to rise with more than 33,000 Palestinians dying in the war in Gaza through April, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Emotions over the war are high, exposing widening divisions in an already fractured society. Israelis feel under attack while Palestinians feel harassed and unheard.
The initial news of the attacks pierced the heart of Ballenger, a Lutheran minister at Harvard University, as protests and prayers echoed in churches, mosques, and synagogues worldwide. The desolation she saw caused her to act.
So did Imam Ahmad Barry and Rabbi Alfred Benjamin. They all wanted the deaths to end.
Barry, who leads the Boston Islamic Interfaith Society in Roxbury, joined anti-war protesters.
Benjamin, serving in the only synagogue in Milton, invited local Muslims in town to a vigil denouncing terrorism.
Their quiet advocacy as faith leaders is long and storied. Clergy members are often among the first to agitate and advocate for peace. Faith leaders have led civil rights movements, pushed for fair treatment of the marginalized and, like today, joined anti-war protests and calls for unity. The war has tested many, including Latino evangelicals who have historically backed Israel, according to a recent Axios report.
Amid the region’s outcry against the Israel-Hamas war, Ballenger, Barry and Benjamin, who are not familiar with each other, are united in peace even though they were far apart on the issues involving Israel and Palestine.
Both Ballenger and Barry urge a ceasefire “to save lives, return all hostages, and deliver humanitarian aid to the region.”
Benjamin emphasizes the need for a ceasefire only when it is accompanied by the phrase “and the release of hostages.”
The mission for unity and peace feels heavy on their shoulders. Even though they are religious leaders, the politics of the war creep into their discourse.
When asked about the possibility of peace between Israel and Palestine, Ballenger admits uncertainty, noting that the relationship between Israel and Palestine has never been harmonious.
Recalling the words of Jesus spoken in the Sermon on the Mount, she said she is sure about one thing: Peace will never be achieved if the fighting continues.
“Blessed are the peacemakers,” she said.
A Christian Responds
The war in Gaza exploded in anguish, violence and despair across the world.
Cries for solidarity were lost in the chaos and suffering. Gradually, it became clear that even the most influential voices were subjected to criticism in the face of such an overwhelming conflict.
As tensions rose, so did the need for action. People continued speaking out and coming together to promote justice, and the overbearing need for peace sparked a chain reaction among faith leaders spanning different beliefs.
Ballenger, Barry and Benjamin said their response to the conflict was a continuation of their activism. Their profound need for action acted like a gravitational force, pulling them together around a common theme at a time when, ironically, the very conflict they are addressing is deeply rooted in religious differences.
On Good Friday in Boston, Ballenger and more than three dozen Massachusetts clergy members from several Christian churches joined hundreds of protesters at Faneuil Hall to demand peace. Adorned in purple scarves, the demonstrators held signs distributed by organizers.
“My faith demands ceasefire,” read one sign.
“Together Against Islamophobia and Anti-Semitims,’’ said another.
“No money for genocide,’’ a third sign read.
They demanded a ceasefire, urged more humanitarian aid in Gaza, and a return of the hostages.
Participants spanned all ages, from elderly to newborn babies being breastfed on the nearest benches. They gathered for over an hour. Facing them hung a large soft purple and white banner that stood like a solid shield against the crisp wind at the square across the City Hall.
Speakers said Christians have not been vocal about their opposition to the Gaza war and urged them to speak out more.
During the protest, a giant metal cross circulated among the attendees, its flowy satin purple ribbons gently hugging its outstretched arms. Ballenger’s yellow jacket stood out of the crowd.
“This did not start on Oct. 7. We started 75 years ago,” Ballenger said in her speech before the march. “There has been an occupation that has been lasting for far too long and we have been looking away and we dare not look away any longer.”
Ballenger became pastor at University Lutheran in August 2022 after spending years traveling the United States and the Middle East.
She had lived in Israel and Palestine, and worked in the Middle East in the early years of her ministry as a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s global network. She attended churches in the West Bank and oversaw holy communion, baptisms and funerals.
Ballenger, now a chaplain at Harvard, said she discovered the strength and potential of the Christian voice to bridge the gap between Jewish Israelis and Muslim Palestinians
At home in Boston recently, she recalls her garden in Jerusalem that is now a distant memory.
She wants to revive the garden, decorating it with plants that occupy the corners and ceilings of her home.
As she shares her thoughts via Zoom recently, Ballenger’s cat, George, interjects himself curiously, pulling her out of the warmth of her past life and back into the present — a world full of scars.
An Imam’s Prayer
As Boston’s Christian community spoke out, the Muslim community was uneasy.
Barry, the imam in Roxbury, said he felt concerned, worried and desperate when the war began. “I know that so many lives are going to be taken,’’ he added in a Zoom interview.
Barry finds consolation in prayer.
“We say that Allah, my lord, please bring peace [to] Palestine,” he said. “Please stop this genocide, please bring peace between the countries, please bring peace to the world, please bring peace to the communities.”
If the roles in this situation were reversed, he said he would still be on the side of justice and against the killing.
“[It] doesn’t matter Muslims or Jews, we are human beings and are not supposed to take the life of any innocent being,” Barry said. “So I am 100% against it.”
Originating from Senegal, Barry has called the suburban city of Randolph home for nearly 33 years. He volunteers at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center and Masjid Al-Quran, a mosque in Boston and engages in interfaith dialogues with Christians and Jews.
He cited the lack of transparency about what is really happening in Gaza and the rest of the Middle East. He uses people on the mosque’s social media platform to speak out about the true nature of Islam and spark interfaith dialogues among Muslims, Jews and Christians.
His goal is to reshape perceptions around Islam, and his sermons aim to break down barriers.
Barry said his perspective is rooted in the belief that if everyone is united against the violence in the Middle East, that could expedite the process of peace.
Remember The Hostages, Rabbi Urges
“How can you forget the hostages?” said Benjamin, the Milton rabbi.
Benjamin said that most people screaming ceasefire slogans sometimes ignore the people who were attacked and taken from Israel.
He said people forget because they were only exposed to the suffering in Gaza in the media, and not for the hostages taken by Hamas.
Benjamin recalls God’s conversation with Abraham in the Hebrew Bible, “Be a blessing.”
He advises the people around him not to weigh everything on faith, but rather on how to be a blessing in the world.
“That doesn’t involve faith,” he said. “It involves a commitment to Judaism.”
He held a vigil in Milton the week after Oct. 7 to disavow terrorism and demand the return of the hostages.
But Benjamin said he felt alone as he watched those who he once considered progressive allies walk away. He said he was disheartened to hear members of the LGBTQ+ community, for instance, seemingly praising Hamas and protesters using slogans seen as hostile to Israel.
“I want there to be a peaceful coexistence between Jewish people and Palestinian people,” said Benjamin. “But when a person says ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ that means they want to destroy the state of Israel, that they do not want Jewish people to live in our ancient homeland and that is a level of hatred and unacceptance. That is religious fanaticism. As we saw from the Hamas attack, any kind of fanaticism is so dangerous.”
Benjamin grew up in a “not very traditional family.” His thirst to learn more about Judaism was “like a cup that you realize you want to fill up.” He studied child development at Ohio State University and later, enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he traveled between seminaries in New York and Jerusalem for a six-year immersive study as a child therapist.
During his time in rabbinical school, all Benjamin had to do to bridge the gap between Judaism and Christianity was cross the street.
“I went to school across the street at the Christian seminary,” he said. “I should know a lot about what Christians believe.”
Benjamin initially spent eight years as an assistant and associate rabbi at a synagogue in New Jersey. He moved to Israel and became an Israeli citizen. His time in rabbinical school turned him into a tour guide in Israel for four years, as he assisted both Jewish and Christian congregations.
In 2008, he moved to Milton, which has a small but civically active Jewish community. Benjamin is the rabbi in the only synagogue in town.
The synagogue ensures the doors are open to other residents throughout the town, regardless of their religious affiliation.
But since the war began, Benjamin said he and Milton’s Jewish community is now “feeling the sense of being under attack.”
He said he feels helpless about how to navigate the situation.
“There’s nothing you can do differently that can make them stop hating,” the rabbi said.
He began inviting Muslim residents in the town to speak in his synagogue.
“When there’s pain going on, we know it’s not just us,” he said.
The Muslims who spoke recently delivered three agreed-upon messages: “Terrorism is unacceptable,” he said, “What happened on October 7 was evil, and Israelis and Palestinians deserve, both deserve to live in peace and dignity.”
Beacons Of Hope
Ballenger, Barry, and Benjamin attended different vigils though not together.
At times, a ceasefire seems out of reach, and the road ahead is full of storms.
Both Barry and Benjamin hope for Arab countries to intervene to help end the conflict. Ballenger also has hope for peace.
“Nobody thought that the Berlin Wall would fall. And it fell really fast. When it happened it was like boom, boom, boom,” said Ballenger, snapping her fingers as she spoke.
She said people should remove the wall standing between the two countries and pave As the war in Gaza rages, three faith leaders — a pastor, imam and rabbi — share their prayers, activism and cries for peace: the way to a new peaceful future.
This article is part of a student reporting series that highlights stories in underrepresented communities that are not covered in mainstream media. Student reporters were part of Professor Meghan Irons’ Reporting in Depth class at Boston University.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of Angeliki Michalou, who co-authored this piece.
Angeliki Michalou is a senior journalism student at Boston University, originally from Athens, Greece—the birthplace of democracy. Growing up in a country with such a rich democratic heritage has instilled in her a deep commitment to democracy, righteousness, and an unwavering dedication to uncovering the truth. She hopes to focus on conflict journalism, aiming to amplify the voices of her community and beyond. Her newsroom-style classes, internships and international background shape her journalistic aspirations, upholding the highest standards of credibility and ethical reporting.
Wanheng Jiang is a senior journalism student at Boston University. As a gay man from Beijing, China, his growing experience has led him to use words to help speak out for minorities. He hopes to continue writing news stories to advocate for his community and gain recognition from his family for his identity. In his free time, he enjoys photography and cooking Chinese food.