Biblical Peacemaking and Toxic Polarization: Three Years of Post-Oct 7th America

Three years after October 7th, what does Christian peacemaking look like in an age of polarization and war in the Holy Land? 

How do Christians faithfully live out biblical peacemaking – the call to pursue truth and love simultaneously and without exception – at a time when Americans remain deeply divided over events in the Middle East? The attack on October 7th and subsequent war in Gaza deepened divisions in the US, pitted many US Jewish and Muslim communities against each other, and exposed deeper challenges in institutions across the board. While the intensity of public protest and strife has lessened, the deeper questions remain: what have we learned? What did this era expose about American society and its institutions? And what is our roles as Christians now and in the future?

Andrew Hanauer is the President and CEO of the One America Movement, an organization founded by faith leaders to fight toxic polarization. One America supports faith leaders and faith communities to reject toxic forms of division and offer a moral vision that transcends our divisive and disconnected culture. Under Andrew’s leadership, the One America Movement has become one of the largest and fastest growing organizations combating division in American society, quintupling in size in the past three years.

Andrew is a frequent public speaker at houses of worship of all kinds and has represented One America before gatherings of the National Governors’ Association, Americorps, Points of Light, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and many more, and podcasts as wide ranging as Fuller Seminary and Islamic Relief USA. His work has been published or featured by USA Today, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, Salon, the Christian Citizen, and media outlets across the US.

When he is not fighting toxic polarization, Andrew is spending time with his family, coaching little league, rooting for the Golden State Warriors and Arkansas Razorbacks, and participating in small groups at his church.