Source: National Council of Churches
http://www.ncccusa.org/news/04holylandchristians.html
On May 7, 2004 the National Council of Churches issued a press release that reported, "Fifty leaders of evangelical and mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches and church-related organizations in the U.S., including National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar, today delivered a letter to President Bush asking for a full understanding of 'the crisis in the Holy Land confronting Christian Palestinians, Christian institutions, and those who wish to visit the birthplace of Christianity.' Stating that the 'churches have directed their concerns to the Israeli government but to little avail,' the church leaders appealed for the President’s intervention to help restore the normal functioning of Christian institutions in Israel and the Occupied Territories and claimed that 'it is generally acknowledged that relations of the churches and these institutions with the Israeli government may be the worst they have ever been.' The letter addressed the church leaders’ concerns specifically regarding the effects of the separation barrier being constructed by Israel, taxation issues that may force some church institutions to close due to the removal of their longstanding tax-exempt status, and 'the denial and delay of visas, by Israel, for clergy and church personnel result[ing] in understaffed seminaries, churches, hospitals, education and other institutions.'"