Prayers4Peace: The Legacy of former Ambassador Richard Murphy
By: Rubin McClain, Ambassador Warren Clark Fellow
To be human is to remember, honor, and reflect on the lives of those who preceded us and shaped the world around them in positive ways. Memorialization is the recognition of time’s transience and the relationships that hold communities together. The past becomes a mirror, helping us understand who we are, what we value, and how our shared stories become the trajectories of our future. It can also be a deeply spiritual act, inviting us to reflect on the lives of the “saints” who came before us and reminding us that we, too, can make a meaningful difference. The recent passing of Ambassador Richard Murphy, a longtime member and advocate with Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) through his service on the Leadership Council, invites this kind of reflection: what it means to leave behind a legacy and how others will continue on his path.
Born July 29, 1929, in Boston, Massachusetts, Murphy studied at Harvard and Cambridge before serving in the U.S. Army. He went on to have a storied career in the State Department’s Middle East Affairs Division. From 1955–68, his diplomatic work took him to Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe); Beirut, Lebanon; Aleppo, Syria; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Amman, Jordan. Between 1983 and 1989, he played a significant role in the Israel-Arab peace process. Over the course of his career, he received the President’s Service Award and the State Department’s Superior Honor Awards multiple times. From 1989 to 2004, he served as a Senior Fellow in the Council on Foreign Relations’ Middle East program. Ambassador Murphy also became a widely respected public commentator, sharing his expertise through media outlets such as NPR, CNN, the BBC, and FOX News, and contributing articles to the New York Times and the Washington Post. He passed away on November 22, 2024.
An essential aspect of Ambassador Murphy’s life was his service on CMEP’s Leadership Council. Alongside staff, interns, board members, and volunteers, CMEP’s work is strengthened by an esteemed group of retired diplomats, politicians, church leaders, and academics committed to sustained, long-term peace in the Middle East. Our Leadership Council provides essential guidance and insight, helping shape CMEP’s mission and public witness. Ambassador Murphy was a steadfast supporter of CMEP’s vision, carrying a resilient hope for peace in a region he dedicated his life to understanding and serving.
A key factor in Murphy’s role on CMEP’s team was his prior work in peacebuilding, characterized by his sober, penetrating analysis of the realities of the Israeli occupation. In a 2001 CNN interview, Murphy noted that the central obstacles in the peace talks, both at Camp David and at Taba, were the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem. He concluded the interview by emphasizing that peace could never be sustained through “intervention from outside the region,” but only through genuine collaboration between Israel and its neighbors. More than a decade later, in a 2014 conversation at the Brookings Doha Center with Ibrahim Fraihat, Murphy again reflected on U.S. policy in the Middle East, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. While he acknowledged the mistakes made by the Palestinian leadership, he highlighted the increasingly polarized Israeli political landscape. This rightward movement, he argued, had hardened attitudes, entrenched a more uncompromising posture, and normalized a comfort with the ongoing occupation of Palestinian territory.
The trajectory Murphy identified in 2001 and again in 2014 foreshadowed the conditions that preceded the atrocities of October 7th and the subsequent ethnic cleansing perpetuated by Israel. CMEP’s own central commitments echo Murphy’s incisive analysis, that any just and lasting resolution “must include an end to the violence, security for all peoples, an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and an agreement on Jerusalem that allows the city to be shared by the two peoples and three faiths.” CMEP’s Leadership Council was and is strengthened by the contributions of leaders like Murphy, whose long experience and willingness to name the deeper structural issues continue to help others see the problems embedded within the “conflict.”
For these reasons, and many others, we reflect on his distinguished career and his commitment as both a diplomat and a member of CMEP’s Leadership Council. His life embodied some of the best dimensions of humanity, the pursuit of peace in a world marked by conflict, and the belief that thoughtful, compassionate leadership can genuinely change the course of history.
Join us in Prayer:
O God,
We remember those lives that have shaped our world for the better,
And we give thanks for all who have labored faithfully for justice and peace.
Form our own lives in ways that honor you,
and let the compassion and perseverance shown by Ambassador Richard Murphy
inspire us toward the same hopeful work of reconciliation.
Grant us steadfast courage, boldness, and compassion
as we seek to serve you and pursue peace in our time.
Amen.
About the author:
Rubin McClain is an Ambassador Warren Clark Fellow (AWCF). He completed his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies at the University of Glasgow, holds a Th.M. in Biblical Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary, and an M.A. in New Testament from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. His research examines multiethnic identities in the Greco-Roman and New Testament world. He also focuses on the intersections of biblical studies, intersection of religion and politics, and the influence of Evangelical theology on perspectives of Israel and Palestine. Rubin has lived in northern Iraq, made frequent trips to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and is deeply committed to ecumenical and multifaith initiatives for peace. His work bridges academic research and public theology, seeking to equip Christian communities for informed, compassionate engagement in peacebuilding across religious and cultural divides.