NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Actress Patricia Heaton, known for her roles in Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle, took a public stand against rising antisemitism in America by starting her own nonprofit, the October 7 Coalition (O7C).
Heaton, who lives in Nashville, founded O7C as a Christian grassroots group meant to serve as a network for Christians and pastors to take public stands against antisemitism in the U.S. Heaton and the group have been involved in protests against antisemitism, like at Columbia University which has previously been embattled by anti-Israel demonstrations and encampments by students.
“When I saw what had happened on October 7, I was so astonished by the horror of it, that I assumed that all of America would be up in arms over what had happened in Israel,” Heaton told The Tennessee Star in an in-person interview about the reasons for her involvement on this issue. “And I didn’t really see it.”
O7C has partnered with middle Tennessee area Christian churches and hosted events in Nashville like its live screening of bodycam footage of Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attacks. Heaton said she believed Christians in Nashville need to see what is happening and Israel and have to have a way to take public stands for Israel amid the Hamas conflict.
Hamas supporters in the U.S. are loud, vocal, and organized, and those who support Israel must make themselves heard in response, Heaton said.
Part of the initiative, she said, is also building bridges between “siloed” local Christian and Jewish communities. One example of this is O7C’s sponsorship of a Jewish musical project called the Promise Sessions, a platform for Israeli artists to collaborate and share their music using the resources of Nashville’s music community.
O7C also hosted a unity dinner earlier this month among Christian leaders and Rabbis in Nashville to foster ties between the two communities.
“So it was just to give our Jewish community a sense of safety and security here because our goal is to make Nashville the safest place in the country for Jews to live,” Heaton said.
Heaton told The Star she has no ties to Israel as an Irish Catholic from the U.S., but the footage she saw of the October 7 attacks profoundly affected her.
“I just felt like any normal person would want to do something,” she said. “I don’t feel like this is anything special. I feel like everybody should be up in arms and doing something about this.”
Heaton said O7C has plans to expand to other places in the country that could benefit from having a platform for Christians to visibly condemn antisemitism.
Something anyone who wants to help can do, Heaton said, is to visit the Bring Them Home Now website, which displays the names, ages, and images of hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attacks, and print out pictures of the hostages to share with others to pray for them.
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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X/Twitter.
Photo “Patricia Heaton Stands with Israel” by Patricia Heaton.
