News and Commentary.............
CNN Exposes Muslim-hating Christian Zionist, Walid Shoebat, as Fraud!! For the past five or six years this site has been putting up articles and videos indicating that Walid Shoebat, who has been claiming to be a "former terrorist" is not who he says he is, and that he has been using his phony credentials to spread a poisonous anti-Muslim message for huge speaker's fees. Unfortunately, despite a 2008 exposure by the Jerusalem Post, no other mainstream media source picked up the story. Now CNN's Anderson Cooper has done so. And what he and his colleagues at CNN have uncovered is devastating to Shoebat's credibility. Hopefully this will put an end to the fraud. Thanks, Anderson!! Link: "Ex-terrorist" rakes in Homeland Security Bucks: Why Egypt is a Problem for
Christian Zionists
The Kairos Palestine Document: A
Word of Faith, Hope and Love from the Heart
of Palestinian Suffering
A Confession of Faith and Cry of Hope from Palestinian Christians Longsuffering is a rich biblical word. It speaks of what it means to be faithful in a faithless world. For Palestinian Christians it is something more. It is a definition of their existence. It is also what allows them to maintain a powerful testimony that has an impact well beyond their numbers as their longsuffering-ness holds forth a vision for reconciliation and peace where others have slipped into a cynical resignation to conflict. This past week an historical meeting of Palestianian Christian leaders produced a document that echoes the faith commitments of courageous documents like the Barmen Declaration of the confessing German Church during WW II, or the anti-apartheid Belhar Confession. The Palestinian Christian document is called "The Kairos Palestine Document," the Greek word, kairos, speaking of a "ripe" moment in time. The document in its entirety, along with signatories, can be downloaded from the World Council of Churches site. Here is how it begins: IntroductionWe, a group of Christian Palestinians, after prayer, reflection and an exchange of opinion, cry out from within the suffering in our country, under the Israeli occupation, with a cry of hope in the absence of all hope, a cry full of prayer and faith in a God ever vigilant, in God’s divine providence for all the inhabitants of this land. Inspired by the mystery of God's love for all, the mystery of God’s divine presence in the history of all peoples and, in a particular way, in the history of our country, we proclaim our word based on our Christian faith and our sense of Palestinian belonging – a word of faith, hope and love. Why now? Because today we have reached a dead end in the tragedy of the Palestinian people. The decision-makers content themselves with managing the crisis rather than committing themselves to the serious task of finding a way to resolve it. The hearts of the faithful are filled with pain and with questioning: What is the international community doing? What are the political leaders in Palestine, in Israel and in the Arab world doing? What is the Church doing? The problem is not just a political one. It is a policy in which human beings are destroyed, and this must be of concern to the Church. We address ourselves to our brothers and sisters, members of our Churches in this land. We call out as Christians and as Palestinians to our religious and political leaders, to our Palestinian society and to the Israeli society, to the international community, and to our Christian brothers and sisters in the Churches around the world. CUFI, William Blackstone and Christian Zionist Colonialism |
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"In 1891, the Jewish people were under attack. Jewish towns and villages throughout Russia were being ransacked by violent, anti-Semitic mobs. Thousands of Jews had been killed in cold blood, and more attacks loomed. While most Americans ignored these bloody incidents, many religious Christians stepped forward and took action. Led by William Blackstone, a group of American Christians organized one of the first pro-Israel petitions in history decades before there even was a State of Israel! This petition, called the Blackstone Memorial, declared that the only way to stop the bloodshed was to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine to serve as a safe haven for persecuted Jews from Russia and around the world." - from the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) website * * * * Bombastic Pentecostal TV evangelist, John Hagee's pro-Israel lobby group, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is gearing up for their annual get out the troops rally in Washington this summer. Part of the preparation involves trying to get people to sign their "Israel Pledge." On the face of it the pledge is a simple declaration of support for a secure Israel. Nothing controversial here, as most all who are working for peace in Israel/Palestine have this as a key element of their agenda. We all work and pray for a day when Israelis and Palestinians can live together in peace either in one truly democratic republic or as equally viable political entities living side by side in mutual recognition. But CUFI's evocation of the 19th century Blackstone Memorial shows that CUFI's actual agenda is less peace for Israel than religiously - motivated colonialism. The author of the Blackstone Memorial was a wealthy, well-connected American fundamentalist named William Blackstone whose book, Jesus is Coming! was the first dispensationalist blockbuster. Following a story line that would later be lucratively mined by Hal Lindsey (Late Great Planet Earth) and Tim LaHaye (the Left Behind series) Blackstone believed that a Jewish state needed to be created in order to set in motion a series of events leading to the second coming of Christ. Many fundamentalists of the day believed this. What distinguished Blackstone's appeal was the "memorial" he created calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine six years before the first Zionist congress met in Basil, Switzerland to discuss the possibility. While ostensibly drawn up out of compassion for suffering Jews in Russia, in point of fact the basis for the memorial was Blackstone's End Times theology bound up in this case with the imperialistic spirit of the age which insisted on the right of western powers to impose their territorial demands on whomever they wished, in this case the inhabitants of what was at the time a province of the Ottoman Empire. Here is what the "memorial" said: “Why shall not the powers which under the treaty of Berlin, in 1878, gave Bulgaria to the Bulgarians and Serbia to the Serbians now give Palestine back to the Jews?…These provinces, as well as Romania, Montenegro, and Greece, were wrested from the Turks and given to their natural owners. Does not Palestine as rightfully belong to the Jews?” What should be noted here is that unlike
Serbia and Bulgaria which were being "given" back to people who
already lived in those countries, Palestine would be given (by
western powers) to people who didn't live there. In Blackstone's
mind Palestine did not belong to the people who actually lived
there. It belonged to European Jews who had never lived there.
It was their "right" to take this land and the western colonial
powers were the ones who were going to take it for them. All
this to help fundamentalist Americans Christians live out their
apocalyptic fantasies.
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Discovering Palestine
by the Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America
”I grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois. My family were members of South Park Church, whose main claim to historic fame may be that it dismissed Bill Hybels as its youth leader, sending him on his journey to found Willow Creek. Like most evangelical churches shaped after World War II, our church’s theology included the kind of interpretations of the “end times” found in Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind novels. I recall some of those complex charts on walls of Sunday school rooms with passages from Daniel and Revelation giving clues to current events and fueling expectations that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ was drawing near.
My dad was a business executive, and two of his associates—Wally Stolkin and Sid
Luckman, the former Chicago Bears quarterback—became close family friends. Wally and
Sid were both Jewish. So I first came to know the Jewish community as a child through
these relationships. I was theologically curious as a young boy. Like other evangelicals
in the 1950s, I would hear interpretations of world events that were pointing to Christ’s
return. Once, when I was probably 9 or 10, Mom was explaining to me how exciting it was
that the Jews were returning to Israel. This was concrete evidence that biblical
prophecies were being fulfilled and that the Second Coming was near. And I remember
asking, “When are Wally and Sid going to move there?”
This was the first time in my story that the theology of evangelical Zionism began
colliding with actual facts and relationships in my experience. That would happen many
more times. In 1970, I was working for Sen. Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon. He decided to take
a trip to the Middle East. As governor of Oregon, he had visited Israel more than once,
getting to know figures such as Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek, Golda Meir, and others. But
this time, he decided to visit a couple of Palestinian refugee camps in addition to
meeting with political leaders.
When he returned, he shared with me the powerful emotional and political impact his visits
to those refugee camps made on him. “There can never be peace,” he told me,
“without addressing the issue of justice for the Palestinians.” So he decided to
deliver a major speech on the Senate floor, and I began working on a draft. In that
speech, he said, “Voices of moderation are diminishing and polarization is
increasing. If voices that heretofore have been mollifying influences in the area are
further alienated, chances for peace in a rapidly escalating confrontation will be
severely curtailed.”
Forming relations with people of faith in the Holy Land could help transform the region
Sen. Hatfield was surprised, and so was I, by the attacks that followed. His exposure to
facts, experiences, and relationships on the ground in Israel and Palestine collided with
the standard political rhetoric around Israel and Christian Zionism at that time. He spoke
clearly out of his experience and proposed what that might mean for U.S. policy. Today his
measured words seem so painfully prophetic as we witness the tarnished and
catastrophically discredited image of the U.S. as a peacemaker in the Middle East.
I’VE TRIED TO REMEMBER when I first learned that there were Christians living in
Palestine and then met them. I know how strange that sounds. But the assumptions of
evangelical Zionism that infused my Christian upbringing made me predisposed as a young
person to believe that Israel was on the right side of any conflict. I didn’t know
the stories of Palestinians—and ironically, I didn’t really know the stories of
the Jews, but only the version of Jewish settlement in Israel interpreted through the lens
of Christian Zionism. As I learned the histories of these peoples, and navigated the
domestic U.S. politics of the Middle East conflict, I was struck by the contortions of
much evangelical theology as it was applied to these realities. I saw with alarm Israeli
political leaders co-opting evangelicals into religious sanction of territorial
aggression. When Menachem Begin and Pat Robertson were singing from the same hymnal about
Judea and Samaria as illegal settlements were being established on the West Bank,
Christian faith was being distorted and exploited for secular political agendas. Since the
1970s, Israeli settlements have continued to expand, to the point that today more than
425,000 Israelis live in occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank, including East
Jerusalem, creating a situation that implies an intentional permanent acquisition of
additional Palestinian land. In April 2004, the Bush administration reversed 35 years of
U.S. policy by endorsing the large Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East
Jerusalem, pre-emptively undermining peace negotiations on this point.
I came to know many Christians whose roots were formed in the soil of the Holy Land,
Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, whose churches had stood on that soil for centuries, and whose
families had worshipped there for generations, going back to the time Jesus Christ and the
apostles walked along those same hills. These relationships deepened the spiritual and
human bonds of fellowship with Christians in the region. These experiences also
underscored how most American Christians lack understanding of the historical continuity
of the Christian presence in the Middle East and are ignorant about the Christian churches
living in the Holy Land. This ignorance continues, impoverishing all Christians.
These facts, relationships, and experiences need to be nurtured and built, particularly
between Christian communities in the U.S. and the Middle East, in order to challenge and
overturn the dominant theological and political assumptions of U.S. Christians. We
emphasize today the priority of Christian-Muslim dialogue in our time, and I could not
agree more. But ironically, it’s actually Christian-Christian dialogue and
solidarity, between churches in the U.S. and the Middle East, that is so urgently needed,
almost as a prerequisite to Christian-Muslim relations. Here’s the point: The
experience of Christians struggling to witness, live, and simply survive in the Holy Land
today and throughout the Middle East can transform how Christians in the U.S. respond to
the effects of U.S. foreign policy in the region and to the theological expectations of
Christian Zionism. At some point in listening to this type of reflection, my Jewish
brothers and sisters will say, with passion and fervor, “What about our human
realities?” What about the innocent children on a bus whose body parts are scattered
by a suicide bomber? What about the farmers and villagers who are forced to live in
underground shelters or face the risk of random rockets that might fall on their lands and
homes? And what about the instinctive passion and joyful wonder experienced by Jews who
bond with the soil and land that has nurtured the roots of their religious culture and
identity as a people more than two millennia ago? Of course they are right. Of course the
task of the Christian is to enter, honor, cherish, and learn from the human experience of
all people, and to discover and to share God’s presence, God’s love, and God’s
justice in each situation. Further, we know that the relationship of Christians and Jews
carries such a particular and weighty significance, both because of the common roots of
our faith and because of the horrific history of Christian anti-Semitism.
Thus, it is deeply tragic for this relationship to be contaminated by the ideology of
evangelical Zionism and distorted by zealous political expectations that define fidelity
to a 2,000-year relationship by indiscriminate loyalty to a narrow national agenda of
military and diplomatic policies. It is my conviction that Christian-Jewish relationships
today must be nurtured in the soil of human aspirations, suffering, and hopes that are not
circumscribed or predetermined by dominant political or theological expectations. And the
same, of course, is true regarding the relationship of U.S. Christians with Palestinians.
These relationships begin not ideologically, but incarnationally.
Therefore, affirming the gifts of land, peoplehood, and identity expressed through the
State of Israel, established now for 60 years, must be accompanied by affirming these same
gifts of land, peoplehood, and identity through the establishment of a Palestinian state.
These relationships today take place amidst the continuing Israeli military occupation of
the West Bank and the intense military siege of the Gaza Strip. That is the context of
human hopes and fears, and for discerning prophetic and biblical calls in this day for God’s
justice to reign in this land.
The devastating effect of the Israeli occupation and settlements on the West Bank is difficult to understand without seeing and experiencing it. It is a profound assault on Palestinian hopes. Israeli settlements should not exist. No single action by the Israeli government has done more to violate international trust and to mock hopes for a just political resolution than the persistent establishment and expansion of settlements on lands occupied since 1967. Israeli settlements have purposely established “facts on the ground” that intentionally decimate Palestinian aspirations for statehood and intentionally separate Palestinians from their arable land and sources of water. These acts are considered by the international community to be illegal by standards of international law.
MANY PEOPLE in the region believe that all U.S. Christians are right-wing Zionists. That
widely held stereotype seems deeply rooted in popular and political opinions. And the
damage that it does is awful. The policies of President Bush and the beliefs of Christians
are seen as united, so Christian faith is perceived as antagonistic to the vast majorities
of those in the Arab world. You can imagine the difficulty this creates for Arab
Christians.
Evangelical Zionism is the enemy of Christian witness and mission in the Middle East. It’s
not just a theological aberration. Rather, it’s a doctrine that actually endangers
fellow Christians and cripples the effective proclamation of Christian faith throughout
the region. We recently observed the 40th anniversary of the illegal Israeli occupation.
The brutal situation in the Holy Land dehumanizes Palestinians and Israelis alike and
undermines the peace and security of the region and the world. The support of Christian
Zionists and the United States government for expansionist policies and actions of Israel,
and the turning of a blind eye to the persistent illegal activities of the Israeli
government, undermines our ability to serve as peacemakers or honest brokers in that area
of the world. An American Christian in Jerusalem, Marlin Vis, wrote in his blog: “A
small Palestinian Muslim child, 4 or 5 years old, burrows his face deeply into the skinny
chest of his 10-year-old brother. Their furniture and clothing, all they could carry, lie
in a heap outside their stone-block home. Big brother has explained that in a matter of
minutes, the soldiers will destroy the home. The little boy’s eyes express the terror
that his tongue can’t describe. An 18-year-old Israeli soldier stands guard over the
seven children of this family. His eyes too tell the story that he would never allow his
tongue to repeat. ... These are the hidden wounds of occupation, and these wounds are as
hurtful and damaging as any other. ... For the sake of that little boy, his brothers and
sisters, and his 18-year-old cousin standing guard, this occupation must end.”
The continuing task of Christians is to nurture an incarnational presence in the Holy Land
that informs our perspectives, our witness, and our action. We must follow Jesus again,
today, among those who feel the brunt of military oppression, among those who so readily
exercise dominion over others, among those who seek to be peacemakers, and among those who
thirst for justice and yearn for healing. We must find ways to open our lives to the
actual human experience of those who live in the midst of these realities, and be with
them. And then we must witness to their struggles, their fears, and their hopes. From that
place, we can learn how to pray and act for the peace of Jerusalem.
What DOES the Bible Say?
A Critical Look at the Simplistic Christian Zionist Reading of the Bible
A Biblical Meditation by Christian Zionist Pastor Steve Sorenson
"Then you shall dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.”
Ezekiel 36:28
Much of the Bible speaks of God’s encouragement for the Jewish people to return
to the
Yet
from the Christians United for Israel Weekly Update, October 13, 2008
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Every week CUFI (John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel) sends out a
newsletter to keep the faithful up on the latest news and views. Included
in the newsletter is a short meditation, usually by Hagee, sometimes by another Christian
Zionist pastor. This week a Pastor Steve Sorensen wrote what
might best be called a Christian Zionist boilerplate Bible study (see above). Here, in
encapsulated form, are most of the core convictions of the Christian Zionist movement:
A central, if not “the” central theme
of scripture is the creation of a Jewish state in the
God’s people = “the Jewish people.”
The “return” of millions of Jewish people to this land is a “compelling confirmation” that God keeps his promises.
Evil people (read Arabs) “lurk” on all sides of the divinely favored state. Arabs are evil simply because they oppose the political perogatives of the Isareli state.
Sounds like a simple, straight forward reading of
scripture. Which is how the Christian Zionist ideology is sold -
as a simple re-telling of the plain meaning of scripture. But upon further examination it
becomes clear that it is less "simple" than “simplistic,"
as there are too many issues it leaves unaddressed. Among
these are:
The term, “God’s people” was also claimed by the New Testament Church (I Pet. 2: 9) as a description of the Christian community. The creation of the State of Israel led to the displacement of many Palestinian Christians. Is that what God intended – that one “people of God” should be displaced by another? How does that jive with what we know of God's nature revealed in the life and witness of Jesus the Christ?
How do we reconcile the purposes of the God we know as Love with the violent displacement of 750,000 people, whose refugee status remains unresolved along with an at times brutal occupation?
What are the boundaries of this “
Is it right that an American or European, who may have no verifiable ancestral ties to Israel/Palestine, has a greater claim to land in the West Bank than the people whose families have been living there for generations? How does that jive with the core biblical teaching of justice?
Is it true that God condemns Palestinian Arabs for their struggle to regain stolen property or gain independence from an oppressive occupation? How can we say that the God of justice is opposed to those who seek it?
Where in scripture does it say that political support for a nation state, any nation state, is the measuring rod of God's standard of right and wrong? Doesn't scripture itself warn about the idolization of political entities? Wasn't ancient Israel condemned for this very thing?
Christian Zionists love to use the term "the Bible says" to give justification to what is not only a destructive ideology, but bad theology, as well. Here's just one example of how important it is to examine their assumptions, assumptions that often lie hidden behind that conversation stopper "the Bible says."
John Hubers
Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism
Gary Bauer & Israel's Tribal Deity
Former Reagan advisor and
presidential hopeful, Gary Bauer, who is now advising John Hagee and his lobby group, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), wrote a
short biblical reflection for the CUFI e-letter this week based on Genesis 28:
13-15. This is the passage where we hear God declare divine fealty to Abraham and
his descendents:
"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go,and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
Like other Christian Zionists, Bauer makes a direct connection between this promise and the contemporary state of Israel, the suggestion being that God is a kind of tribal deity to Israel, fighting for her political perogatives no matter what the consequences for her neighbors. Here is how Bauer puts it:
Fortunately for Israel and for all of us who believe in the God of Abraham, the Lord's promises are like a rock. God didn't say to Jacob: "I will bring you back to the land if the U.N. agrees." He didn't say, "I will give you this land if it is OK with the radical Islamists." He didn't say, "I will not leave you unless there is danger." God's promises to Israel and to all of us are unchanging and unhedged, direct and reliable."
I agree with what Bauer says about God's promises being unshakable. What I take issue with is whether or not Bauer has interpreted this passage correctly. I think not. I think not because what it assumes is that the God who demands justice for all peoples has decided in this case to act unjustly. Bauer, Hagee and all others who buy into the political ideology of Christian Zionism, assume that God was behind the expulsion of 750, 000 Palestinians from their homes in the '48 war, and continues to stand on the side of those who encourage Israel to refuse any recompense for what they lost. Ethnic cleansing in this case becomes part of the divine plan. They assume, also, that Israel has the right to take even more land than they have already taken, either to occupy or annex outright. The West Bank, Gaza Strip, parts of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, all belong to Israel to take whenever and however she wishes. Bauer doesn't say that here, as Christian Zionists tend to disassemble on this point, but it is a given of the Christian Zionist position which operates with a biblical map.
This map:
If God is, as Bauer and other Christian Zionists assume, Israel's tribal deity, then, yes, I would agree that we should join CUFI in opposing any and all moves towards a negotiated peace (desired by the majority of Israelis) between Israelis and Palestinians. We should join Christian Zionists like John Hagee and Gary Bauer in encouraging the most militant Israeli voices in their call for the expulsion of Palestinians from the territories. In this case, however, the contradiction with what we know to be true about God from the whole testimony of scripture -- that his compassion is all-embracing, his justice without favortism -- is too glaring. In this case people who take the whole testimony of scripture seriously cannot endorse the Hagee- Bauer platform.
"Let justice roll down like the waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."
Amos 5: 24
CCAR
Convention, April 2, 2008
“Christian Zionism: Is it good for North American Jews and good for Israel?”
Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, President, Union for Reform Judaism
Let us imagine the following: A group of Christian Americans affirm their deep love for the State of Israel. This love, rooted in their Evangelical Christian faith, is expressed through concrete acts of support and commitment. While remaining resolutely non-political, these Americans visit Israel whenever they can, condemn acts of terror directed at Israeli citizens, provide generous financial support to Israelis in need, and are the first to raise their voices when Israel is under military attack.
If this were to happen, what should we as Jewish Americans be saying to this group of our fellow citizens? The answer, it seems to me, is quite simple. We should be saying: Thank you.
I don’t deny that I would have some concerns. Knowing something about their religious beliefs, I would wonder if they were trying to bolster the Jewish state in order to fulfill their prophecies of Armageddon and the Second Coming. And I would wonder too at what it might mean to make common cause with those who oppose both a woman’s right to choose and basic justice for gays and lesbians.
Nonetheless, as weighty as these considerations might be, they would not lead me to change course. For me, the reestablishment of the Jewish state demonstrates the triumph of the Jewish spirit over the vicissitudes of history; and yes, surely I would prefer that others embrace Israel for the same reasons that I do. In my experience, however, motivations are notoriously hard to judge. Given the profound dangers that Israel faces, and assuming that support for Israel is not being used as a cover to convert Jews, then perhaps if people are doing the right things for the wrong reasons, the sensible course is to see that as their problem and not mine.
As for the right to choose and rights for gays and lesbians, these are not incidental matters for Reform Jews; they speak to our most fundamental convictions about human dignity and the proper reading of our tradition. Still, in order to advance both our interests and our principles, our Reform Movement frequently joins in coalitions with certain groups on certain issues while disagreeing with them elsewhere; and the fact is that neither abortion rights nor gay rights has been a litmus test when we determine which alliances are appropriate for us and which are not. The Catholic Church, for example, opposes our positions in both of these areas, and yet we work with the Church on immigration and economic justice and a range of other matters where our values are closely aligned. As a matter of logic and justice, therefore, we cannot apply a standard to Christian Zionists that we do not apply equally to others.
And yes, I have other concerns as well. I can think of no compelling reason why American Christians should not raise money for the Jews of Israel, but I must tell you that it is a phenomenon that leaves me uncomfortable; we seem to be taking the culture of schnorr to a whole new level. If time permits, I will return to this subject later. But on balance, I remain committed to the proposition with which I started: Christian Zionists, as I have defined them, are entitled to our gratitude, and are surely not a threat to the Jewish state. And I believe that Rabbi Eckstein tries to operate largely within the parameters that I have described.
But here is the problem: The Christian Zionists that I have described are not the dominant strain of Christian Zionism in America today. Indeed, when most Americans, Christian or Jewish, think about Christian Zionism, they think about something else altogether. They think about Pastor John Hagee and Pastor Rod Parsley; they think about Christians United for Israel and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. In short, they think about the people and institutions that have set the course of Christian Zionism and have defined its character in American eyes.
Let us step back for a moment and define our terms.
Approximately one-fourth of Americans, or 75 million people, identify as Evangelical Christians. Evangelical Christianity has its roots in the Bible belt fundamentalism of the early 20th century, which was rural, small-town, and sometimes racist, but it has moved in new directions in the last fifty years. Today it can best be described as a post-fundamentalist phenomenon, characterized by respect for biblical authority, a high Christology, a commitment to evangelizing (which means making converts), and a commitment to public life. Evangelicals are a diverse group. In the public realm, there is near unanimity on opposing gay marriage and abortion, but much difference of opinion on everything else.
Overwhelmingly, Evangelicals are sympathetic to Israel, as are most Americans, but while most Christian Zionists are Evangelicals, it would be a mistake to think that most Evangelicals are Christian Zionists. Christian Zionists are those in the Evangelical community for whom the doctrine of Jewish restoration is central to their theology and the support of Israel is central to their Christian practice. Assigning numbers is difficult, but many experts suggest that perhaps 20 million Americans can be classified as Christian Zionists.
In these circles, as I’ve indicated, the most prominent organizational presence by far is John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel. Hagee has brought together under the CUFI banner the leading religious and political voices of Christian Zionism, including Gary Bauer, Pastor Jonathan Falwell, and Pastor Rod Parsley. Make no mistake: these are leaders with deep emotional and religious ties to the Jewish state and who care profoundly and sincerely about her welfare. And therefore many ask: Can’t we work with them on the agenda that we share – love for Israel, travel to Israel, philanthropic support for Israel – and put aside the issues on which we disagree? Can’t we build a selective alliance with them on the same basis that we build a selective alliance with other religious groups?
And the answer is: no, we cannot.
This is not a matter of whether or not we should be engaging in respectful dialogue with Evangelicals and Christian Zionists. We should always be supportive of such dialogues and we should embrace in friendship all of our Christian brothers and sisters. It is precisely for that reason that at the invitation of Rev. Jerry Falwell I traveled to Liberty University, addressed the student body, and engaged in discussion with university officials.
But we are talking here not about dialogue but about political alliances, which demand of us a higher standard and which require both common values and common interests. And I suggest that we should not enter into such alliances with Christian Zionists for two primary reasons.
The first is that Jews should not enter into alliances of any kind with those who do not speak respectfully of other faith communities. And sadly, tragically, Christian Zionist leaders have engaged in repeated attacks, expressed sometimes in shocking and unacceptable language, directed against other religious traditions. This is not a matter of highlighting differences in belief but of making use of overheated rhetoric that spews hatred and vitriol toward the Muslim and Catholic faiths. We are talking here about attempts by some religious leaders to exploit prejudice to advance their own theological agenda. Islam has been a particular target of these attacks, and no attempt has been made to separate terrorists and extremists from the vast majority of Muslims.
For example, Rod Parsley has written about Islam that “America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed.” And John Hagee referred to the Roman Catholic Church as “the great whore” and called it a “false cult system” and “the apostate church.”
The Jewish community has a special responsibility to oppose such rhetoric. Supremely sensitive to the power of words, we have responded aggressively to all who express anti-Semitic or anti-Israel sentiments. And not only that. Jewish leaders and communal bodies have also demanded that public figures not only refrain from this language but denounce and distance themselves from others who engage in such attacks.
Yet many in the Jewish community seem unwilling to abide by the standards that we ask others to meet. By what right do we expect others to walk away from those who make anti-Jewish or anti-Israel statements when we will not walk away from those who make anti-Islam or anti-Catholic statements?
Jewish leaders who have established relationships with Christian Zionists leaders, including Pastor Hagee, and who disagree with my position, have told me that these relationships have enabled them to influence and moderate some of the more extreme views that Hagee and others hold. That seems fair enough; if you have a friendship with someone who expresses troubling positions, you should make use of that friendship to offer a corrective. The problem is that the reservations that are expressed are apparently expressed in private, if at all; rarely if ever do Jewish friends and allies make public statements critical of Pastor Hagee’s or Pastor Parsley’s pronouncements. But the contradiction is obvious: when anti-Jewish statements are uttered, we expect public responses from communal leaders and will settle for nothing less.
In short, no more double standards, please. They undermine our message and call into doubt our integrity. We Jews are among those who believe that the diversity of our society is a blessing that enriches us all, and we are tireless advocates for a tolerant America. Yes, we have deep religious convictions, but we never claim a monopoly on truth, and we respond forcefully and emphatically when others speak of Jews with hatred or disdain. If these are the expectations that we have created for ourselves, we must expect no less from others. And if there exist in our midst religious leaders who choose to demonize other religious traditions, they do not belong in our camp and we do not belong in theirs.
Finally, and most important, we should avoid alliances with Christian Zionists because what they mean by support of Israel and what we mean by support of Israel are two very different things. Christian Zionists, and especially Christians United for Israel, do not offer unconditional support for the Jewish state. They offer support for a particular religious vision, particular Israeli leaders, and particular political factions, all of which reflect their own prophecy-driven view of the Middle East.
The heart of Pastor Hagee’s message is to be found in these words: “Stop giving the land away. The land belongs to you. Keep it.”
In short, mainstream Christian Zionists are, by their own admission, not “”advocates” of Israel but “Biblical advocates” of Israel, and this means that they oppose any territorial concessions by the Government of Israel for any reason whatsoever. It follows that their vision of Israel rejects a two-state solution, rejects the possibility of a democratic Israel, and supports the permanent occupation of all Arab lands now controlled by Israel.
Are they entitled to such views? Of course. But we are entitled to say, and are obligated to say, that such views may advance their theology but they do so at the expense of Israel’s security and well-being. If implemented, in fact, these views would mean disaster for Israel, and would lead to diplomatic isolation, increased violence, and the loss of Israel’s Jewish majority.
It might be helpful to remember that the current government and the four previous governments of Israel have all supported some version of a two-state solution; while the details differ, all are based on a negotiated agreement that would provide peace and security both for Israel and for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. It might be helpful to remember as well that such a position is supported by the Government of the United States, by the Democratic and Republican parties, by the last four American presidents, by all the current presidential candidates, and by the overwhelming majority of the American Jewish community. To say this is not to say that such a solution is attainable in the short run; in my view, it probably is not. But there is a huge difference between those who ask Israel to work patiently for a two-state solution that may be a long time coming, and those who ask that the principle of such a solution be replaced by the vision of an apartheid state with a Jewish minority, despised by the world and eternally at war with its neighbors.
Recently some Christian Zionists leaders have claimed that while they oppose a two-state solution, they do not interfere in Israel’s internal affairs. But of course they do. In July of 2007, Pastor Hagee and other Christian Zionist leaders wrote a letter to President Bush stating that “land for peace is a failed policy of the past.” That is interference. In November of 2007, at the time of Annapolis, Christian Zionist representatives, along with some Jewish leaders, met with President Bush’s National Security Advisor to demand that the issue of Jerusalem be taken off the table in any negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. That is interference. And Christian Zionists actively opposed the disengagement from Gaza and supported the settlers who were resisting the evacuation. That is interference as well. Again, they have every right to express these views, but we have a right and an obligation to make clear what they are saying and what it means for the Jewish state.
I know that there are those in the Jewish community who argue for working with Pastor Hagee and accepting his support, and they offer a variety of rationales for doing so.
The claim that we hear most frequently is that there is a diversity of opinions within the Jewish community, and just as we work with Jews who oppose a two-state solution, so too should we work with Christians who oppose a two-state solution. But this is a bogus argument. Surely there are broad areas of agreement related to Israel within our community, and we are happy to work with other Jews in all those areas where agreement exists. But most members of the Reform Movement do not participate in Jewish events that call for settlement expansion or that oppose the principle of territorial compromise by Israel. And we speak out when our fellow Jews use fundamentalist theology as an argument against a two-state solution. We also work hard to make certain that dollars raised through communal structures are not expended in the territories. And in all cases our views reflect the majority position of the community. In other words, the fact that anti-democratic and extremist views exist within the Jewish community does not make those views acceptable or right. We oppose them when they appear in our own ranks, and so too must we oppose them when they come from outside.
The other claim that is made is that hard-nosed political realities require us to make common cause with Christian Zionists. The argument here is that these are difficult times for the Jewish state. Hamas is a radical, religiously fanatic organization, committed to Israel’s destruction. Americans, meanwhile, discouraged by a collapsing economy and disillusioned by our failures in Iraq, are tiring of overseas commitments. Under these circumstances, Israel needs all the friends it can get, and the conclusion is that Christian Zionists are an important source of support.
I agree with these concerns, but I would draw precisely the opposite conclusions.
In the first place, the central principle of pro-Israel advocacy in America for half a century has been that it must be moderate, centrist, and insistently bi-partisan, able to draw advocates from both sides of the political aisle. The reason for this is that American support for Israel relies as much or more on shared democratic values as it does on military and strategic factors, and emphasizing those common values is the most important task of Israel’s friends in this country. Keep in mind too, as I have stated, that there are no major differences between the political parties on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and both parties support the two-state solution advocated by the Clinton and Bush administrations. And finally this: American Evangelicals are not moving toward Pastor Hagee; they are moving away from him. All the evidence that we have indicates that Evangelicals are tired of stridency and desire more pluralism and moderation, and they see their future far more with Rick Warren than they do with John Hagee. And most Evangelicals, like most Americans and most Israelis, support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In other words, this is the worst possible time to draw Israel into America’s culture wars. On Israeli-Palestinian politics, John Hagee and the CUFI are extremists. They do not represent Evangelicals, do not represent Republicans, and do not represent the American heartland. In expressing contempt for other religions and rejecting territorial compromise under any and all circumstances, their views run against the American grain. Those who advocate embracing them now are misreading in a monumental way the American political and religious landscape.
It is important for me to say a few words in Pastor Hagee’s defense. Those who know him tell me that he is a warm and engaging man who has deep respect and esteem for Israel and the Jewish people. Unlike many other Evangelical leaders, he makes no effort to share the Gospel with Jews, and does not mention Jesus to Jewish audiences. Also, he does not read the Bible to mean that Armageddon will be accompanied by a Jewish Holocaust. Furthermore, as others have pointed out to me, he does not need our permission to do what he does. That is quite right, and I have no desire to engage in a campaign against him or the organization that he heads. But I do believe that we should recognize the dangers and keep our distance.
Specifically, I think that we should refrain from participating in the “Night to Honor Israel” road shows that Pastor Hagee sponsors. I have listened to my colleagues who have chosen to do otherwise and have tried to understand. But my view is that most of the time, these evenings will not increase our political clout. They will reduce our political clout and drive away our allies. And I cannot accept the argument from Jewish leaders that they can endorse CUFI events, appear as speakers at these events, accept CUFI money, and still distance themselves from the positions that CUFI embraces.
These are challenging times for Israel and her people. Israel’s government is not blameless, to be sure, but from the Palestinians we see only relentless terror. Surely the Palestinian national movement, in its various manifestations, is one of the ugliest and stupidest national movements in modern history. Just once we would like to see a Palestinian leader come forward and say: the Jews are not in intrusion here, or an accident of history. Just once we would like to hear them say: in coming to Palestine, the Jews have come home. Just once we would like to see a Palestinian Rabin.
But in the meantime, as understandable as it might be in these circumstances, we must not fall victim to a theology of despair. It is important to remember, even now, that peace may take time, but it is not forever beyond reach. It is important to remember, even now, that Israel has friends, and Jews have friends—our own government most important among them. And it is important to remember that Israel’s greatest friends and most important defenders are not the fundamentalists or the extremists, or those who, with utter confidence, take their orders directly from God; rather, her greatest friends are those who work for an end to this terrible conflict, and who pray for peace for all who live in the land that we all call holy.
Thank you very much.
An Evangelical Statement on Israel/Palestine
Signatories of
found on Evangelicals for Social Action Website
Letter to President Bush From Evangelical Leaders Regarding Israel/Palestine
(reprinted from the New York Times)
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We write as evangelical Christian leaders in the United States to thank you for your efforts (including the major address on July 16) to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to achieve a lasting peace in the region. We affirm your clear call for a two-state solution. We urge that your administration not grow weary in the time it has left in office to utilize the vast influence of America to demonstrate creative, consistent and determined U.S. leadership to create a new future for Israelis and Palestinians. We pray to that end, Mr. President.
We also write to correct a serious misperception among some people including some U.S. policymakers that all American evangelicals are opposed to a two-state solution and creation of a new Palestinian state that includes the vast majority of the West Bank. Nothing could be further from the truth. We, who sign this letter, represent large numbers of evangelicals throughout the U.S. who support justice for both Israelis and Palestinians. We hope this support will embolden you and your administration to proceed confidently and forthrightly in negotiations with both sides in the region.
As evangelical Christians, we embrace the biblical promise to Abraham: "I will bless those who bless you." (Genesis 12:3). And precisely as evangelical Christians committed to the full teaching of the Scriptures, we know that blessing and loving people (including Jews and the present State of Israel) does not mean withholding criticism when it is warranted. Genuine love and genuine blessing means acting in ways that promote the genuine and long-term well being of our neighbors. Perhaps the best way we can bless Israel is to encourage her to remember, as she deals with her neighbor Palestinians, the profound teaching on justice that the Hebrew prophets proclaimed so forcefully as an inestimably precious gift to the whole world.
Historical honesty compels us to recognize that both Israelis and Palestinians have legitimate rights stretching back for millennia to the lands of Israel/Palestine. Both Israelis and Palestinians have committed violence and injustice against each other. The only way to bring the tragic cycle of violence to an end is for Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate a just, lasting agreement that guarantees both sides viable, independent, secure states. To achieve that goal, both sides must give up some of their competing, incompatible claims. Israelis and Palestinians must both accept each other's right to exist. And to achieve that goal, the U.S. must provide robust leadership within the Quartet to reconstitute the Middle East roadmap, whose full implementation would guarantee the security of the State of Israel and the viability of a Palestinian State. We affirm the new role of former Prime Minister Tony Blair and pray that the conference you plan for this fall will be a success.
Mr. President, we renew our prayers and support for your leadership to help bring peace to Jerusalem, and justice and peace for all the people in the Holy Land.
Finally, we would request to meet with you to personally convey our support and discuss other ways in which we may help your administration on this crucial issue.
Sincerely,
Ronald J. Sider, President
Evangelicals for Social Action
Don Argue, President
Northwest University
Raymond J. Bakke, Chancellor
Bakke Graduate University
Gary M. Benedict, President
The Christian & Missionary Alliance
George K. Brushaber, President
Bethel University
Gary M. Burge, Professor
Wheaton College & Graduate School
Tony Campolo, President/Founder
Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education
Christopher J. Doyle, CEO
American Leprosy Mission
Leighton Ford, President
Leighton Ford Ministries
Daniel Grothe, Pastoral Staff
New Life Church (Colorado Springs)
Vernon Grounds, Chancellor
Denver Seminary
Stephen Hayner, former President
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Joel Hunter, Senior Pastor
Northland Church
Member, Executive Committee of the NAE
Jo Anne Lyon, Founder/CEO
World Hope International
Gordon MacDonald, Chair of the Board
World Relief
Albert G. Miller, Professor
Oberlin College
Richard Mouw, President
Fuller Theological Seminary
David Neff, Editor
Christianity Today
Glenn R. Palmberg, President
Evangelical Covenant Church
Earl Palmer, Senior Pastor
University Presbyterian Church Seattle
Victor D. Pentz, Pastor
Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Atlanta
John Perkins, President
John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation & Development
Bob Roberts, Jr., Senior Pastor
Northwood Church, Dallas
Leonard Rogers, Executive Director
Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding
Andrew Ryskamp, Executive Director
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
Chris Seiple, President
Institute for Global Engagement
Robert A. Seiple, Former Ambassador-at-Large,
International Religious Freedom
U.S. State Department
Luci N. Shaw, Author, Lecturer
Regent College, Vancouver
Jim Skillen, Executive Director
Center for Public Justice
Glen Harold Stassen, Professor
Fuller Theological Seminary
Richard Stearns, President
World Vision
Clyde D. Taylor, Former Chair of the Board
World Relief
Harold Vogelaar, Director
Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice
Berten Waggoner, National Director
Vineyard USA
Max Blumenthal on Christian United for Israel
Daniel Trieman of the Jewish
Daily Forward interviews Max Blumenthal on his latest satirical video from the Christians United for Israel convention
in DC. Blumenthal explains why Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and the Christian
Zionist movement pose a grave threat to the State of Israel
So I take it from this video that you don’t think that American Jews should ally themselves with these Christian Zionists?
Whatever you think about Israel, whether you’re a Zionist or not, whether you’re a Likudnik or you support Labor or even a more left-wing party, you have to recognize that Israel’s survival depends on a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. And this organization opposes and lobbies against any sort of negotiation with the Palestinians or Israel’s Arab neighbors, and that’s extraordinarily dangerous to Israel’s short-term security and long-term survival. If you look deeper in a moral sense, it’s absolutely immoral for Jews to align themselves with this organization — and cynical, because of their theology, which is openly antisemitic and culminates in a battle between what one participant in the conference described as a war between the Christians and the anti-Christians — the anti-Christians encompass Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, anyone who isn’t a born-again Christian, including mainline Christians and Palestinian Christians who’ve lived in Nazareth and Bethlehem since the days of the Apostles. So absolutely, I think it’s cynical and dangerous for Jews to align themselves with this organization and with Christian Zionists. And those who have reflect a level of desperation that I think is really troubling.
In part, this is because American Jews feel spurned by some groups that they had seen — particularly liberal Jews had seen — as their natural allies. For instance, the more liberal mainline churches are seen as unfairly placing the onus on Israel for its conflict with the Palestinians. The Presbyterians had moved forward on a divestment measure, an effort that we’ve seen echoes of in other mainline denominations. And many Jews view the intellectual left or the activist left — including The Nation magazine — as hostile to Israel. So people say, “Well, Jews and Israel should take their friends where they can get them, irrespective of what these friends think is going to happen in the afterlife.” How would you respond to people who say that, who feel because they perceive those on the left as being unfriendly to Israel, they can’t really turn away these people who are coming to them as allies, and as supporters of Israel?
“Being friendly to Israel” is sort of a loaded phrase. It’s a very subjective phrase. And I don’t know how you would define that, “Being friendly to Israel.” But if anyone thinks “being friendly to Israel” means encouraging Israel to take more land, encouraging Israel to expand its illegal settlements in the West Bank, encouraging Israel to ramp up hostilities with its neighbors, then I think those people need to look in the mirror and assess the consequences of their priorities, because these sort of initiatives have very dangerous consequences for Israel’s long-term survival. If they want to be in a permanent state of war, I think Christians United for Israel, those are great allies for Israel, and Christian Zionists in general.
Christian
Right Ramps Up Support for Perpetual War in the
- by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, Executive Director of HaMifgash in Los Angeles, CA and co-director of JewsOnFirst.org and Rev. Dr. Donald Wagner, professor of Middle Eastern studies at North Park University in Chicago, IL.
* * * * *
On July 16-19, Christians United
for Israel (CUFI) will convene its second annual convention in
The Christian “end time”
calculations of CUFI loyalists, coupled with “re-build
the
CUFI’s President, the Rev.
John Hagee, Pastor of the San Antonio Cornerstone Baptist mega-church, is the most visible
Christian advocate of Christian Zionism and stronger
The end-time fear and death theology practiced by fundamentalists (Jewish and Christian) conflicts with the teachings (Torah) of life and the Gospel (“Good News”). The websites JewsOnFirst.org and Christianzionism.org provide alternative resources and analysis for Christians and Jews to challenge Christian Zionism and similar organizations that play fast and loose with their respective scriptures, the protection of civil liberties, and the separation of church and state.
The mainline Protestant, Roman
Catholic, and
The present decade has
demonstrated repeatedly that most political conflicts in the
At What Cost?
About the Author:
Cody O Rourke is a senior at Central Michigan University
studying political science. He is currently spending a semester studying Arabic at the
University of Jordan in Amman. He also works with the Israeli Coalition Against House
Demolitions rebuilding houses in the occupied territories of Palestine.
+ + + + +
An American university student working in the Palestinian Territories writes about the devastating effects of CUFI's policies on the lives of Palestinians. Where is the grace of God in this? he asks.
(from The Gladwin County Record)
The Jerusalem Post recently ran an article entitled "Activists fight uphill battle for greater Efrat.” As I read this article on the hot and cramped bus on the way home from Jerusalem, I began to get sick to my stomach.
It depicts the strategy, the steadfast goal to enlarge the Efrat settlement, which is already over 6.5 kilometers over the 1967 borders. A group of Zionist expansionists are lobbying the government to reroute the Apartheid Wall to enclose Givat Ha’eitam – a large portion of Efrat.
Datya Yitzhaki and Nadia Matar from the Women in Green describe this land as "undeveloped,” even though it is land with ownership rights to Palestinians. . . .
Aside from the massive 40 million dollars that will be allotted to the settlement of immigrants from our government, massive financial and political support for the settlement flows unimpeded from the Christian Zionists in America.
One such organization is the Christian Friends for Israeli Communities. Their website boasts, "From around the world have stood up for Israel and become valuable friends and supporters of the pioneers of Biblical Israel. Through CFOIC Heartland, churches, ministries, and individuals have visited the communities and linked with them directly through the adopt-a-settlement program. Thousands of Christians have provided financial support for community projects and have made a real difference in the ability of these communities to cope.”
Their elaborate selection of programs is impressive, ranging from special security needs to state of art recreation facilities.
So how do these American-based organizations finance operations that are against international law? Their political power.
You can take a look at the more astute, more aggressive Christians United for Israel, headed by the Christian entertainment tycoon John Hagee, who has a 18,000 member Cornerstone Church and hosts a TV ministry that spreads his message to millions around America.
Max Blumenthal from the "Nation" reports that "With the help of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who once spoke at a massive pro-Israel fundraiser at Cornerstone Church, Hagee has raised at least $8.5 million for Israeli social work projects."
Hagee is trying to build what he calls "The Christian version of AIPAC."
To prevent the Bush Administration from following through with the Peace Accords which would demand that the Israelis concede land to Palestine, Hagee brought together 400 Christian evangelical leaders – representing as many as 30 million Christians – for an invitation-only "Summit on Israel."
Hagee aspires to create workshops in all 50 states to lobby congress and the president on issues that are critical to sustain expansionist policy.
The sickness in my stomach on the bus that day wasn’t just the fact that fathers would have to wake up one morning to the roaring sounds of bull dozers and excavators and frantically evacuate their belongings and children from the house before it was destroyed.
The sickness didn’t even so much come from the fact that those displaced children would never be able to visit the land that belonged to their grandparents to take in the history of love and relationship that was built on that land.
The sickness came from the fact that there are Christians – maybe even some in our own community – supporting and advancing the destruction of lives.
And from the fact that so many people are yearning for the Grace that Jesus has to offer – searching for his abounding mercy – and they are offered this instead.
President of the Union of Reform Judaism Raises Questions about Jewish Embrace of John Hagee
When We Let
John Hagee Speak for Us
The American Jewish community must decide: Does it want to connect young Jews to Israel, or does it intend to drive them away?
By supporting Birthright Israel, the community was wise enough to see that even our most disengaged young people have a yearning for connection to the Jewish state. Birthright is one of our proudest achievements.
Still, Birthright alone cannot create Zionists or committed Jews. What it can do is ignite a spark of Jewish interest that we must carefully tend so that it grows into a roaring fire of devotion to Israel and to Jewish life.
Yet we are faltering in tending that spark. Our most committed young-adult Jews are living Jewish lives in which Israel plays, at best, a peripheral part.
I am referring here not to the alienated and uninvolved, who are distanced from all things Jewish, but to Jewish activists who create havurot, join minyanim or find a place in established synagogues or Jewish community centers. These future Jewish leaders are not hostile to Israel, and many have positive memories from Birthright or youth-movement trips, but Israel today is a marginal part of their Jewish consciousness.
There is no single explanation for their disaffection, but surely one important reason is the increasingly right-wing and even reactionary tone that some elements of the organized community have adopted in their pronouncements on Israel. American Jews have always been moderate in their views on Israel, and this is especially true for the young.
Of course, the fact that some national and umbrella bodies express hard-line sentiments that do not reflect majority opinion is not new. What is new and deeply disturbing is that local communal bodies are now following their lead. Proof of this trend, as reported in these pages earlier this month, is the willingness of some local Jewish federations to support and endorse events sponsored by Pastor John Hagee and his lobbying group, Christians United for Israel.
In March, when the American Israel Public Affairs Committee departed from past policy and gave Hagee a prime slot at its national convention in Washington, his new status in the Jewish community was confirmed. I am an admirer and supporter of Aipac, but this decision was a mistake for two reasons.
The first is the way that Hagee’s appearance would be perceived on Capitol Hill. The central principle of Israel advocacy for half a century has been that support of Israel must be broad and bipartisan, and this means appealing to the Republican and Democratic mainstream and avoiding identification with controversial minorities in either party.
Second, and even more worrisome, was the question of how Hagee’s Aipac speech would be interpreted by the Jewish community. My fear was that it would confer legitimacy on him and that local communities would be tempted to embrace him as Aipac had, in the process alienating many Jews, including most young Jews — and this is precisely what has happened.
We know a great deal about Jewish young adults. We have learned from extensive research that these young people are often more socially liberal than their baby-boomer parents. They are pluralistic in their thinking, and they are tolerant of difference, especially differences in gender and sexual orientation.
They respond negatively to those who disparage other religious traditions and who make exclusivist religious claims. They are insistently centrist in their political views on the Middle East. And they are suspicious of a Jewish establishment that they see as too focused on money and insufficiently focused on values.
And so whom do we offer to these young people as a spokesman for Israel? John Hagee, who is contemptuous of Muslims, dismissive of gays, possesses a triumphalist theology and opposes a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. If our intention was to distance our young adults from the Jewish state, we could not have made a better choice.
Even worse, a primary motive here seems to be that we see Hagee and his Christians United for Israel as a source of dollars for federation coffers. The pattern has been that in return for federation sponsorship of dinners hosted by the lobbying group, contributions are made by Christians United for Israel to our federation fundraising campaigns. The conclusion that our young people are most likely to draw from this arrangement is that we are simply selling our souls.
Let me be clear: I favor dialogue and extending a hand of friendship to Hagee and to all Evangelical Christians. Let’s learn about each other and discuss areas of agreement and disagreement. I traveled to Liberty University last year to meet with the late Reverend Jerry Falwell for precisely this purpose. But there is a vast difference between respectful dialogue and an endorsement that makes John Hagee our community’s champion of Israel.
Our federations are community organizations that operate on the principle of consensus. I urge our federations to conduct broad-based discussions to determine if a consensus really exists on endorsing Christians United for Israel events. Let’s weigh if we are trading short-term advantage for long-term disaster. Let’s ask if we are creating connections with Birthright that we are then tearing asunder with Hagee.
Let’s consider if in return for temporary financial benefit, we are alienating those who will be our leaders and donors tomorrow. And while we make these decisions, let’s remember that Israel is the most precious possession of the Jewish people and it belongs to us all.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie is president of the Union for Reform Judaism.
Fri. May 18, 2007
Congressperson Speaks out Against CUFI
We applaud the courage of Minnesota congressional representative, Betty McCollum, for not only declining CUFI's invitation to attend one of their "Nights to Honor Israel" which have in the past turned out to be little more than anti Muslim war mongering rallies, but taking the time to make public the letter she wrote to CUFI detailing the reasons why she declined. We are happy to print the letter below in the hope that other congress people will join her in protesting what CUFI has come to stand for. The full copy of the letter is available in a pdf file on Rep. McCollum's letterhead with attachments. Please make it available to your own congressperson or anyone else who you feel needs to understand the danger CUFI presents to the peace process in the Middle East and our own democratic traditions.
John Hubers
Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism.
REPRESENTATIVE McCOLLUM'S LETTER:
April 25, 2007
Pastor James M. (Mac) Hammond
Living Word Christian Church
9201- 75th Avenue North
Brooklyn Park, MN 55428
Dear Pastor Hammond:
A letter of invitation to your church's April 29th event, "A Night to Honor Israel," was received in my St. Paul office. In response, I am writing to inform you that I must decline the invitation.
Your event and events like it are "being coordinated and conducted around the country by Christians United for Israel," according to the invitation. The founder of this organization, Pastor John Hagee, is prominently highlighted on the invitation as an event speaker, along with Israel's Consul General Barukh Binah.
Pastor Hammond, freedom of speech and the freedom to practice one's religion are cherished American rights. However, well publicized public statements by Pastor Hagee demonstrate extremism, bigotry and intolerance that is repugnant. For example:
"I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God ... I believe that Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans." (Fresh Air, 9/18/2006)
"Those who live by the Quran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews." (Fresh Air, 9/18/2006)
"I would hope the United States would join Israel in a military pre-emptive strike to take out the nuclear capability of Iran for the salvation of Western civilization." (Jerusalem Post, 3/21/2006)
These statements are not representative of the people of Minnesota nor do I believe they reflect the views of the people of Israel whom the Pastor purports to be advocating on behalf of your church. How does one "honor Israel" with an individual whose toxic statements pollute the environment of peaceful religious coexistence, cooperation and respect that we strive to achieve in America, and especially in Minnesota, among Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of all faiths?
Pastor Hammond, it seems I am not alone in this belief. A clergyman from Pastor Hagee's own hometown of San Antonio, TX, Rabbi Barry Block, was identified in the Jewish Weekly as a supporter of Israel and characterizes Hagee as promoting, "...extremist anti-Palestinian positions and anti-Muslim prejudice..." and states, "I do not believe Pastor Hagee's activism is good for Israel." (Jewish Weekly, 3/9/2007)
My support and much of America's support for Israel is built on a historic partnership between our two nations and peoples, sharing a common goal of living in peace, security and freedom. Unlike Pastor Hagee, I support working for the "roadmap for peace" in the Middle East, Israel living side-by-side in peace and security with an independent Palestinian state. This is a goal many of us in Congress share with both Israeli political leaders and citizens.
Pastor Hammond, your invitation says this event's purpose is for people to "speak and act with one voice in support of Israel and the Jewish people." As an elected official and a person of faith, I feel compelled to speak out against a voice, like Pastor Hagee's, that promotes or, even worse, preaches intolerance and bigotry - whether in churches, synagogues or mosques. Minnesota is a state in which multiculturalism, religious tolerance, honest debate and a spirit of respect are treasured. Pastor Hagee's voice is clearly inconsistent with our Minnesota values and I believe with the values of the people of Israel .
Sincerely,
Betty McCollum
Member of Congress
Cc: Minnesota Congressional
Delegation
His Excellency Sallai Meridor, Ambassador of
Link to full letter on Congressperson's McCollum's letterhead with attachments
Posted by Cecilie Surasky under Educational
Institutions , Foundation
for the Defense of Democracies
The Jewish Community Relations Council in San Francisco gave us a heads up about this story, suggesting it would make a good Muzzlewatch entry. According to CAIR’s own press release:
The Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) today called on campus police at the University of California - Davis (UC Davis) to detain a speaker who openly states that he has committed acts of terror.
The UC Muslim Student Association also joined in the call, right before Shoebat was to appear before a sold-out UC audience.
At first glance, it seemed to make sense for Muzzlewatch. Walid Shoebat, a self-proclaimed former terrorist and Palestinian, who had converted to evangelical Christianity and discovered a new love for Israel, certainly had a right to speak at a public university, even if one disagreed with him.
But there was another question about Walid Shoebat, a longtime favorite on the Israel-right-or-wrong speaking circuit. Why exactly did CAIR and the MSA want him detained?
It was true, in an age of hyper-vigilance about terrorism, when even nuns get stuck on airline watch lists, and Muslim academics have a hard time just getting into (or back into) the country, it does seem odd that a supposed former terrorist who admits killing Israelis is running around the country, popping up on Fox and CNN, with nary a care in the world about getting hauled in by some enforcement agency.
But the real issue, it seemed, which CAIR and the MSA should have kept focused on, was that Shoebat is a religious extremist bigot who doesn’t deserve a platform at a public university. In fact, the question really should be, why are groups giving this guy even a second of airtime?
(By the way, he was invited to UC by the campus chapter of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which as we reported earlier, is part of the “Carter was bought by Arabs” smear campaign.)
If anything, that CAIR and the MSA felt they had to resort to the PR tactic of calling for Shoebat’s detention to get anyone to notice is a disgusting indictment of the fact that nobody else really seems to care if this guy is an Islamophobe. Hating Muslims just doesn’t rank as anything to get, you know, worked up about.
But there’s more.
To understand how disturbing it is that Jewish groups promote a Christian Zionist like Shoebat, it helps to understand the end times belief.
Josh Nathan-Kazis, a reporter for New Times, the “only national magazine written by and for Jewish college students,” wrote:
As an evangelical Christian, Shoebat has a vision that goes beyond annexing the entire West Bank–a vision that he avoids mentioning to his Jewish audiences. In private, though, Shoebat explained that he believes there will be “a great battle at the end…the children of Ishmael versus the Jewish community. Christians believe [the Jews] will…recognize that Jesus is the Messiah in the end.” Then he added, “but that is beside the point, this is not my agenda in the universities.”
Coming out of the Closet:
Bush Declares
Himself to be a Christian Zionist
President Bush gave his standard speech at the Israeli Knesset on the occasion of Israel's 60th anniversary. It was full of the usual simplistic platitudes painting the world in colors black and white.
But there was something unique about the Speech this time; something that confirms what we have long suspected, but could never affirm with any kind of certainty. President Bush is a Christian Zionist.
This is evident in what Bush said about the establishment of the Israeli state which he apparently considers to have been a divinely ordained event for a chosen people.
Sixty years ago in Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion
proclaimed Israel's independence, founded on the "natural right of the Jewish people
to be masters of their own fate." What followed was more than the establishment of a
new country. It was the redemption of an ancient promise given to Abraham and Moses and
David -- a homeland for the chosen people Eretz Yisrael.
The alliance between our governments is
unbreakable, yet the source of our friendship runs deeper than any treaty. It is grounded
in the shared spirit of our people, the bonds of the Book, the ties of the soul.
When William Bradford stepped off the Mayflower in 1620, he quoted the words of Jeremiah:
"Come let us declare in
What this means is that
You have raised a modern society in the
Promised Land, a light unto the nations that preserves the legacy of Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob. And you have built a mighty democracy that will endure forever and can always count
on the
There is something deeply troubling about the president
of our nation making statements like this, particularly in a situation so fraught with
moral ambiguity as is the founding of the State of Israel. What
Those who have held out some faint hope that this
president could be a source of healing and hope in the
John Hubers
Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism
John Hagee: Christian Zionism’s Cause or Effect?
By:
Stan Moody
March 26, 2008
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8b)
The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths (2 Timothy 4:3,4)
John Darby (1800-1882), the British father of a fundamentalist school of thought known as Dispensationalism, created a dualism that has since plagued the Christian Church and now threatens the national security of both Israel and, according to many, America. His thesis was that, contrary to the Christian messianic proclamation of the one Kingdom of God, there are two Kingdoms – an earthly, material Kingdom promised to the Jewish people and a spiritual Kingdom promised to Gentile believers in Jesus Christ.
This theme was picked up by the very popular Scofield Reference Bible published in 1909, followed by the Ryrie Study Bible in 1994.
Not all who call themselves Dispensationalists would fully agree with Darby. What they do agree on, however, is the forensic distinction between Israel and the Church. Thus, they would view many or all of the Old Testament prophesies as yet to be fulfilled in the modern nation-state of Israel. This dualism assumes both the dispensation of the Mosaic Law and the New Testament age of Grace to be running concurrently with different objectives. As the Gentile believer cannot be reconciled to God outside the person and work of Jesus Christ, so the Jewish people cannot be reconciled to God outside the land that most Dispensationalists would consider to be Historic Palestine – the land at least from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.
FULL ARTICLE (pdf file)
Christian Zionists are No Friends of Israel
It has been heartening to note that prominent Jewish spokespersons are beginning to become vocal about something that has been highlighted on this site since its inception, that the apocalyptic wing of the Christian Zionist movement represented by John Hagee and his Christians United for Israel are no friends of Israel. Where most Israelis are seeking ways to move beyond the perpetual conflict that marks their lives, John Hagee and his CUFI allies advocate policies that would exacerbate that conflict. Where most Israelis support a two state solution to the dilemma created by endemic war and occupation, John Hagee and CUFI oppose it. With friends like these . . .
The latest evidence of this is seen in the establishment of a new Jewish Lobby group called "the J Street Project." Composed of prominent American Jewish leaders and philanthropists and endorsed by at least two dozen key Israeli political and military figures, J Street seeks to counter the deleterious influence of Christian Zionist groups like Christians United for Israel by advocating for a negotiated two state solution. In doing so J Street signals their desire to re-define the term "Pro-Israel" tying it to advocacy of positions and policies which will help bring peace and prosperity to both Israelis and Palestinians.
"The definition of what it means to be pro-Israel has come to diverge from pursuing a peace settlement," said Alan Solomont, a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser involved in the initiative. In recent years, he said, "We have heard the voices of neocons, and right-of-center Jewish leaders and Christian evangelicals, and the mainstream views of the American Jewish community have not been heard."
from truthout.org
What the members of this new lobby group are recognizing is that those of us in the mainstream Christian community - Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox - evangelical and non - who oppose Christian Zionism are "friends of Israel." We are friends of Israel because we raise our voices against expansionist policies advocated by Christian Zionists which do nothing but perpetuate the conflict. We are friends of Israel also in the desire we express for a negotiated peace (opposed by Christian Zionists) which, in recognizing the legitimate aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians for their own independent states within internationally recognized borders, encourages them to deal with each other as equal partners in the peace process. In saying this we also raise our voices in opposition to the extremists among the Palestinians whose call for the destruction of Israel has done nothing to further the interests of the Palestinian people. As true friends of Israel we seek those things which make for peace. It's the only position acceptable to those who understand the core message of the scriptures holy to Jews and Christians.
We wish the new J Street Lobby all the best in their efforts to work with the Jewish community here in America to become advocates for policies which can lead to peace. We will certainly do what we can to advocate the same. We are friends of Israel. We are friends of Palestinians. We are friends of peace.
John Hubers
Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism
In Our Opinion: A Matter of Clarification
People who are unfamiliar with Christian Zionism, its history, its theology, its political ideology, may make the assumption that those of us who challenge it are also challenging Israel's right to exist or even expressing what could be construed as anti Semitic sentiments. While this may be true with some who jump on any bandwagon critical of Israeli political policy, it is not true with the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism. We fully support the right of Israel to live within secure internationally recognized borders at peace with its neighbors, which, of course, means the right to defend itself against those who seek its destruction. We also support the right of Palestinians to a state of their own free from the devastating strictures imposed by the current occupation (which echoes majority opinion in Israel itself).
But this is not our primary concern. Our primary concern is with a theology/ideology which distorts the Christian message by redefining the mission of Christ from that of reconciliation with justice for all to a narrow nationalism leading to an apocalyptic scenario which recasts the Prince of Peace into the role of a Vengeful Warrior. Bad theology leads to bad practice. Christian Zionism is bad theology. The fact that it lends itself to the worst kind of militaristic nationalism justifying the theft of land, the dehumanization of both Palestinians and Israelis (who become less flesh and blood neighbors than characters in an eschatological fantasy) and the denial of Palestinian identity, only underscores why this bad theology needs to be challenged.
We are not anti Israel. We are certainly not anti Semitic. We are believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus whose demand for justice, reconciliation and peace is the unmistakable core of the biblical message. Please read nothing on this website as anything but .
John Hubers
Before the event began I clicked on the
Cornerstone website and read the calendar of events for this weekend that Pastor John
Hagee calls “the
three most action packed days on Cornerstone’s calendar for this year.” One would think that Easter or Christmas would
receive as much attention, energy, and budget as this one does, which includes an Israeli
marketplace with over 70 vendors, fireworks, and leading Israeli military analysts.
When Rev. Hagee launched Christians
United for Israel (CUFI) in
Many Jews such as Israeli writer Gershom
Gorenberg, author of “The End of Days,” are extremely uncomfortable with many
anti-Semitic aspects of Christian Zionism, including the teaching that foresees two-thirds
of all Jews being killed in the latter day wars and the remainder converting to
Christianity. Gorenberg summarized his
feelings on a 2002 CBS “60 Minutes” interview: “As a Jew, I
don’t like my chances in their drama.”
Jesus was always careful to
separate one-sided political projects from his message concerning “the
We are called to live lives that
manifest God’s love and to take that love into the difficult places, as
From Religious Rant to Political Bombast
by Rev. Art Preisinger
If John Hagee’s “Night to Honor Israel” extravaganza is any indication, Christian
Zionism is a misnomer. From happy-clappy Jewish praise music, to love songs crooned
to and about Israel, to a kitschy Hava Nagila; from invocations and benedictions
that turn out to be sermons; from Muslim-bashing to Israel lauding; from dramatic
processions to keynote addresses; from offerings taken and offerings given – there
was not a shred, a trace, a scintilla of Christianity in the proceedings. It could
well have been sponsored by the PTA or the Rotary Club.
Of course, if Hagee wants to honor Israel and give it gobs of non-governmental funds that
is certainly his privilege. But to promote this under the aegis of
“Christian” is, frankly, fraudulent.
But the “Night to Honor Israel” was worse than a fraud – it was idolatrous,
and this in two ways.
First, what was worshiped was the state of Israel, and more particularly, Jerusalem.
Select passages culled from the Hebrew Bible, referring to Israel’s “right”
to the land – all of Palestine – and an undivided Jewish Jerusalem were repeated
again and again ad nauseam. What was not quoted were those passages that speak of
the obligation to do justice and practice mercy.
Part of the problem is in the word “prophecy.” Christian Zionists, as well
as most fundamentalists and millennialists, use that word almost exclusively as a means to
understand present, and predict future, events. Contemporary events, seen through
the spectacles of “prophecy,” lead to “Rapture” and
“Tribulations” and “Second Comings” and “Armageddon.”
Biblical passages are interpreted to coincide with that scenario.
On the other hand, prophecy in its initial sense is a human agent (the prophet) who speaks
God’s word for a particular existential situation. Christian Zionists would be
well-advised, for example, to read the book of the prophet Amos as a corrective to these
skewed interpretations of various passages often quoted from Ezekiel. Daniel, and
Revelation.
Second, the adulation of John Hagee, as one who is becoming the most important leader of
contemporary Christian Zionism, if not idolatry, comes awfully close to it. This
cult of the personality was most striking at the “Night.” David Brog,
Executive Director of CUFI
(Christians United for Israel) extolled the virtues of Hagee in the words, “Pastor
John Hagee is not an important man. Pastor John Hagee is a great man!”
With the cheering and clapping and whistling and stomping of feet and raised arms of the
3000 disciples at this announcement, I was reminded of Leni Riefenstahl’s film,
Triumph of the Will, about the Nuremberg rallies in Nazi Germany. Hitler had his
Goebbels; Hagee has his Brog.
Interspersed with religious rant from misinterpreted Hebrew Scriptures (the New Testament
was not mentioned once, nor was Jesus; God got a tip of the hat only occasionally) was
political bombast. This was supplied by Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice President
of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.
Two things were most disturbing: the advocation of violence and the racism of the
Christian Zionist movement. Time and again Hoenlein, as well as Hagee, called for
the bombing and possible invasion of Iran. Diplomacy is not an option since it
simply conveys weakness to the 300 million (count ‘em) Muslim terrorists who
“hate freedom” (that old canard) and who, if not stopped in Iran, will
eventually come to our shores with suitcases full of nuclear bombs.
What is inherent in this scenario is the racism that declares the superiority of the West
and western culture over against the East (read Middle East). And that racism is
Manichaean – in stark terms “they” are evil, “we” are good (so
Hoenlein). The good must not only defend itself against the evil, it must wipe it
out; it must obliterate it.
Finally, I am struck by the fact that throughout the speeches and the hoopla the
centuries-old complaint of Jewish victimhood was juxtaposed with Israeli military triumph
(also of the will), which (God?) will grant Israel. Victim or conqueror: You can’t
have it both ways.
Hagee closed his speech with “God bless Israel and God bless the United States of
America.” Implied is “and God damn all those who are not
us.” Untitled
Suspicions Raised About "Ex terrorist" Christian Zionist by Israeli Newspaper
Self proclaimed "ex-terrorist" Christian Zionist, Walid Shoebat
In an astonishing expose suspicions were raised this week by the conservative Israeli English daily, The Jerusalem Post, that prominent self-proclaimed ex-terrorist, Walid Shoebat, is, as some of his critics have long suspected, a fundamentalist Christian Zionist scam artist who has concocted a fictional persona to give credence to an anti-Muslim, apocalyptically-driven evangelical message for a steep speaker's fee. The Jerusalem Post article takes him to account for both issues – the veracity of his biography and questionable financial dealings.
While others have made similar accusations of Shoebat, noting that many of the claims he makes about his "terrorist" past lack credibility, the Post article represents the first time a journalist has done the work of speaking to Shoebat's family members in Palestine as well as checking on claims he has made about the status of his charitable foundation.
Of particular interest to the Post reporter was an incident which Shoebat uses on the circuit to establish his bona fides as a legitimate "ex-PLO terrorist." It was an attempt to bomb an Israeli bank. But, as the Post reports, this account runs counter to the recollections of his family as well as officials at the bank in question.
"Shoebat's claim to have been a terrorist rests on his account of the purported bombing of Bank Leumi. But after checking its files, the bank said it had no record of an attack on its Bethlehem branch anywhere in the relevant 1977-79 period."
According to the Post, Shoebat's family members also wonder why he claims to be living under a pseudonym for fear of reprisals when in fact he is using his own name. They also are puzzled as to why he claims to have grown up as a Jew-hating Islamist when the ideology with which he was raised was actually "rather mild." The fact that this occurred at a time when Palestinian nationalism had not yet become wedded to a militant interpretation of Islam gives even more weight to his family members' recollections.
The Sunday Telegraph described Shoebat as a man who "for much of his life... was eager to commit acts of terrorism for the sake of his soul and the Palestinian cause."
In that interview he described how he and his peers were indoctrinated as children "to believe that the fires of hell were an ever-present reality. We were all terrified of burning in hell when we died... The teachers told us that the only way we could certainly avoid that fate was to die in a martyrdom operation - to die for Islam."
But an uncle and a cousin of Shoebat, who still live in Beit Sahur in the Bethlehem area, where Shoebat grew up, said that Shoebat's education was rather mild ideologically, and that religion did not play a dominant role.
Even more potentially damning is what the journalist who wrote the piece for the Post uncovered about the foundation Shoebat established to receive monies for his work. According to Shoebat this foundation is a registered charity in Pennsylvania. When state officials were contacted about this, however, there was no evidence that this was the case, not, at least under Shoebat's name. Even more suspicious is the way donations are received on Shoebat's website:
Visitors to Shoebat's Internet site are encouraged to make a donation to his foundation to enable him to disseminate his message. However, a notice on the page states that for "security reasons," the money will not be debited to his foundation, but rather to a company called Top Executive Media. The name Top Executive Media is used by a greetings card firm from Pennsylvania called Top Executive Greetings, a company with an annual turnover of $500,000. When one makes a donation through the Shoebat Internet site, the Web address changes to topexecutivegreetings.com/shoebat.
This seems to be the only active page for the company; its homepage is blank.
Asked by the Post whether the Walid Shoebat Foundation is a registered charity, Shoebat replied that it is registered in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania State Attorney's office said it had no record of a charity registered under this name.
Clearly this needs to be investigated further. One wonders, in fact, how all of this got past officials at the Air Force Academy who welcomed Shoebat and two other self-professed "ex terrorists" to speak to their students last month. One wonders, too, at the wisdom of any group who would invite Shoebat and his cohorts to speak while these accusations remain largely uninvestigated. This includes Christians United for Israel, who plan to showcase the "three ex-terrorists" at their annual summit meeting in Washington this coming July.
The Jerusalem Post has done a great service in taking the first steps towards the encouragement of a more thorough investigation of of Shoebat’s public personae and his fundraising practices. It's important that others now pick up where they left off.
FOR THE FULL JERUSALEM POST ARTICLE CLICK HERE
A LUTHERAN PASTOR REFLECTS ON THE JERUSALEM STATEMENT ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM
In the last part of the Apostle’s Creed we
confess that we believe “in the
resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” Hope for the coming
of the kingdom in all its fullness has always been a part of the Christian
faith. Our hope for eternal life - the life where there is no hindrance
on God’s love, gracious will, and unlimited vitality - guides our deeds
and actions in this world. What we are promised in the kingdom we strive
to make a reality now.
We cannot imagine that the problems that
human sin brings to this world –
hunger, war, injustice, oppression, violence, hatred, greed, and the like
–will be a part of the kingdom we long for. So now, when we see these
dark things loose in the world, we commit ourselves to follow the
teaching of Christ to “overcome evil with good.”
But there is a disturbing misuse of our
hope for the kingdom that makes
me so sad when I see it. This arrogant and deceitful theology plays on
human fear and not the love of God, claiming to know when “the end is
near”.
It unfortunately often manifests itself
in American religious life among
those who pretend to offer secret insights from the book of Revelation
into the true meaning of events in the middle east. In times of war,
especially if involves the state of Israel, proponents of this harmful
teaching encourage war instead of looking for ways to bring peace. When
they should be calling for understanding and reconciliation, they enflame
hatred between Israelis and their Arab neighbors and between Christians
and Muslims. They do this because they claim that Christ cannot return
until the whole world is at war with Israel. My friends, I cannot say
strongly enough that this is a terribly harmful distortion of the
Christian faith, and a terrible insult to all the people of the middle
east.
Recently our Lutheran Bishop in
Jerusalem, along with the bishops of
several other ancient and prominent Christian denominations, signed a
declaration calling for Christian leaders throughout the world to oppose
this hate mongering and instead promote love, reconciliation, justice,
and understanding in the middle east.
An excerpt:
“We call upon all Churches that remain silent, to break their silence and speak
for reconciliation with justice in the Holy Land.
“Therefore, we commit ourselves to the following principles as an
alternative way:
“We affirm that all people are created in the image of God. In turn they
are called to honor the dignity of every human being and to respect theirinalienable
rights.
“We affirm that Israelis and Palestinians are capable of living together
with peace, justice and security.
There is more, but you can see their essential point: That it is wrong
for Christians to lose their hope for peace for any of the peoples of the
world. And to deny that hope by the use of the Bible is particularly
wrong.
Many would
like to know the future. Life is difficult, and our hope for
the kingdom keeps us motivated to follow Jesus even when times are hard.
But as Jesus did not claim to know when
the end would come, it is
presumptuous of us to think ourselves wiser than he. “Blessed are the
peacemakers,“ he taught. Let that be wisdom enough for us.
Aug.
24, 2006
Rev. Franz J. Schemmel
Messiah Lutheran Church
Weatherford, Texas
Washington Post
By Matthew Tostevin
Reuters
Thursday, August 31, 2006; 1:53 PM
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Vatican's envoy in the Holy Land and bishops from three other churches have launched a rare joint attack on the Christian Zionist movement, accusing it of promoting "racial exclusivity and perpetual war."
Christian Zionists form a growing part of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, the Jewish state's main ally. They believe the return of Jews to the Holy Land and establishment of Israel are proof of God's promises to biblical patriarchs.
Churches in the Middle East often appear closer to the Palestinians, whose Christian minority makes up a substantial portion of their clergy in the region.
The "Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism" was signed by Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, a Palestinian, and by bishops of the Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran and Syrian Orthodox Churches in Jerusalem.
Many Christian Zionists are evangelical Protestants, and the declaration is a sign of a growing struggle between the groups.
"The Christian Zionist program provides a world view where the Gospel is identified with the ideology of empire, colonialism and militarism," said the declaration, accusing Christian Zionists of hurting hopes for Middle East peace.
"We reject the teachings of Christian Zionism that facilitate and support these policies as they advance racial exclusivity and perpetual war," the declaration added.
The three main Christian Zionist groups in Jerusalem said in a statement that they were concerned at the declaration's "inflammatory language" and that it was far from the truth.
Christian Zionists stress Christianity's Jewish roots. Some back the movement to settle the occupied West Bank, the cradle of Jewish civilization, which Palestinians want as part of an independent state.
INFLAMMATORY
"We pray for peace. But we note with sadness that the present Palestinian government is totally dedicated to the destruction of Israel," the Christian Zionist groups said in their statement, referring to the governing Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
The prospect of Middle East peace talks has looked even more unlikely since Hamas's election victory in January. The group is formally dedicated to destroying Israel.
"The problem in the region is not as simple as the Jerusalem Declaration makes out," the Christian Zionists' statement said.
Some Christian Zionists believe that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land will bring about the end of the world and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Some also believe Jews themselves will have to become Christians or perish.
The Christian Zionist groups in Jerusalem said they had no "thirst for Armageddon" and do not base their theological position on "end time prophecy." They called for dialogue with the clerics behind the declaration that condemned them.
Christian Zionism is strongest in the United States, where support is much higher than in Europe or other parts of the world for Israel in its conflicts with the Palestinians and in its recent war with Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
James Rudin, senior advisor on inter-religious affairs for the American Jewish Committee in New York, said there are "millions and millions of American Christians" who support Israel but who do not consider themselves Zionists.
He said they represent a core of support far larger than those who base their backing of Israel on the Bible.
(Additional reporting by Tom Heneghan in Paris and Mike Conlon in Chicago)
Holy Land churches attack Christian Zionism
THE JERUSALEM DECLARATION ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM
from the heads of various indigenous Christian churches in Jerusalem
“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
Christian Zionism is a modern theological and political movement that embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism, thereby becoming detrimental to a just peace within Palestine and Israel. The Christian Zionist programme provides a worldview where the Gospel is identified with the ideology of empire, colonialism and militarism. In its extreme form, it laces an emphasis on apocalyptic events leading to the end of history rather than living Christ’s love and justice today. We categorically reject Christian Zionist doctrines as false teaching that corrupts the biblical message of love, justice and reconciliation.
We further reject the contemporary alliance of Christian Zionist leaders and organizations with elements in the governments of Israel and the United States that are presently imposing their unilateral pre-emptive borders and domination over Palestine. This inevitably leads to unending cycles of violence that undermine the security of all peoples of the Middle East and the rest of the world.
We reject the teachings of Christian Zionism that facilitate and support these policies as they advance racial exclusivity and perpetual war rather than the gospel of universal love, redemption and reconciliation taught by Jesus Christ. Rather than condemn the world to the doom of Armageddon we call upon everyone to liberate themselves from the ideologies of militarism and occupation. Instead, let them pursue the healing of the nations!
We call upon Christians in Churches on every continent to pray for the Palestinian and Israeli people, both of whom are suffering as victims of occupation and militarism. These discriminative actions are turning Palestine into impoverished ghettos surrounded by exclusive Israeli settlements. The establishment of the illegal settlements and the construction of the Separation Wall on confiscated Palestinian land undermines the viability of a Palestinian state as well as peace and security in the entire region.
We call upon all Churches that remain silent, to break their silence and speak for reconciliation with justice in the Holy Land.
Therefore, we commit ourselves to the following principles as an alternative way:
We affirm that all people are created in the image of God. In turn they are called to honor the dignity of every human being and to respect their inalienable rights.
We affirm that Israelis and Palestinians are capable of living together within peace, justice and security.
We affirm that Palestinians are one people, both Muslim and Christian. We reject all attempts to subvert and fragment their unity.
We call upon all people to reject the narrow world view of Christian Zionism and other ideologies that privilege one people at the expense of others.
We are committed to non-violent resistance as the most effective means to end the illegal occupation in order to attain a just and lasting peace.
With urgency we warn that Christian Zionism and its alliances are justifying colonization, apartheid and empire-building.
God demands that justice be done. No enduring peace, security or reconciliation is possible without the foundation of justice. The demands of justice will not disappear. The struggle for justice must be pursued diligently and persistently but non-violently.
“What does the Lord require of you, to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
This is where we take our stand. We stand for justice. We can do no other. Justice alone guarantees a peace that will lead to reconciliation with a life of security and prosperity for all the peoples of our Land. By standing on the side of justice, we open ourselves to the work of peace - and working for peace makes us children of God.
“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Cor 5:19)
His Beattitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah
Latin Patriarchate, Jerusalem
Archbishop Swerios Malki Mourad,
Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, Jerusalem
Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal,
Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East
Bishop Munib Younan,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
EVANGELICALS CHALLENGE CHRISTIAN
ZIONISTS: CONTRARY TO JESUS’ LIFE AND TEACHING
“The images that are being portrayed in the press and the United States are not deterring the Evangelicals from wholeheartedly supporting Israel.” Pat Robertson during his recent visit to Jerusalem, Jerusalem Post, Aug. 9, 2006.
On July 19 & 20 Christians United For Israel (CUFI) met in Washington DC with an agenda which included encouraging Israel to give serious consideration to a pre-emptive strike on Iran as well as calling for full American support for Israel's increasingly violent campaign in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. This approach to the issues of our day is harmful to all persons – Christians, Muslims, and Jews – in the Middle East and around the world. MORE . . .
The Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism
(ISCZ) represents a different perspective. With the vast majority of U.S.
Evangelicals and an even higher percentage of U.S. Christians generally, the ISCZ believes
that seeking God’s justice and peace is a crucial element of Jesus’ mandate for
his Church. We believe that the ideology of Christian Zionism turns the good news of
Jesus Christ into a militant, Crusader ideology that justifies violence in the name of
God, increasing the cycles of terrorism, insecurity, and injustice. ISCZ works and
prays for the security of all of God’s people in the Middle East and fears that
CUFI’s call for military solutions makes not only Israelis and their Arab neighbors
less secure, but also citizens of Europe and the United States more vulnerable to
potential terrorist acts.
In the present conflict, we denounce violence and
the suffering of innocent lives on all sides: in Israel, in Lebanon, as well as in the
Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank. We grieve for those who are victimized
by the endemic violence which accompanies the conflict between Israel and her Arab
neighbors. We grieve as well over the damage which has been done to the life giving
message of Christ at the hands of Christians who condone and even celebrate the violence.
Self-identified as “Christian Zionists,” these church leaders claim to bless
Israel through unconditional support for the state’s military policies on the basis
of a questionable interpretation of God’s promise to Abraham: “I will bless
those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse” (Gen. 12:3). Yet by
advocating for violent “solutions” to this conflict, the Christian Zionist
effort as blessing has in fact become a curse; and not only for Israel, but for all
peoples.
ISCZ’s panel of scholars is united in their concern for the “Peace of the Middle East” which includes Jews, Muslim, and Christians. The above statements are from the Evangelical members of the ISCZ to fellow Christians and most especially Evangelicals. Muslim and Jewish members of ISCZ share the sentiments and concern for achieving a just and peaceful world.
The Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism, www.christianzionism.org
The founding purpose of the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism is to promote the study of the history, theology, and politics of Christian Zionism while offering a biblical nonviolent vision about the conflicts surrounding Israel and Palestine, and their global impact.
Christian-Zionist Support of Israel
by Baruch Maoz (Israel)
In times like these, excitement brews in many evangelical circles in which Israel finds
a solid support base: "perhaps these events will lead to Armageddon!" I cannot
understand the excitement, almost glee, with which some welcome such an awful event, nor
the tendency some of these brethren display to ignore the moral issues involved in a
military conflict.
For the record: I am a Christian and a Zionist. But I am not a Christian-Zionist. I am
a Christian first and intend to labour, God giving me grace, so that my Christian
convictions qualify any of my other views, including my Zionism. I, therefore, share my
people's discomfort with aspects of some Evangelical support of Israel.
ON July 28, the Wall Street Journal carried an extensive article describing the enlistment
of evangelicals in support of Israel, particularly the kind represented by Rev. John
Hagee. My letter to the correspondent, given below, will perhaps best summarize my
concerns and thoughts on this matter:
Mr. Higgins,
As a Jew and a Christian, as a Zionist and as Pastor of one of the larger evangelical
churches in Israel, in which both Jews and Arabs worship, I wish to go on record decrying
the motivation, the tone and the nature of Mr. Hagee's support of my nation, while
welcoming support as such – all too infrequently offered to my people over the last
two millennia.
I do not believe anything –anything! – should ever be considered as capable of
absolving us from our moral responsibilities as we conduct the present war. The almost
total lack of moral consideration represented by Mr. Hagee's professedly Christian support
of Israel is less than Christian. I am grateful for the support Mr. Hagee has sought to
encourage for my nation, but do wish it were more biblically informed. The true focus in
the message of Israel's prophets was always spiritual and moral; the predictive element
had last place and was always subservient to the former two.
The West need to wake up! The present conflict is not between Hezbollah and Israel so much
as it is between a radical, determined, world-wide Islam and the liberties accorded the
West by its biblical roots. It is indeed "a clash of civilizations", in which
Israel is considered by the radical Moslem world as the forefront of western civilization,
to be destroyed and replaced by a Talibanized society that will harbinger the future of
the world at large. When will America, when will Europe awaken from the slumber of its
smug self-confidence? Will they awake before it is too late?!
Respectfully,
Baruch Maoz (Rev.)
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