Meet The Christian Zionists

Last updated on: November 11, 2010 at 6:23 pm by Jeffrey L. Falick

Meet The Christian Zionists 2010-11-11T18:23:00-05:00 Jeffrey L. Falick

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It’s been a year or two since I last attended a meeting of the local rabbinical association, but the last time I did, I walked out with a sick feeling in my stomach.

On the agenda was consideration of rabbinical participation in a planned Miami event called “Salute to Israel” hosted by Christians United for Israel (CUFI). This is the “Christian Zionist” organization founded by John Hagee, a right-wing fundamentalist minister. Its current president is Gary Bauer of Family Research Council fame.

I was flabbergasted at the positive responses to this event that I heard from otherwise moderate and liberal rabbis (there was only one Orthodox member present and he was among the more reasonable).

It seemed not to matter terribly much to my colleagues that Hagee, Bauer and their ilk represent the most vicious homophobic, misogynistic religious voices in America. The conversation was all about how wonderful it is that they support Israel. There was no consideration given to the motivation for this supposedly wonderful support.

Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up As One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back. In an article on HuffPost he has written about these Christian Zionists and reviewed a new documentary film that’s been produced about them. I haven’t seen the film so I can’t fairly comment on it, but his post makes some devastating points:

To the Christian Zionists “defending Israel” is just a handy pretext for indulging their obsession: egging on, even “helping” the fulfillment of “biblical prophecies” about the “return of Christ.”

They are the Christian equivalent of the messianic Jewish nut jobs that insist on fulfilling God’s will by their immoral and frequently violent settlement activities on the West Bank.

Schaeffer sums them up this way:

…[T]heir very raison d’être is an insult to any actual God (if there is such a thing). I mean how could God be stupider than his frail human creatures? And what could be stupider than tying land acquisition to spirituality, as if the God Of The Universe is addicted to enforcing borders established by British colonialists and/or some rather nasty genocidal warring Bronze Age tribes?!

They absolutely do believe in these kinds of things. Both the settlers, many of whom believe that their actions will bring the messiah and their Christian allies, who care only about how to facilitate “the return of Christ,” present a danger to any possibility of peace.

I support Israel, too. The version of Israel that I support is a secular democratic state preserving Hebrew and Jewish culture while protecting the rights and dignity of all of its citizens. I care not one whit for “holy” stories, sites or borders. The only thing that is sacred to me is human life and well-being.

Accepting support from anyone who views Israel as the fulfillment of nonsensical supernatural legends is as irresponsible as it is ridiculous.

Blog Entries

Fundamentalist Christianity

Israel

Liberal Judaism

Previous Post

November 9, 2010

Score One For Science

Next Post

November 12, 2010 The Stoopid...It Hurts! Rabbinical Edition

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Blog Entries

Select a Month January 2017 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 March 2015 December 2014 February 2014 December 2013 October 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 September 2012 August 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am twelve men sent to explore the Promised Land, but only two gave a good report. Who are we?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The twelve spies Explorers Leaders of Israel Messengers