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Alternative Voice to Christian
Zionism
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 | one, that the collection of passages from throughout the Bible comprise a related story; |
| two, it is dependent on reading into the scripture meanings, that may not have been intended by the writer; |
| three, it uses scriptures out of context; and |
| four, it omits relevant scriptures that lead one to an exactly opposite position. |
I will mention here only a few examples of scriptures directly relevant to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, about which, Christian Zionists are strangely silent when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
First, a short diversion. Some of you with an historical interest may be familiar with the discussions before the Civil War about whether the Bible supports slavery. In 1841 a minister named Thornton Stringfellow wrote a famous treatise defending slavery based on a Biblical exegesis. It was not difficult to write such a treatise – slavery existed throughout the bible, from Abraham, to Noah, to Joseph, through the New Testament and Paul’s letters. It was punishment for evil behavior – not only for those who did evil but for all of their descendents forever. Nowhere in the Bible was slavery condemned.
The defense of slavery using the Bible was about a political and economic system that was not congruent with the Bible’s message of love and justice. The slavery issue was the first battle over the Bible, dealing with the conflict between its letter and its spirit, and pitting certain narrowly defined biblical practices and examples against broader biblical ideals and principles. The abolitionists knew the devil could quote the bible for his purposes. This was not a debate about the finer points of exegesis.
Stringfellow’s treatise defending slavery did not exclude any scriptures specifically condemning slavery (there were none, of course). In contrast, however, the Christian Zionist “theology” leaves out many scriptures that bear directly on the issues of their political agenda.
Christian Zionists cite God’s words to Abraham (Gn 12:13), “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse,” to make the point that the United States should provide unquestioning support for everything the state of Israel does, and that we are at peril if we do not. However, they have ignored the book of Isaiah where God criticized Israel for doing injustices similar to what it is now doing to the Palestinians. Are we blessing Israel by encouraging it to do what God criticized it for doing?
Christian Zionists call for the ethnic cleansing of all Arabs (Muslim and Christian) from Palestine. However, they have ignored the 20 or so passages in the Old Testament that specifically gave religious, social, and legal rights to aliens – Arabs in the case of the right wing Jewish Zionists. Jews recite one of these passages every year at the Passover meal: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” (Lev. 19:33-34)
They cite Ez. 36:24, “I will take you from all nations, and gather you from all countries, and bring you into your own land,” as a prophesy of the current rebuilding of Israel. However, they do not talk about the context of Ezekiel, which is that this applied to the return from exile 2500 years ago. Nowhere does Ezekiel say this is a prediction of the future.
In their passion for playing a role in facilitating a perceived imminent Second Coming of Jesus, they have ignored the words of Jesus in the Gospels and Acts, [Matt 24:36, Mark 13:32, Luke 12:40, Acts 1:7] where Jesus says no one knows the timing of His return. Continuously, for 2000 years, Christians have been predicting the imminent return of Jesus. For 2000 years, Jesus has been right in saying that the predictors would be wrong, and that there would be false prophets [Mark 13:22]. In just the past 50 years, there have been numerous failed prophesies and false prophets.
Most disturbing scripturally, is that the Christian Zionists’ political agenda asks Christians to turn their back on the Bible’s central themes of love, justice, and concern for those at risk. In the Old Testament Micah [6:8] said, “…what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.” In the Gospels, Jesus tells us that a distinguishing characteristic of His followers is that they should love their enemies. And Jesus tells us about those who would be turned away from heaven on Judgment Day: “I was hungry, and you gave me no food,…I was a stranger and you did not welcome me…” Forty percent of Palestinians do not have daily access to food, and other thirty percent are in danger of being in that category. Christian Zionists and right wing Jewish Zionists want Palestinians, who they view as strangers in the land, not to be welcomed, but to be ethnically cleansed from the land.
Like the Biblical case for slavery, the Christian Zionist theology is outside the central theme of love and justice in the Bible. The litmus test for any Christian theology should be that the teachings of Jesus validate that theology.
Anti-Semitism
Let us look now at the concern of some that supporting this resolution is anti-Semitic. Christian Zionists say that they alone speak for all Jews. By the mere fact of making this statement, however, Christian Zionists have themselves fallen into the trap of being anti-Semitic. For they have made the assumption made by almost all prejudiced people when they speak of other groups, that all of “them” (Jews, blacks, Hispanics) are the same.
Christian Zionists have denied the diversity in the Jewish population. They have denied the existence of the majority of Jews who in fact oppose the Christian Zionist political agenda. Jews, like the rest of us, have a spectrum of political views. Only the right wing Jewish Zionists are aligned with Christian Zionists. When Tom DeLay (the Republican Party whip in the U.S. House of Representatives) spoke to the Israeli Knesset in July 2003, his views were so extreme that one legislator commented, “Until I heard him speak, I thought I was the farthest to the right in the Knesset!”
There are many Jewish peace groups in Israel and elsewhere that oppose the occupation policies of the state of Israel. Last month there was a peace rally of 150,000 people in Tel Aviv demanding withdrawal of all settlements from the Gaza Strip. Based on relative populations, the 150,000 in Tel Aviv would correspond to 7.5 million people attending a rally in the U.S.!
Last month two former chief rabbis of Israel approved a religious ruling urging followers not to accept money from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, an organization that raises money from Christian Zionists. These leading Israeli Rabbis are concerned about Christian Zionists:
| proselytizing of Jews, |
| eschatological views having to do with Jews, |
| support for Israel’s extreme right wing that opposes any compromise with the Palestinians. |
The political and financial support Christian Zionists provide for the right wing Jewish Zionists has done little to enhance their perception by the Jewish community. Each year, the American Jewish Committee conducts a poll of the Jewish community. The poll conducted in December 2003 had a question asking about anti-Semitism. Jewish respondents were asked whether most, or many, in several groups were anti-Semitic. Muslims scored 55% in terms of perceived anti-Semitism. The religious right, which has actively supported the right wing Jewish Zionists, scored 41% in terms of perceived anti-Semitism. Mainstream Protestants and Catholics, who are somewhat evenhanded in their approach to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, scored only 13% in terms of perceived anti-Semitism.
By their actions, and by perceptions in the broader Jewish Community, Christian Zionists are the ones who need to deal with the anti-Semitic label. The relationship between Christian Zionists and the right wing Jewish Zionists is a marriage of convenience to achieve extremist political goals that are common to each. Papered over, however, the very fundamental conflicts in the underlying theological motivations of the two groups.
Poll after poll shows that most Jews reject the Christian Zionist political agenda. Prominent Jews, from columnist Thomas Friedman, to industrialist Lester Crown, to financier Penny Pritzker, to theologian Mark Ellis, to the Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Daniel Barenboim, oppose the occupation policies of the state of Israel. In an interview just last week on Chicago Tonight, Barenboim said, “The actions of the Israeli government are abhorrent. I fight against people who shut up [on this issue].”
Conclusion
Jesus gave us a wonderful summary of the Old Testament when he said of the two great commandments, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Christian Zionism is a theology that clearly conflicts with Jesus’ two-sentence summary of the Old Testament, asking people to support actions in conflict with the Bible’s broader teachings of love and justice. It has no more validity than did the use of the Bible to justify slavery in the 1800s.
Because moderate Christians have not taken the time to understand the diversity in the Jewish community, because we have not actively reached out in real partnership to the very large Jewish peace community, we have allowed the minority alliance of Christian Zionists and right wing Jewish Zionists to define opposition to Christian Zionism as anti-Semitic. We have allowed them to dictate our actions. The fact is most Jews oppose the Christian Zionist political agenda.
In conclusion, the United Church of Christ should challenge Christian Zionism’s misuse of the Bible. Our Bible is not a basis for prosecuting ideological wars of any kind.
Gene Wollaston, June 2004
• Copyright © 2007 First Congregational Church |
