Christian Zionism 101
Recently, a political movement known as Christian Zionism has been building among fundamentalists Christians in the United States. Some of the best recent efforts to document this movement was done by Max Blumenthal. His video, taken at the annual meeting of the group Christians United for Israel, showcases among other things ordinary members of the group talking about how all of the Jews should convert to Christianity, and Joe Lieberman comparing the founder of the group, John Hagee to Moses.
To understand the motives of Christian Zionism, one has to understand fundamentalist Christian Eschatology (the study of end times prophecies). Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and many Mainline Protestant groups, which believe in something that is known as amillennialism. This teaches that Jesus is currently ruling from heaven, and that Jesus will only create a physical kingdom on earth after the Final Judgment. Most Fundamentialist Protestants believe in what is known as premillennial dispensationalism. This is the form of Christian eschatology that features the rapture, and seven years tribulation, and is featured in the left behind books. Dispensationalism was invented by John Nelson Darby in the nineteenth century.
If you are not already familiar with this subject, I am sure that you are wondering how these two subjects are connected. The connection is that many followers of Premillennialism believe that in order for the rapture and all of that other stuff to start the Jewish people must be in completely be in control of Israel. This means that all of the non Jewish people must be removed from Israel. This means that Christian Zionists are against giving any of Israel, or the Israeli occupied territory to the Palestinians, a stance which will only lead to an endless cycle of violence. It also means that they support the removal of Palestinians currently living on the land that they consider to be Israel.
To me, one of the most disturbing aspects of Christian Zionism is that many Christian Zionists are strong supporters of an attack on Iran. Attacking Iran would be a very stupid for America to do, and it would horribly over extend our already stretched military to the beyond the breaking point. Attacking Iran would probably completely destabilize Southwest Asia, and most likely be disastrous to whatever our objective in Iraq will be at the time. (Sadly, I have no doubt that we will remain in Iraq, most likely till the oil runs out, but that is a topic for another post)
Many Christian Zionists are also very antagonistic towards Muslims. A speaker at a conference by Christians United for Israel, Bridgette Gabriel, of the American Congress for Truth (not a Christian Zionist group), said this of Muslims:
“The difference, my friends, between Israel and the Arab world is the difference between civilization and barbarism. It’s the difference between good and evil… this is what we’re witnessing in the Arabic world, They have no SOUL !, they are dead set on killing and destruction. And in the name of something they call “Allah” which is very different from the God we believe… because our God is the God of love.”(quote found on Talk2action)
As far as I know, this speech has not been criticized by Christian’s United for Israel, or by any of the politicians that were at the conference. A high ranking member of Christian’s United for Israel has also said that god wants the Dome of The Rock, which is one of the holiest sites in Islam, destroyed. The reason that Christian Zionists want the Dome of the Rock destroyed is that it stands on the Temple Mount, the site that Christian Zionists believe the third Jewish Temple will be built. Returning to the first quote, imagine the outcry that would have happen if a Muslim had said the same words about Jews. The outcry would be tremendous, and ruinous to whom ever had made such a despicable quote. And yet, despite the fact that the quote says that over 1 billion people are dead set on killing and destruction, there has been no outcry about this quote.
The last thing that I will bring up is the Anti-Jewish nature of Christian Zionism. One of the most ironic aspects of Christians United for Israel, is that while they accuse people who suggest that anything other than exclusive Israeli control of all of Palestine, of being anti-semitic. This is ironic, because one of the core elements of Christian Zionism is that all Jews (and other non Christians) will either have to convert, or be killed during the battle of Armageddon. Also, as I mentioned above, one of the main reason that Christian Zionists support Israel is because of a biblical prophecy, from a fringe interpretation of the bible. This means that Christian Zionists aren’t supporting Israel because they like Israel, they are supporting Israel because they want to immanentize the eschaton (Bring about the end of the world).
February 28, 2008 at 4:03 am
I am glad to hear that you dislike John McCain, same feelings here
May 13, 2008 at 1:48 pm
[...] This post from Glenn Greenwald is about a recent interview by Atlantic magazine with Barrack Obama. This article contrasts the current Israeli butt kissing that is required of modern American politicians with a 1950s era letter in which Dwight Eisenhower claims to have told the state Department to tell David Ben-Gurion that America would “handle our affairs exactly as though we didn’t have a Jew in America.” (more about this general topic is available here) [...]
May 14, 2008 at 4:52 pm
[...] own unique breed of antisemitism. Hagee only supports Israel because of a type of theology known as Christian Zionism, a part of which is that all of the worlds Jews must move to Israel, in order to hasten the second [...]