What's wrong with Christian Zionism? (If not now, when?)

[mary_j_59]

I am deeply upset by the news of the world, and thus I'm posting something rather controversial. One of the driving forces in U.S. politics is Christian Zionism. I have many problems with that philosophy, if philosophy it can be called.

First, as a Jewish friend noted, it is profoundly anti-Semitic. Christian Zionists believe that all Jews, everywhere, should go and live in Israel. That is not what I believe. I believe Jewish people should be able to live, as free and equal citizens, in any country they choose. Israel might be one of those countries; it might not. If a majority of Jews choose instead to live in the U.S., that is their absolute right! When Christian Zionism arose in late 19th-century England, one of its goals was to get all the English Jews to leave and go "back" to Palestine.

But the anti-Semitism doesn't end there. Not only must all Jewish people leave their homes and go to Israel, but also, once they do, the end times will begin. Those Jews who do not convert to millennial Christianity will be killed and (presumably) condemned to hell. I honestly don't think God is that small-minded.

Then there are the indigenous people of the country that was called Palestine for almost two millennia. They are also Semites. Christian Zionists absolutely do not care what happens to them.

But not only is this philosophy anti-Semitic, it is also theologically suspect. You may or may not believe in God. Surely, if there is a God - a creator of the Universe! - he or she is not so small-minded as to desire the destruction of almost all the Semitic people. I cannot believe in a God like that!

Nor can I believe in a God who requires us to do evil that good may come. But that is what Christian Zionism requires. Those who believe it see the end times as the good they are working toward. It is evil to deny people the right to live wherever they like because they are Jews. It is evil to condone the robbery and murder of Indigenous people because they are not Jews. Yes, these things are evil! War is also evil, and, as I understand it, Christian Zionists look forward to Armageddon. This brings me to my last point.

C.S. Lewis has a refrain in his Narnia books, referring to Aslan, the Lion who in that world is the image of Christ. "He's not a tame lion", Aslan's subjects say. They mean two things: they cannot fully understand Aslan, who is wiser and more powerful than they. They also cannot control him. Christian Zionists seek to control God by their own actions, and, if you believe in God, that  is very, very wrong. It makes it even worse that - as I said in the previous paragraph - they seek to control God via violence towards innocent human beings, especially the Palestinians.

These are my quarrels with Christian Zionism.It has, unfortunately, great sway in my country, and influences our foreign policy. I wish it were not so. It is a sort of deadly literalism, and it has caused great harm to many - ourselves included. It is heresy, like all literalism, and heresy kills.

"For the letter killeth, and the spirit giveth life."

Comments

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

That's weird. I know lots of Christians who favor the cause of Israel -- I don't think I've EVER met one who thought all Jews should go live in Israel. I must lead a very sheltered life!

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Oh, the philosophy does exist, and it unfortunately drives a lot of our governmental attitudes, or so I understand. There are, I believe, more Christian Zionists in the U.S. than there are actual Zionists. As to Christians supporting Israel - yes, that's a knee-jerk reaction with several causes, some good, some not so good, and many unexamined. One of the causes of this, frankly, is that a majority of the Palestinians -- not all, by any means, but a majority -- are Muslim. And too many Christians see Muslims as intrinsically "other". We see them as hostile, barbaric, primitive, anti-Christian, etc., just because they are Muslim. This isn't right, and we need to examine it. From what I have observed in the past twelve years or so, there is very little difference between the attitudes of right-wing Muslims, right-wing Christians, and right-wing Jews. And Richard Clarke - I'm pretty sure it was him - was absolutely right when he said that the Palestinians were the best-educated, most moderate people among the Arabs of the Middle East. He got thoroughly castigated for saying this, but it's the simple truth.

In short - yes, Jewish people have suffered greatly, often at the hands of Christians, and that's wrong. But what is happening to the Palestinians is also a sin and a crime against humanity, and Christians are wrong to support it.

Long time lurker here...

[vermouth1991.livejournal.com]

I thought that the whole deal with Isreal was that the Jewish people may have a nation-state (民族国家) of their own — assuming that the Palestinians would agree on who gets what part of the land — not that all Jews should go live in that place. By that line of thought everyone who are not "Indians" or "Eskimos" out to clear out of Canada and America. Which ain't never gonna happen. On the other hand i've been ignorant of the concept of "christian zionism" until just now. I know that in some aspects America is being controlled (or at least heavilly influenced) by certain Jewish families and personages (such as the movie business) yet at the same time the US has its own share of anti-semitism.

A couple years ago my university English class played a clip of Obama's speech on the night of his winning the election, and I caught the words "if anyone still questions the power of our democracy..." and such, and it got me thinking. I used to be (and still sort of am) a history nerd, i spent a lot of my teenage years reading about the progresses and turmoils of the past, especially of the recent two centuries, in my homeland and in the west, and I was glad that most of the events aren't censored, only made hard to find; one of my little conclusions were that the Americans have cause to be proud, but not to be arrogant. And by God the country really can be arrogant. i resent how the politicians get so smug about the system when it's still flawed and deserving of changes, I resent how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are being fought, desperately dealing with terrorists that in part had been created in the past because any force that was anti-Soviet ought to be backed. (Hello Al-Qaeda) And it's this generation's soldiers who are paying in sweat and blood, while the politicians stay at home ranting about more wars and the might of America. Britain at least sends the princes over to take military helicopter rides and whatnot, how often do we hear of presidents or senators sending their children to the deserts? (Mao Zedong sent his eldest son over to Korea in 1950, then a napalm bombing happened and he was burnt to a crisp. It was of a time when he might've said "An-Ying would be the new chairman after i'm gone" and everyone would've supported out of loyalty, and he sent his son into mortal peril) I would never say this to any real life people in america because a) I'm socially awkward and rather cowardly and b) i'll bet anyone who has loved ones and friends overseas would punch me in the glasses for being so callous. So I'm saying it here, and if it doesn't offend you I'd be glad to let these words stay here; if not, tell me and i'll erase them.

Re: Long time lurker here...

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your comment, and you are SO RIGHT about American (and Israeli) exceptionalism. That may be part two of this post. I have much more to say, but will probably throw some links at you, starting with this one:

www.ifamericansknew.org.

Re: Long time lurker here...

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

I Googled that and found this. Would you say it's a fair assessment?

http://archive.adl.org/israel/anti_israel/alison_weir/if-americans-knew.html?m_flipmode=4

Re: Long time lurker here...

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Actually, no. Ms. Weir may represent one side of the issue, but she is trying to get out facts that have long been suppressed or denied. The Palestinian viewpoint has been completely absent in U.S. dialogue for decades. The ADL, however, is quite right-wing, so much so that they actually call her an anti-semite because she is critical of Israel and its policies. They are extremely biased, and, IMHO, not entirely truthful.

[eeyore6771.livejournal.com]

Very well said, Mary. Well done. I don't think most people really understand why some Christians are so enthusiastic about Jews moving to Israel.

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! I do wish these people would examine their beliefs; I just cannot comprehend how they think committing crimes against innocent strangers can possibly be God's will.

BTW, I have enjoyed your posts, especially about your little grandson. He's a doll! (If one can say that about a boy.)

As an outsider...

[vermouth1991.livejournal.com]

I would really like to ask: at least among Catholics, what is the "general idea" of gauging God's Will? For instance, all those LGBT- and women-oppressing things are being done in God's name, what sort of "karma" is supposed to befall onto these bigots to maybe let them rethink their ways? This is rhetorical, actually, I've been thinking that they keep doing that kind of gleeful sh*t because nothing bad's happening to them therefore God must approve, nevermind that a lot of people are actively against them. Apparantly to them "Vox Populi, vox Dei." means squat. Well, there's always hell to look forward for them, I guess.

Re: As an outsider...

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Is this rhetorical? I'm not really being snarky; I'd like to know if you'd like an answer. The short answer is that Catholicism, in itself, is very varied. So you can't necessarily tell what a person will think about something when they proclaim, as I just did, "I'm a Catholic". There is, of course, some common ground. I'm not a theologian and I don't want to lead you astray, but these are the basics, as I understand them:
1. We believe that Jesus Christ (who, by the way, was an actual Palestinian Jew who lived under Roman occupation - Christ did exist, whether you think him divine or not) was the son of God.
2. We believe in God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. We also believe that our Blessed Mother gave birth to Christ through the Holy Spirit.
3. We believe in the Sacraments instituted by Christ and the Apostles, We believe Jesus is really present to us in the seven Sacraments, and that He gave them to us to strengthen us and guide us. In particular, Christ is actually present in Communion.
4. We believe we are all, without exception, called to the Imitation of Christ and his Saints. Every human being has a particular calling and purpose in life, and all of us are required to further God's creation and begin building his kingdom here on earth.

That said (and there's a lot more. As I said, I'm a laywoman, and I haven't studied a lot of theology) - that said, I do believe that the Church is, in part, a human institution. And we humans are imperfect. In the long run, the Church will get things right. But, as a priest friend I love and respect said, we are still in our spiritual infancy. We have a long way to go.

Christ himself summed up the four points I made above into one. Love. We are to love each other as God loves us, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Christ said, "That is the whole of the Law. The rest is just commentary."

I honestly don't know, since it is a Sacrament, what I think about gay couples getting married in Church, I do feel strongly that all the other Sacraments (including ordination to the religious life) ought to be open to them, and I also believe strongly in civil unions and equal rights for gay couples. As to the role of women in the Church - as I said, the Church is a human institution. At the beginning, before the 10th century, we had deaconesses and at least one Abbess had a major voice in a synod (Mother Hild, at Whitby). We need to get back to that, and we're starting to. As I said, we have a long way to go, and the Church is imperfect.

And, alas, you can find legalists and literalists and people driven by fear and anger in all faiths - and, presumably in none.

The Church should not oppress anybody. Unfortunately, it often has. Flannery O'Connor, Cathollic writer, said, "The Church is the cross on which Christ was crucified. But you can't have Christ without the cross." I don't know what you'll think of this. I find it helpful, at least sometimes. At other times it can seem a cop-out.

That's really about as much as I can say about this issue. I hope it is helpful to you. Just ignore it if it's not.

Re: As an outsider...

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Oh, by the way, we've rather strayed from the original post since Christian Zionizm isn't a Catholic heresy. We've got other problems, but not that one.

Re: As an outsider...

[vermouth1991.livejournal.com]

1. By "this is rhetorical" i meant my own line of though and my own silly ruminations on Christianity, i'm very appreciative of your answers provided and would not presume to tell you what you should or shouldn't say, at least not here on your own turf.

2. I really did derail the thread, sorry; when my full reply comes I shall stick more to the topic at hand.

Re: As an outsider...

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

That's okay! You didn't derail it very far. After all, my impetus for writing this post was and is the truly awful things people do to other people in the name of religion. And that, unfortunately, happens in all religions, mine included.