By : Lot Hildegard
Jordan Daily - Christian Zionism isn't Christian. The fact that so many self-described Christians adhere to it does not make it so, and the fact that they purport to find their doctrines in the Bible does not mean that those doctrines actually reside therein.
In saying that Zionism is un-Christian, I am not merely protesting that its inhumane consequences are at odds with Christian ideals. I am saying that the Christian scriptures do not teach Zionism, which in its current form derives largely from a 19th century British lunatic-fringe theology that has become normative among conservative evangelical Protestants as traditional teachings and institutions have broken down since the 1960s. That's not a very admirable pedigree for a belief system.
I am a practicing Christian with a master's degree in theology, sub-specializing in Islam. I have taught in a Palestinian university, and I know enough about Islam to have been asked to teach religious studies in a Muslim school. (I declined the offer, as I thought it was not my place to teach Muslim youth their faith.) It should be apparent that I am concerned with interfaith relations and with the plight of Palestine, and as a theologian I find "Christian" Zionism particularly troubling.
Zionism has no roots in the teachings of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and is absent from the foundations of Protestantism. Elements of it began to appear in Protestantism only as a few Puritan theologians began to explore the implications of New Testament references to the eventual conversion of the Jews (Romans 11:15, 23-27).
However, the primary impetus to today's Christian Zionism began in 19th century England with the teachings of John Nelson Darby, a contentious former Anglican clergyman who developed a body of teachings called dispensationalism that interpreted scripture according to a schema that divides history into several epochs or dispensations during which God relates to man and man's salvation in different ways.
This focus on historical periodization led to a preoccupation with Biblical prophecies related to the End Times. Some of these predictions were interpreted as forecasting a return of the Jews to the Holy Land and the establishment of a new state of Israel.
Teachings that originated in a fringe group became increasingly popular via "study Bibles" juxtaposing the scriptures with footnotes and margin notes purporting to explain it all. As traditional religion lost its authority in the cultural upheavals of the 1960s and after, Christians turned increasingly to alternative interpretations of the Bible, and dispensationalism took hold to such an extent that a large majority of conservative Protestants in the United States now subscribe to its teachings to some degree.
What concerns us here is whether an attempt to help the Jews acquire and maintain a presence in the Holy Land is consistent with Christianity, whatever dispensationalists may say. In fact the Bible repeatedly warns that Jewish possession of the Holy Land is conditional upon obedience to God's law and righteous conduct in his sight (Leviticus 26:1-39; Deuteronomy 28:15-68; II Kings 17), and the scriptures relate that the Jews were driven out of the land twice for disobedience, first in the eighth century B.C. by the Assyrians, who exiled ten of the twelve Hebrew tribes, and by the Babylonians in the sixth century B.C. Around the time the specifically Christian scriptures were being completed, the Romans expelled the Jews again in 70 A.D.
God also warned that the Jews must depend on their covenant with him, and righteous conduct under that relationship, rather than trusting their security to military might and powerful allies. Modern Israel, founded and dominated by non-religious ethnic Jews and existing at the pleasure of the United States, is a very poor candidate for the allegiance of persons who claim the Bible as their supreme authority for living.
Pop theology is often ugly. It is especially ugly when harnessed to political power. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist clergyman, is on record as recommending removal of the Palestinians in toto. Recently he has spoken of what he says is Israel's right to take over most of the Middle East. This is certainly a peculiar utterance for a diplomat in a situation that cries out for an honest broker.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has spoken enthusiastically of the prospect of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, as if Christians ought to be excited that animal sacrifices should continue despite the saving work of Jesus Christ. Now, with the United States at war with Iran, more than 200 members of the U.S. military have complained to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation that their commanding officers have given apocalyptic briefings and pep talks flavored with dispensationalist rhetoric about Armageddon and the Second Coming.
Given the prominence and power of Christian Zionists, non-Christians can be forgiven for believing, wrongly, that Zionism is an integral part of Christianity. That this occurs is tragic, for it associates the Gospel with genocide, war, and reckless adventurist futurism. It also makes life exceedingly awkward for Christians in predominantly Muslim societies that look askance at Israel and regard Israel's perceived friends as undesirables.
I ask that Muslims, Christians of all denominations, and people of other belief communities not make the mistake of believing that Zionism is correctly understood as even a peripheral component of Christianity.
Above all, I ask people of good will to remember that those of us who truly believe in the sovereignty of God know that no amount of money and military firepower can forever sustain that which God forbids. Christians who have their heads on straight are still on God's side, and a good thing too–because God always wins eventually.
Lot Hildegard is a Christian theologian and freelance writer who spent two years at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and has taught in a Palestinian university and in an American Muslim school. His social commentary and short fiction have appeared in an assortment of print and online publications.
