Our Theology Matters When It Comes to Our Views of US Foreign Policy on Israel and Palestine

By Jesse Wheeler

News

Recently, Christianity Today highlighted the results of a LifeWay Research survey on American evangelical attitudes toward Israel in an article titled, “Millennial Evangelicals on Israel: ‘Meh’.” After questioning “Americans with evangelical beliefs about a wide range of issues involving Israel—from its place in the Bible to its treatment of Palestinians,” the survey underscores a massive generational shift in evangelical attitudes and beliefs as they concern Israelis and Palestinians. According to the report:

• “Three-quarters (77%) of evangelicals 65 and older say they support the ‘existence, security and prosperity’ of Israel. This drops to 58 percent among younger evangelicals, those 18 to 34.
• Fewer younger evangelicals (58%) have an overall positive perception of Israel than older evangelicals (76%).
• [Millennial evangelicals] are less sure Israel’s [establishment] in 1948 was a good thing. Among older evangelicals, 9 percent see the [establishment] of Israel as an injustice, while 62 percent disagree. Twenty-eight percent are not certain. Younger evangelicals (19%) are more likely to see the [establishment] of Israel as an injustice. Only 34 percent disagree. Forty-seven percent are not sure.
• Older evangelicals (49%) are more likely to disagree that Israel has been unfair to Palestinians. Young evangelicals (32%) are less likely.
• Four in 10 younger evangelicals (41%) have no strong views about Israel.
• Among younger evangelicals, two-thirds say Christians need to do more to care for Palestinians. That drops to 54 percent among those 65 and older.
• Most evangelical believers (73%) agree they are concerned for the safety of Christians in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Five percent disagree. Twenty-two percent are not certain.”

Analysis

What the above results indicate is that while Christian Zionism retains its hegemonic status within the American evangelical community, it is a position that can no longer be assumed vis-à-vis future generations. The data suggest both a decrease in the hallowed status of Israel as an article of American faith as well as a continued dearth of knowledge with respect to Palestinian perspectives, voiced historical experiences, and modes of scriptural engagement – evidenced by the statement that 73% of US evangelicals fear for the safety of Christians under the Palestinian Authority. The vast majority of Palestinian Christians would identify the draconian Israeli military occupation and blockade, the settler movement and home demolitions, supremacist and separationist policies, and ongoing statelessness and/or refugee status as the primary source of their difficulties. It is interesting also to see more evangelicals choosing to include Palestinians within the reach of their compassion, rather than as enemies to overcome.

Such a shift may portend dramatic consequences for the peoples of the Middle East. As a powerful voting block within the currently predominant Republican Party, US evangelicals exert enormous political influence and arguably comprise the strongest leg of the pro-Israel alliance. As a major source of contention within internal American “culture wars,” the Israel/Palestine conflict represents perhaps the most prominent example of domestic politics being outwardly projected upon an oftentimes abstracted and idealized global stage. President Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel should be seen in this light as a clear nod to his domestic evangelical base, even if at the expense of the native Christian community.

In addition to its oversized impact on foreign policy, the global impact of the US evangelical community’s vast wealth of cultural and ideological produce virtually guarantees conceptual ascendancy amongst worldwide communities of faith. The attitudes, actions and pronouncements of the American evangelical community exert an enormous cultural influence upon the global church, helping shape theological and political outlooks as much as outsider perceptions. For this reason, American authors are translated, read and distributed throughout Latin America, East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, with their perceptions of Middle East realities following suit. And this contributes to an oftentimes deadly guilt by association for Christian communities throughout the Middle East and wider Muslim world, whether or not they have ever had any connection with such perspectives. But it stands to reason that as American millennials take on larger shares of leadership within the US evangelical community their global socio-cultural impact may follow suit.

Theological Reflections and Recommendations

From a Middle East Christian perspective, such trends in American attitudes toward Israel may be seen as encouraging. Yet, it is also disheartening to be reminded just how little US evangelicals understand of the Palestinian Christian experience. It is imperative therefore to amplify the voice/s of the Church in the Middle East. Those living, working, and reflecting scripturally on their daily experiences must be heard, without ideological preconditions. However, it is also imperative that any Christ-centered position never be for one nation over against another. But rather, a pro-Christ position will always be pro-Justice, pro-Mercy, pro-Truth, pro-Peace, and ultimately pro-Love for all diverse communities living river to sea. This will at times require us to confront dehumanizing narratives and warped theological justifications, and at others to temper the rage for vengeance and promote forgiveness in our pursuit of authentic reconciliation. This is a difficult cross to bear, one which may force us to stand between our contemporary contextual equivalents of acceptance and zealous resistance to the hated Roman occupation of Christ’s day.

Ultimately, this survey suggests an evolution in the eschatological assumptions of the American evangelical community. Because if our eschatology requires the annihilation of one for the sake of another, how can this be in any way reconciled with Biblical ethics? What future is anticipated? Renewed creation or apocalyptic obliteration? For it is toward this vision we will inevitably strive. Having either constructive or destructive implications for the very real world in which we live, our hermeneutic matters deeply, and bad theology kills. But if the words of Christ and his apostles truly form the foundation upon which we withstand the vicious currents of this violent age, how can we evangelicals support the destructive policies and self-fulfilling prophecies we so often do? God willing, it appears as if the tide is turning.

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them.”  (Matthew 7:15-16)