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On the Power of Incipient Nationalism to Compromise Christian Faith and a Critique of Christian Zionism

My previous post discussing Israel’s war against Gaza mentions the ways in which personal political commitments to nationalism and/or patriotism may deform or undercut a person’s faithfulness to the kingdom of God.

I discuss a variety of ways in which modern politics can distort or even destroy Christian witness as modern political commitments choke out our willingness to adhere to the ethics of Jesus in my book, I Pledge Allegiance.

It just so happens that today I was also reading a good book by Rob Hewell titled Worship Beyond Nationalism: Practicing the Reign of God.

Hewell’s analysis of the subtle but deadly threats posed by nationalism, particularly Christian nationalism, to faithful witness are highly relevant to a proper understanding of Christian Zionism.

My Zionist brothers and sisters insist that their loyalty to Israel is rooted entirely in scripture.

As I mention briefly in my previous post, I am convinced that it also reflects a prior more fundamental commitment to a nationalistic ideology. Zionists are Israeli nationalists, even though they may be citizens of another country.

Israeli nationalism rides the train of American nationalism very easily.

Below I have reproduced a brief excerpt from Mr. Hewell’s book that I believe makes my point:

Nationalism ought to be seen as a sectarian heresy in conflict with tthe universality of the Christian gospel and God’s construction of a new people from all peoples and nations, and whose allegiance is to the kingdom of God. . . 

Because the ultimate commitments of worldly nation-states are not the gospel itself, a nation-state’s agenda will never clearly be consonant with the agenda to which the church is called, namely missio Dei. . . A failure of the church to allow its radical nature to shine on this one count will likely lead to additional compromises.

The church in America lives in the shadow of tthe legacy of empire, triumphalism, and nationalism. . . The inclusion of this nation’s story [whether the Unites States or Israel] in the worship gatherings of Christ’s followers allows what can be interpreted as an alien narrative to influence the life of the church. The demands of nationalism will always ultimately conflict with the gospel of God in Christ, creating an identity crisis for the church. . . Such a crisis will arise because of an understanding or interpretation of Christianity determined by . . . membership in a population or community, other than the church, that becomes critical for the church’s self-understanding. . . 

When the church allows nationalistic influences within its worship [or its theology!]. . . it allows the nation-state a hand in shaping the church’s identity. Once nationalism has become an element of the church’s identity, the church also becomes vulnerable to that nation’s partisan politics. . . . Under the influence of nationalism, the church’s ability to prophetically critique the state is limited if not completely abandoned. (emphasis mine)

Such nationalistic compromise is exactly what I believe has happened to my Christian Zionist friends who now refuse to criticize, much less condemn, Israel’s egregious proliferation of war crimes in its bombings of the Palestinian people in Gaza — and its ‘crack-down’ against the people of the West Bank.

The Christian’s commitment to the kingdom of God is always first and foremost for obedient disciples of Jesus Christ.

 

My Views on the Current War Against Gaza

For some time now I have particiated in an informal discussion group consisting of a mix of Christian Zionists and non-Zionists, such as myself.

The group is largely composed of academics from around the world. We meet by Zoom calls one per month to talk across the theological chasm that separates us on the question of modern Israel and Palestine.

Christian Zionists believe that Israel remains God’s chosen nation; that occupation of the land is an essential precondition to the return of Christ; and that political loyalty to Israel is a necessary value for faithful Christians to uphold.

I, and my fellow non-Zionists, do not believe these things. Jesus is free to return at any time, and Israel has nothing to do with when or how that can happen.

As you can imagine, we have strong disagreements. But the group’s reason for being is to exercise and to model civil, loving discourse among brothers and sisters in Christ who have strong theological disagreements with each other.

As you can imagine, the outbreak of Israel’s war against Gaza has turned up the heat considerably within the group. We recently had a lengthy email exchange debating the horrific events that have erupted, beginning with the dastardly Hamas attack on October 7.

To briefly explain my own position on this war, I have reproduced below my final contribution to that debate. (For a fuller picture of why I think the way I do, please read my book, Like Birds in a Cage.)

I share this email with you, my subscribers, in order to illustrate and to explain what I believe is the proper Christian response to the events unfolding in Israel and Gaza today:

In the course of our conversation, several folks have asked the (rhetorical?) question, “What else is Israel supposed to do to root out Hamas?” The implication being that Israel’s current actions in Gaza are necessary and unavoidable – what else could Israel do?

Allow me to suggest that the question reveals a lack of imagination. At the risk of offending some, I will go further and suggest that the question reveals a deficiency of Christian discipleship. The calculations of Realpolitik are tangential, if not irrelevant, to the moral requirements of citizenship in God’s kingdom. The basic problem, I believe, is that the pro-Zionist conscience is truncated and distorted by its loyalty to a secular nation-state. Thus, the demands of loyalty to Zionist, nationalistic ideology is allowed to stifle both imagination and discipleship. This is a failure to fully inhabit our intended citizenship in God’s peaceable kingdom.

The two factions of our group are separated by seemingly irreconcilable differences, differences that we cannot, or at least, do not, talk about. These differences lead us to vastly different opinions and commitments concerning the current bloodshed, among both Israeli Jews and Palestinians.

My theological commitments lead me to believe that the history of American imperialism makes us very comfortable taking the colonizer’s side in anti-colonial conflicts. I believe that implied belief in Israeli exceptionalism and Palestinian/Hamas barbarism subtly runs throughout our conversation.

As many others have said, there is no military solution to this so-called conflict. Zionist dreams of “replacing Hamas” with something or someone else continue to ignore the root causes of this violence. The only lasting solution will be political, that is a just, humane ending of Israel’s military occupation and all that goes with it. Currently, Israel is an apartheid state. Those who are discriminated against will always resist their oppressors. It’s human nature. No amount of carpet bombing will beat the impulse for freedom and equality out of Palestinian hearts and minds.

I hope that sharing this statement with you may be of some interest and/or help to those wrestling with the moral questions raised by both Israel’s carpet-bombing of Gaza and the Hamas attack against Israel.

If you have questions or comments, please send them to me. I will respond to everything.

A Christian Look at the War in Gaza: Episode Two, Dr. Mae Cannon

The Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon is the Executive Director of the organization, Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), an organization with which I am involved.

She is also a friend of mine. (By the way, Mae has two doctorates.)

In fact, we were both recently in Phoenix, AZ attending the same conference sponsored by the Netword of Evangelicals for the Middle East (NEME). I am a member of the NEME leadership committee.

Today, Rob and Mae discuss the political dimensions of the current war against Gaza. Mae’s work keeps her heavily involved in a great deal of lobbying and activism in Washington, D.C.

There is a lot of vital information here about what is happening right now in Israel, Palestine, and the USA. Check it out.

A Christian Look at the Conflict in Gaza, Episode One with Rob Dalrymple

My good friend, Dr. Rob Dalrymple, is hosting a series of podcasts discussing the current Israeli war against Gaza.

Rob will host a number of informative guests over the next several weeks (including yours truly) discussing different dimensions of this ongoing conflict.

Today, Rob introduces the issues himself. He is a former pastor, the author of several books, has visited Israel/Palestine numerous times, and is deeply involved in Christian activism for peace in the Holy Land.

I encourage you to  watch, listen, take notes, pray, respond and come back tomorrow for another installment.

Israel’s Intelligence Ministry Leaks Plan for Gaza’s Ethnic Cleansing

The online magazine +972 has published a 10-page policy paper produced by Israel’s Intelligence Ministry which argues that the only solution to the current war with Gaza is wholesale Palestinian population transfer.

According to the report, all the people of Gaza must be removed from their homes, relocated to the Sinai desert, and then redistributed as refugees throughout hospitable nations.

The document (which is included within the +972 article; you can read it for yourself) is remarkable for its colonial hubris and moral blindness.

Members of the Israeli establishment are conducting serious conversations about the best ways to stage manage, i.e., manipulate and control, the lives of 2.3 million native people.

The goal is to eliminate the inconvenience these uncooperative Palestinians pose to Israel’s settler-colonial status quo.

Since Palestinians continue to resist their colonization, the colonizing power — blinded by its imperial privilege and nationalistic arrogance — can only think to intensify its historic criminality.

Folks, population transfer is a war crime. It was a war crime in 1948. It remains a war crime today.

Here are some select excerpts from the +972 article. It is titled “Expell all Palestinians from Gaza, recommends Israeli gov’t ministry.” The author is Yuval Abraham. (All emphasis is mine):

The Israeli Ministry of Intelligence is recommending the forcible and permanent transfer of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinian residents to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, according to an official document revealed in full for the first time by +972’s partner site Local Call yesterday.

The 10-page document, dated Oct. 13, 2023, bears the logo of the Intelligence Ministry — a small governmental body that produces policy research and shares its proposals with intelligence agencies, the army, and other ministries. It assesses three options regarding the future of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the framework of the current war, and recommends a full population transfer as its preferred course of action. It also calls on Israel to enlist the international community in support of this endeavor. The document, whose authenticity was confirmed by the ministry, has been translated into English in full here on +972 . . . 

The document recommends that Israel act to “evacuate the civilian population to Sinai” during the war; establish tent cities and later more permanent cities in the northern Sinai that will absorb the expelled population; and then create “a sterile zone of several kilometers … within Egypt, and [prevent] the return of the population to activities/residences near the border with Israel.” At the same time, governments around the world, led by the United States, must be mobilized to implement the move. . . 

The transfer plan is divided into several stages. In the first stage, action must be taken so that the population of Gaza “evacuates south,” while the air strikes focus on the northern Gaza Strip. In the second stage, a ground incursion into Gaza will begin, leading to the occupation of the entire Strip from north to south, and the “cleansing of the underground bunkers of Hamas fighters.”

Concurrently with the re-occupation of Gaza, Palestinian civilians will be moved into Egyptian territory, and not be allowed to return. “It is important to leave the travel routes to the south open to enable the evacuation of the civilian population toward Rafah,” the document states. . . 

Last week, the Misgav Institute, a right-wing think tank headed by Meir Ben-Shabbat, a close associate of Prime Minister Netanyahu and a former head of Israel’s National Security Council, published a position paper that similarly called for the forced transfer of Gaza’s population to the Sinai. The institute recently deleted the post from Twitter and from its website after drawing strong international censure. . . 

You can read the entire piece here.

Check Out “If Americans Knew” for Information About Events in Palestine/Gaza

“If Americans Knew” is an independent newsite that provides the news coverage on Palestine/Israel that you will never see on mainstream, corporate media. I read it regularly.

For example, here is a recent story with an accompanying video posted on X.

It reminds us of the long-running peaceful, non-violent marches that occurred in Gaza for several years prior to the attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

The message reads:

Before the Hamas attack, media didn’t tell you about the thousands in #Gaza protesting non-violently every week from March 2018 through December 2019, Israeli snipers picking them off one by one…
Watch the video here.

Craig Murray: There are key moments in societal breakdown, and this is one.

Massive anti-war demonstrations have erupted around the world, sparked by Israel’s genocidal attacks against the Palestinian people, both in Gaza and the West Bank.

Several days ago, half-a-million people (!) marched through London calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Similar marches have occurred throughout the USA, in India, Pakistan, the UK, and many other countries.

Yet, the political elites in these countries continue to control the propagandistic news media while ignoring the protests of the common people.

Craig Murray has a good story critiquing the disparate, undemocratic actions that keep the people’s voices muted, ensuring that worldwide calls for peace go ignored.

The article at Consortium News is titled “Something has Snapped.” Below is an excerpt:

There seems to be a presumption that the general population harbour the same Zionist assumptions which the journalists are paid to promote. Well, we don’t.

It feels like something has snapped, not only in Palestine but in the U.K. and much of Europe, where the process of alienation between the governed and the ruling classes has been accelerated.

Democracy has been failing in the West for a while . . . 

There are key moments in societal breakdown, and this is one.

Read the entire article here.

John Mearsheimer: What Israel is Doing is Sickening.

I am convinced that extensive Israeli settlement throughout the West Bank has made the fabled two-state solution an impossibility.

New solutions must be sought. But the ethnic cleansing of Gaza cannot be one of them.

Aside from that caveat, Prof. Mearsheimer offers a good summary of the present situation in Gaza:

Bad Theology is Helping to Drive America’s Support for Israel’s Massacre in Gaza

All Christian theology has practical results in the way believers live their lives. Unsurprisingly, bad theology will have bad results.

The immoral legacy of Christian Zionism is helping to drive US congressional support for Israel’s slaughter in Gaza today.