Statement on Christian Zionism
Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant leaders in Israel have signed a document condemning Christian Zionism:Christian Zionism is a modern theological and political movement that embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism, thereby becoming detrimental to a just peace within Palestine and Israel.
The Christian Zionist program provides a worldview where the Gospel is identified with the ideology of empire, colonialism and militarism. In its extreme form, it laces an emphasis on apocalyptic events leading to the end of history rather than living Christ's love and justice today.
We categorically reject Christian Zionist doctrines as false teaching that corrupts the biblical message of love, justice and reconciliation.
We further reject the contemporary alliance of Christian Zionist leaders and organizations with elements in the governments of Israel and the United States that are presently imposing their unilateral preemptive borders and domination over Palestine.
This inevitably leads to unending cycles of violence that undermine the security of all peoples of the Middle East and the rest of the world. Now there are two immediate concerns here: (1) there is an element of liberation theology that - while the Christian leaders rightly condemn it insofar as the Israeli position is concerned - is not addressed when it comes to the Palestinian position, and (2) the question of Israel's "right to exist" is never mentioned much less alluded.
If the statement is a document intending peace, then this is admirable. But if we are forsaking the good for the sake of peace, then where can there ever be justice?
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Jonathan Mark 
1 Comments:
Many Arabic speaking Christians do dislike Israel, but in addition they have little choice in the matter. If they didn't speak as these gentlemen did then they would be seen as disloyal, practicing the West's religion and adopting the West's political opinion.
Iran relentlessly persecutes Bahais, who do not make such statements. Hundreds were killed in past decades, often on charges of being Zionist spies as well as the usual prostitutes, drug dealers, and other epithets that the despotic Iranian regime uses to justify killing these people.
Hence the signatories of this document cannot say that Israel has a right to exist even if they believe it, which they may not. Hamas and Islamic Jihad would go after them.
You may have noticed some Lebanese Christians in the south of Lebanon complaining about Hezbollah taking over their villages to fire rockets, preventing the villagers from fleeing and even, in one case, killing someone who resisted them.
These representatives of a tiny embattled minority may or may not believe what they wrote in the way that they wrote it, but they have little wiggle room about what they are able to say anyway.
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