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eric
Podcaster, Webmaster, Sophie's Daddy
Joined: 20 Oct 2005
Posts: 323
Location: Birmingham, AL
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 Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:13 am Post subject: Jews and Zionism and American Evangelicals |
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So....some of you may be familiar with a Christian preacher named John Hagee. He recently gained attention in the Jewish press by founding a group called "Christians United for Israel" (CUFI) and speaking at the recent AIPAC conference.
Here's an excerpt from a Jerusalem Post article. This excerpt was picked up by our local Federation e-newsletter:
| Quote: | "The sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awakened. There are 50 million Christians standing up and applauding the State of Israel." So began a speech by Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United For Israel, before the recent AIPAC Policy Conference.
His address may not have received as much media attention as those by Richard Cheney, Nancy Pelosi, Ehud Olmert and Binyamin Netanyahu. It should have, however, because it could herald a critical new stage in the American-Israeli relationship.
The speech certainly did not lack clarity. "It is 1938," Hagee said, "Iran is Germany, and Ahmadinejad is the new Hitler. We must stop Iran's nuclear threat and stand boldly with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East."
Neither, however, did he mince words regarding what any Jewish audience cannot help thinking when hearing such unabashed support from a Christian leader.
Hagee noted that those who committed the Holocaust were "baptized Christians... in good standing with their Church."
He continued: "Today I humbly ask forgiveness of the Jewish people for every act of anti-Semitism, and the deafening silence of Christians in your greatest hour of need, during the Holocaust. We were not there. We cannot change the past, but together we can shape the future. Think of our potential future together: 50 million evangelicals joining in common cause with 5 million Jewish people in America on behalf of Israel is a match made in heaven." |
Now. Support for Israel is very important. But I tend to distrust evangelical support for Israel, simply because it's not honest. Evangelicals generally don't support Israel out of some overriding love for Jews. They support Israel because they believe all Jews need to live there before Jesus will return in the Second Coming.
So, I'm not a big fan of CUFI and other groups like those. And with Hagee, I'm even less of a supporter, because of some comments he's made in the past about gay rights, abortion, America being a "Christian nation," etc.
The following is a letter I wrote which was published today in our local "Federation Update" e-newsletter:
| Quote: | Although true Christian support of Israel is very important and appreciated, I personally do not like to see the Jewish community associate with morally repugnant people like John Hagee. When we do so, we are tarnished by association.
This is a man who, in response to a question about Hurricane Katrina, had this to say on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air": "All hurricanes are acts of G-d because G-d controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to G-d and they were recipients of the judgment of G-d for that."
Personally, I have no use for a man who believes in a G-d so vengeful and cruel that he would drown people in their own attics. Has Hagee forgotten his Sunday School lessons? Surely he remembers G-d's promise to Noah following the flood? Does Hagee think that G-d changed his mind and went back on his promise, choosing to drown the "sinners" in New Orleans?
In that same NPR interview where he made the New Orleans comments, Pastor Hagee was asked by host Terry Gross what would happen to Jews who don't believe in Jesus Christ when the "Rapture" happens.
Hagee said: "Zechariah very clearly says that they [the Jews] are not going to believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah until they see him. Zechariah says in the 14th chapter 'and when they, the Jewish people, see him whom they have pierced' -- and the word pierced there actually refers to his rib and side -- 'when they see him whom they have pierced, they will weep as one weeps for his only son for a period of one week.' They're simply not going to believe he is the Messiah until they actually see him, and that's at the Second Coming."
Regardless of his support for Israel, all Jews should rightly be offended at Hagee's assertion that we will all "weep as for a son" when Jesus -- whom we have "pierced" -- stands before us at the "Second Coming."
Hagee is one small step away from painting Jews as "Christ killers" -- after all, he says that we "pierced" him!! Never mind the historical evidence proving that the Romans crucified Jesus, Hagee falls back on the centuries-old fallacy of Jews as Christ-killers.
As Jews, we should be offended by Hagee's assertions about the Second Coming. As Southerners, we should be offended by his comments about Katrina and New Orleans.
As a Southern Jew, I want absolutely nothing to do with this reprehensible, narrow-minded, homophobic, nasty little man, and I'm disappointed in AIPAC for inviting him to speak.
I'm worried that the major American Jewish organizations are falling into a pattern of "all Israel, all the time," choosing to associate with conservative evangelicals like Hagee (whose views on social issues are diametrically opposed to those of many, if not most American Jews) and ignoring the other important social issues we face in the Diaspora.
The safety and security of Israel is an important issue to me. But it's not the only issue. For me, someone's steadfast Zionism doesn't give them a free pass to be offensive to Judaism in other ways.
Eric Rzeszut |
_________________
"The Magic 8 Ball tried to warn us years ago about Microsoft, when it said 'Outlook not so good.' So true." |
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