McChurch - Bibliography on the new Christian right

Bibliography on the new Christian right

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The Christian right and support for Israel. (Christianity and the Middle East).: An article from: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs This digital document is an article from Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, published by American Educational Trust on September 1, 2002. The length of the article is 2604 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Christian right and support for Israel. (Christianity and the Middle East).
Author: Fred Strickert
Publication: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2002
Publisher: American Educational Trust
Volume: 21 Issue: 7 Page: 80(2)

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Customer Review: Unconvincing
Fred Strickert explains to us in this article that "for decades, the Christian right has offered one-sided support for Israel." And he quotes a Christian to indicate the reason for this is that those on the Christian right, based upon their "readings of the Scripture," believe that "God has promised that land to the Jewish people."

That may sound pretty obvious, but I am not entirely sure I'll stipulate to it. It just could be that many of those on the Christian right sincerely wish to support the Jews of Israel against the aggressors and bullies who attack them. It could even be that their interpretation of Scripture is influenced by this desire to support the victims of aggression.

Is there a difference between support for Israel under the George W. Bush administration and that during the administration of Bush's father? I think there is indeed more support for Israel under the present administration and so does the author. Strickert attributes this to George W. Bush being more receptive to the "influence of the Christian right." That could be true, but it could also be that the Christian right espouses a position that the younger Bush happened to favor in the first place.

Strickert does mention that George W. Bush has been fond of saying "Either they're for us or they're against us." And he jumps from this to say that the Christian right has "pushed the president" into seeing the Arab war against Israel "in similarly simplistic terms."

Um, wait a second. I'm all in favor of seeing the complexities and details of situations. But I think Strickert is wrong to imply that one ought to overlook the fundamentals! And it is fundamental that the Arab goal in its war against Israel is to get rid of human rights for Jews in the region by getting rid of Israel. And that the Israeli goal is to survive and prosper. That is pretty simplistic. But those who look only at the complexities and ignore this fundamental point are not going to contribute much to help resolve the situation.

This article includes a letter by some Christians who argue against supporting Israel. And they say that the war is having "disastrous effects on the Israeli soul."

Well, yes, if one's people are threatened with annihilation, I'm sure it isn't much fun to save one's life by killing one's attacker. And yes, saving one's life in that manner makes one a killer, even though it's self-defense. But I think the Israelis have learned that it is even worse to let oneself be killed. By dying, one enables one's killers and one deprives one's family, friends, and community of the beneficial contributions one would make if one were still alive.

I do not recommend this article.