CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS Group's growing influence raises concerns

Support from American Zionists is complicating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
By JANE LAMPMAN
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
The debate over Christian Zionist groups is not whether they have influence on U.S. policy but how much.
Deal Hudson, editor of Crisis magazine and a conservative Catholic, says their influence is overemphasized. "The administration's commitment to Israel was there from the very first day, prior to the coalition of evangelicals the administration has cultivated for the past 31/2 years," he says. "Their role is only supportive."
Others point to many instances of influence. Gary Bauer, president of American Values, for example, recalls Israel's first attempt on the life of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi in June 2003, when President Bush publicly berated Israel.
Voicing their opinions
"Several evangelical leaders took issue with the president," Bauer says. They urged others to let the White House know. "I got thousands of e-mails the next day that were copies of e-mails sent to the president. Within 24 hours, [Bush] had modified his remarks and emphasized Israel's right to defend itself."
The White House was publicly supportive in April when Israel's second effort to assassinate Rantisi succeeded.
As a result of Christian Zionists' alliance with Likud governments, they now work actively with Jewish groups in the United States, even though historically the two have been on opposing sides of key issues.
"Christian Zionist groups play an increasingly important role," says Morton Klein, head of the Zionist Organization of America and a leader of the Jewish lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "In many districts where there are very few Jews, the members of the House and Senate are Israel's supporters in part because of the strong Christian Zionist lobby on Capitol Hill."
Other observers say the Bush administration's tilt toward Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute results from a coalition of neoconservatives, the Jewish lobby and Christian Zionists -- with the latter providing the grass-roots political punch as a prime Bush constituency.
Most worrisome to critics is the impact Christian Zionists are having -- or could have -- on the volatile situation in Jerusalem.
Middle East Christians
Some local Christians say they feel the impact directly. Thousands of Palestinian Christians -- many who trace their family histories back to the early church -- live in Israel and the occupied territories. They've survived as a minority among Muslims and Jews for centuries.
But because the Christian Zionist perspective is hostile to Islam and ultimately to Judaism, some now worry about its influence on their neighbors. They say some local Muslims now assume that this Western prophetic phenomenon -- and its dismissal of hopes for a Palestinian state -- is what all Christians believe. For many Christian Palestinians, Christian Zionism is disturbing because its conclusions work against their deep desire: justice for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Many local Christians come from families who became refugees or were displaced within Israel when the state was created in 1948. Naim Ateek's family was driven from its comfortable home in the town of Beisan by the Jewish army when he was 11.
Eventually becoming an Anglican pastor, the Rev. Mr. Ateek says he struggled, wondering how to keep faith alive among his congregation under the hardships of military occupation. How were Christians to think about "the god of Israel"? Is God pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, or is he a god of justice for all?
After an in-depth study of the Bible, he wrote "Justice and Only Justice," in which he explores the Scriptural basis for a god of inclusiveness. God's law requires justice for both peoples, Mr. Ateek says, and there won't be peace until that is accepted by both sides.
"If I, as a Christian, am not about truth, justice, peace and reconciliation, then what is my ministry?" he asked in an interview.
Joining forces
Mr. Ateek joined with local leaders from the 15 Christian denominations here -- from Greek Orthodox to Quakers -- to found an ecumenical movement, Sabeel ("the Way" in Arabic), which works to counter extremism on both sides of the conflict.
It further inflames the situation, local Christians say, when other Christian groups provide resources to build and strengthen Jewish settlements on land confiscated from Palestinians.
For example, after the 1993 Oslo Peace Accord, which called for steps toward removal of Jewish settlements, Ted Beckett of Colorado Springs, Colo., formed Christian Friends of Israeli Committees. CFOIC enables U.S. churches to support settlers through tours, funding special projects and ongoing partnerships. About 60 settlements have identified projects for church support, and an "adopt-a-settlement" program encourages ongoing ties.
Sondra Baras, an Orthodox Jew who heads the program in Jerusalem, says she takes about 10 tour groups a month to settlements. "The evangelical community is standing with us in such a strong way and through financial support and visits have brought such a message of encouragement to those living here," she says.
This spring, Sabeel tried to provide a counterweight to such developments by holding a conference called "Challenging Christian Zionism." Some 500 Christians from 31 countries came to Jerusalem to discuss ways to check the growing influence of Christian Zionism. They heard also from Jews concerned about its impact.
A dangerous combination
"When political conflicts are framed as theological wars, we lose the ability to deal with them -- the only solution is the final one," warned Jeff Halper, a professor of anthropology at Ben-Gurion University.
Christian Zionist ties to Jewish fundamentalists are disturbing to many Israelis, the majority who are secular, added Halper. The most explosive possibility relates to the prophecy that the Jewish temple will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount, where Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque now sit. Some Christian Zionists in America "are becoming quite involved financially and otherwise in the so-called Temple movement," says the Rev. Timothy Weber, president of Memphis Theological Seminary in Tennessee, and author of "On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel's Best Friend."
The Rev. Mr. Weber said that when he talks to Christian Zionists about the destruction of the Dome of the Rock, some say, "Well, this is all prophesied -- it's bound to happen." Some suggest perhaps an earthquake will clear the mount. One predicted that "in an Arab-Israeli war, a surface-to-surface missile aimed at Jerusalem will miss and hit the Dome of the Rock."
It's this kind of perspective that worries knowledgeable observers. Such mixing of prophecy and politics "could start World War III," says Martin Marty, religious historian and co- director of the Fundamentalist Project, set up to study worldwide religious reaction to modernity.