An Open Letter to American Christians
I was recently asked by my friend, Andrew Miller, who I met through discussions on Facebook regarding the Israel/Palestine issue if I would help him draft an open letter op-ed piece for +972 magazine.
I was glad to do so.
Our concern is that many American Christians do not have a balanced understanding when it comes to Israel/Palestine and how some of the politics they support often end up leading to hardships and injustice against fellow Christians living there.
The letter is not an “attack” on Israel or its right to exist, and we go out of our way to make this clear. Rather, it is a plea to our fellow Christians to think more carefully and prayerfully about this issue, especially in light of the teachings of our Messiah.
Here is the letter…
By Andrew Miller and James-Michael Smith
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
—Matthew 5:9
We are writing to you, our fellow Christians from the United States, with which the State of Israel has enjoyed a unique relationship since its founding, because we are concerned with the nature of support that many American Christians provide for Israel’s policies.
Like you, we support the right of Israel to exist and thrive, to be a democracy based on principles of justice described in the Law and the Prophets, and to live in peace with its neighbors.
Like you, we feel a deep reverence for the land in which many of the Hebrew prophets, and Jesus himself, lived and spoke.
And like you, we deeply respect the Jewish people for preserving the Hebrew Bible, for the immense suffering that they have valiantly endured, and for so many other reasons.
Unfortunately, this is not enough for many of our fellow Christians. For them, being truly “pro-Israel” seems to mean that one must never suggest that Israelis could do more than they currently do to live in peace with their closest neighbors…
Categories: Blog, Eschatology, Political/Social issues, Theological issues
[…] really like what my co-author, James-Michael Smith, says about the article at his blog, so I will simply quote him: Our concern is that many American Christians do not have a balanced […]
by I am a published Israeli author… | Andrew's Bethlehem Blog on Feb 29, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Would you find it arrogant and demeaning, if those with whom you disagree said, about you, “I’m concerned that (since you disagree with me) you don’t have a balanced understanding, and I urge you to think more carefully and prayerfully on this issue (implying that if you do you’ll change your mind and agree with me)”? Sure seems arrogant and demeaning to me.
Why not just say “those who disagree with me aren’t just wrong, they’re not thinking carefully and they don’t fully understand the issue.”
That’s how this reads and it sounds pretty arrogant.
by KMS on Feb 29, 2012 at 7:10 pm
No, I wouldn’t find it arrogant or demeaning…because it’s pretty much exactly what’s been said to me by Christians who are very pro-Zionist and think I am “going against God’s plan for His people” by voicing criticism of the state of Israel. I don’t take offense because I recognize that this is their sincere belief.
I AM concerned that the typical narrative we Christians hear is very skewed (as my conversations with many, many Christians on this issue have led me to believe). And I DO urge Christians to think more carefully and prayerfully on this issue–particularly by meeting and talking with actual Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ whose stories rarely get told.
I’m being 100% sincere in the above comments. If you read arrogance into it I’m sorry. But I don’t see how it could be read as demeaning unless one assumes a tone in my words that aren’t there (which can often happen in online discussion of course!).
by jm on Feb 29, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Fair enough. I take you at your word.
Maybe I’m hypersensitive on this. In any debate when someone has the idea of “I’m right and enlightened and if you just weren’t brainwashed or ignorant, you’d see the light too”, it rubs me the wrong way. Saying someone is wrong is great. Saying they’re wrong and presuming to know that it’s because they haven’t thought it through, or don’t have the whole picture, or are acting out of political motive…saying that somehow YOU know why they think what they think…just seems intellectually elitist. Sorry to ramble, you get my point. I take you for your word and apologize if it’s just me being hypersensitive. PS the tone of your piece is commendable.
by KMS on Feb 29, 2012 at 10:06 pm
I feel you on the snobbish arrogance that can often accompany such discussions. Without tone being able to come through in written form, it makes it even harder to avoid being misread. I can’t speak for Andrew of course, but my comments come mainly from teaching on eschatology in local churches and the widespread assumption that any view that is not 100% supportive of Israel’s actions is “unbiblical” which I’ve encountered. Even those I’ve debated/discussed this with who say they don’t fully support every decision Israel makes still often hold views that completely dismiss or belittle the plight of Palestinians. New Testament scholar Ben Witherington had a great blog post on the misguided theology that drives many Christians to support things which they would never support if any other country did them: http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/07/peacemaker-as-anti-christ.html
Likewise, even as Conservative Christian as John Piper recognized that much American Christian understanding of the Israel/Palestine issue is skewed and must be corrected by the primary and clear teachings of Scripture: https://jmsmith.org/blog/thank-you-john-piper/
It is alongside such approaches as these that I offer this letter to my fellow Christians in America. I don’t believe EVERY supporter of Zionism/Israel holds the views they do for the same reasons; but in my own experience and in studying this issue for the past few years, particularly within Evangelical circles, I believe it is overwhelmingly the case that many Christians take reports from groups like AIPAC or CUFI at their word and rarely listen to groups like B’Tselem (if they are even aware of their existence in the first place).
In fact, here’s how a 2004 article in “The American Conservative” put it:
Yet U.S. media and politicians have become accustomed to thinking of and talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one in which an enlightened democracy is constantly forced to repel attacks from crazy-eyed Islamists bent on the destruction of the Jewish people and the imposition of an Islamic state. Palestinians are equated with Islamists, Islamists with terrorists. It is presumably because all organized Christian activity among Palestinians is non-political and non-violent that the community hardly ever hits the Western headlines; suicide bombers sell more copy than people who congregate for Bible study.
This is in line with what I’ve experienced in talking to Christians about this issue, I must say.
by jm on Feb 29, 2012 at 10:30 pm