Evangelical Zionists Meddling Peace Process

Evangelicals Call Christian Zionist Uncritical Support for Israel Appalling and Intolerable - Religion Dispatches 9/20/11

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A very wordy title for a very charged article. Amazingly, some on the evangelical right are calling for a temperance to the unbridled support for Israel. This Zionist movement is really causing a lot of issues with the peace process between Israel and Palestine. Evidenced by today's speech to the U.N. by president Obama. He really is walking a fine line calling for a Palestinian State without neglecting our obligations to ally Israel and its stability in the region. What everybody in the room doesn't want to talk about is the real reason the Republicans are so in bed with the Israelis. It is this christian belief that once all the jews can return to their homeland and be converted to christianity, jesus christ can return and redeem them all and destroy this world in fire and brimstone.

This is what is driving our foreign policy folks. Trying to balance a just and equal peace negotiation on one side with loons who are only pro Israel for their own christian views on the other side. And Israel is eating this right up, they are taking advantage of all the love from the U.S. evangelicals to engage in very sneaky construction projects over the borders and drag out this process so when it comes time to negotiate land deals, they will have already occupied a good chunk. Israel has a right to be concerned over its precarious position in the middle east and its security from islamic forces, but this constant meddling and dickering and procrastination is trying the nerves of the whole world and people are getting absolutely fed up with it. This is an issue that should have been resolved years and years ago and it continues to be the biggest headache for the middle east and for us because we can't seem to let go of our first love. It's time we acted like adults, worked out a deal of compromise and move on. Palestine has a right to statehood and sovereignty and to exist, just like Israel does. This delaying is only restraining the good people of Palestine from getting started on building their nation and improving their own lives. This is absurd and it needs to come to a T soon.

A good start is for us to reject the ungrounded influence of the christian evangelicals who only see it from a religious point of view, an end times point of view, an apocalyptic point of view and that is just as scary as any islamist extremist trying to solve this complex issue. It should be solved from a humanist point of view, a societal point of view. For the betterment of the human race, for all people involved ,not just one side or the other. Its time these zionists listen to the words of some of their brethren from this article and take a step back to realize what is at stake here. The stability of this region is at a tipping point and it can either get really good or really chaotic from here. The world is watching.

A Common Reality

As Candidates Run for Office, Some Run From Their Church

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It's funny that when you get down to the nitty gritty about what politicians are actually willing to say they believe, they tend to shy away from the beliefs of the church they've attended for years. Great article hear delving into this topic and it's not just Michele Bachmann, its a fair amount of politicians including Barack Obama who had his issues in the last presidential campaign trying to distance himself from his former preacher. While I believe Obama has a much greater appreciation for the religious diversity of the country and lets that appreciation drive his political views towards religion, you tend to find that when hard pressed to say what they themselves believe it seems that's when they realize their church has some extreme views compared with mainstream america. And to get votes from mainstream America, they can't appear to be crazy in this respect.


“If you claim to be religious then you have a public duty to explain yourself,” said Linker, the commentary editor at Newsweek/The Daily Beast. “There is nothing shameful about it. It should be on the table to talk about: What does your church teach? And do you agree with your church?”

I wholeheartedly agree. If you claim to be religious, as a politician, this should be open for scrutiny so the public may gauge your mental state. We have a right to know if we elect a president, the leader of the free world, who has supernatural beliefs that may drastically effect our public discourse and our relationship with other countries around the world. This is a VERY serious issue. If we have someone in office who believes the world is 6000 years old and that jesus is returning to save the believers once all the Jews have returned to the homeland, we would have someone who has no worries for tomorrow, and will not think of long-term consequences for actions. Someone who literally believes in armageddon and that the book of revelation will come true would be more likely, in my opinion, to ratchet up tensions with countries of other religions in the hopes to bring about the end of the world. This is insanity and we have a right to know the beliefs of our elected officials.

That's an extreme example of course (but not out of the realm of possibilities with who we now know are running for president), but their religious beliefs could have an effect on what is taught in our science classrooms, how we treat homosexuals, how we treat women, where we spend our research dollars, how we respect people of different beliefs, long-term infrastructure and space programs and countless other areas. These are all major issues that effect everyone. It is our duty as citizens to be informed on the mental states of these officials so we don't screw up a very good thing, so we can improve upon a very good thing. I really liked President Obama's speech on religion and politics, of separation of church and state, focusing on our common reality to make the most of a pluralistic society... (I think he is a closet non-believer)