Category Archives: Human Rights

Christian Zionism: The New Heresy that Undermines Middle East Peace

At least one in four American Christians surveyed recently by Christianity Today magazine said that they believe it is their biblical responsibility to support the nation of Israel. This view is known as Christian Zionism. The Pew Research Center put the figure at 63 per cent among white evangelicals. Christian Zionism is pervasive within mainline American evangelical, charismatic and independent denominations including the Assemblies of God, Pentecostals and Southern Baptists, as well as many of the independent mega-churches. It is less prevalent within the historic denominations, which show a greater respect for the work of the United Nations, support for human rights, the rule of international law and empathy with the Palestinians.

The origins of the movement can be traced to the early 19th century when a group of eccentric British Christian leaders began to lobby for Jewish restoration to Palestine as a necessary precondition for the return of Christ. The movement gained traction from the middle of the 19th century when Palestine became strategic to British, French and German colonial interests in the Middle East. Proto-Christian Zionism therefore preceded Jewish Zionism by more than 50 years. Some of Theodore Herzl’s strongest advocates were Christian clergy.

Christian Zionism as a modern theological and political movement embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism. It has become deeply detrimental to a just peace between Palestine and Israel. It propagates a worldview in which the Christian message is reduced to an ideology of empire, colonialism and militarism. In its extreme form, it places an emphasis on apocalyptic events leading to the end of history rather than living Christ’s love and justice today.

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Len Rogers on Vindication

Dear Stephen,

I await your vindication. You are a messenger just like Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela. Unlike them you may find that in this life you will not be accepted except by a few but in years to come the world will realize you were a champion of justice and human rights. Do what is right in God’s eyes. May the Holy Spirit give you strength. Keep your roots and values in God’s word in a loving relationship with Jesus. You are always in my thoughts and prayers.

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Len Rodgers

Director Emeritus of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding
Founder/President-Emeritus Venture International
Founder of World Vision Middle East

And a few other friends

Church of Scotland Censors ‘Inheritance of Abraham’ Report

In May, the Church of Scotland published a major report on Israel-Palestine entitled the Inheritance of Abraham. Under pressure from the Zionist Lobby, however, the report was swiftly removed from their website and a revision promised.

Read the original report here and the heavily redacted revision here with changes highlighted.

A ‘before and after’ comparison is both illuminating and depressing. It shows that what was promised would be a minor rewrite of the introduction, to provide “context”, actually became a major rewrite of the whole document.

It appears the Church of Scotland has censored itself and limited its own theological discussion under intense pressure from the Israeli ambassador, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities and the Council of Christians and Jews.

In particular:

The section dealing with the writing of Mark Braverman has been heavily edited so as to remove his most penetrating comments on the Holocaust and Jewish ‘specialness’.
A reference to Jerusalem as ‘the most contentious religious and political issue’ has been deleted.
The quote from Ben Gurion (‘The Bible is our mandate’) has been removed.
All references to the book of Joshua in relation to the occupation of the land have been removed.
The reference to “the violence used to deprive some 750,000 Palestinian people from their homes” has been toned down.
References to the State of Israel have been amended so as to dilute criticism of the state and to remove any suggestion that it is ‘an ethnic democracy’.
The reference to Luke 4:25-30 (Jesus’ rejection by the Jews in Nazareth) has been deleted, along with the sentence ‘Jesus offered a radical critique of Jewish specialness and exclusivism, but the people of Nazareth were not ready for it’.
The reference to Paul’s writings about the Jews in Romans 11 has been deleted, along with the sentence ‘No part of the New Testament gives any support to a political state of Israel beyond that to any other state. All are challenged to the same requirements for justice and the protection of human rights for all their inhabitants’.

The only part where the revised report has been strengthened is the very final sentence, where the Church of Scotland says it should urge the UK government to “remove existing illegal settlements” in addition to stopping further settlement expansion.

In no sense did the original report disenfranchise anyone from legitimate rights to citizenship in Israel and Palestine, merely the claim made by some Zionists that the Bible mandates an exclusive right to the land for the Jewish people alone.

On the contrary the Hebrew Scriptures repeatedly insist that the land belongs to God and that residence was always conditional. For example, God said to his people, “‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.” (Leviticus 25:23).

The following notes are a summary of chapter 4 of my book Zion’s Christian Soldiers.

They amplify and explain the significance and purpose of the Promised Land, its geographical boundaries, the conditions for residency, the nature of the Kingdom and concept of land in the New Testament.

Read more here or you can download a copy as a PDF. The Promised Land from the Nile to the Euphrates.

A summary of the book as a whole is also available entitled Seven Biblical Answers to Popular Zionist Assumptions.

Marc Ellis has written a useful commentary on the Church of Scotland report Exile and the prophetic: the Church of Scotland weighs in

“Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land. The Lord Almighty has declared in my hearing: “Surely the great houses will become desolate.” (Isaiah 5:8-9)

The losers? Genuine interfaith dialogue between Jews, Christians and Muslims, willing to engage honestly with our sacred texts, openly share our theological convictions and aspirations for a just and lasting peace in Israel-Palestine based on justice, mercy and reconciliation.

The indigenous Church in Palestine are learning to our shame that they cannot rely on the wider church to advocate for them or speak biblically and theologically on their behalf.

Watch this space for the Kairos UK Report due in August. No doubt its authors will come under the same pressure.

Council of Christians and Jews Initiative to be Welcomed

Now that the dust has settled on the decision of the Church of Scotland to withdraw their report, The Inheritance of Abraham, temporarily, so that the foreword can be rephrased after complaints from some Jewish groups, the initiative of CCJ to call a meeting of both sides to resolve misunderstandings and find common ground is to be welcomed.

Some of the reporting has been intemperate to say the least. In the Jewish Chronicle, for example, we read ‘This church report on Israel sets the clock back 70 years’ , ‘A damaging document‘ and SCoJeC Rebukes Church of Scotland Over Report. Sadly, Scottish Friends of Israel claim ‘Once again racism raises its ugly head in the form of anti-Semitism at the Church of Scotland.’

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Over 1000 Clergy and Laity Co-Sign Letter to Archbishop of Canterbury in Support of EAPPI

9th April 2013

Dear Archbishop Justin,

We write as representatives of organisations and as individuals who are deeply involved in the search for peace with justice in the Holy Land to express our deep concern over the remarks that have been attributed to you in a recent interview with the newspaper “Jewish News”. Amongst the aspects of the interview with which we were most saddened were that you regretted not voting against the General Synod decision to support EAPPI.

As you know, the main criticism that was levelled against EAPPI before the vote was, in the words of one of their more strident opponents, that it created “a cohort of very partisan but very motivated anti-Israel advocates who have almost no grasp of the suffering of normal Israelis”.

However, EAPPI seeks a just solution to the problems in the Holy Land that will benefit both Palestinians and Israelis. It operates in terms of what it calls “principled impartiality” with its Code of Conduct stating: “We do not take sides in this conflict and we do not discriminate against anyone but we are not neutral in terms of principles of human rights and international humanitarian law. We stand faithfully with the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized. We want to serve all parties in this conflict in a fair and unbiased manner in word and action.”

In our experience, all Ecumenical Accompaniers are scrupulous in their determination to be fair to all sides in their work, as befits both the programme and the senior positions they often hold as Church leaders, in the legal profession, as teachers and many other areas.

Its participants are given a full briefing on a wide variety of Israeli perspectives including taking an extended tour of the Holocaust Museum and travel to Sderot to meet Israeli people affected by rockets fired from Gaza. Their discussions with Israelis also include briefings from those who work with Palestinians most directly – some of whom wrote most powerfully in support of EAPPI when it came under its most sustained attack.

One of these was Professor Jeff Halper, who wrote as an Israeli Jew and as one of the founders of EAPPI in Geneva to remind us of the particular challenges that EAPPI addresses in the Palestinian West Bank. He says that many of these have no parallel for Israelis, “where children hardly need to be escorted to school and where children of settlers are escorted by the Israeli army, and Palestinian children walking miles through the hills of Hebron to school and being regularly attacked by thugs from the settlements armed with baseball bats and guns. Anyone who tries to equate the “sides” ignores the immense power differential created, among other things, by the Israeli Occupation. (Last time I looked, the Palestinians were not occupying Tel Aviv or demolishing Israeli homes.)” He went on to say that “as the head of an Israeli peace and human rights organization that tries to stop Israel’s wanton demolition of Palestinian homes (27,000 so far since 1967, almost none for “security” reasons), I call on the Synod to give the EAPPI all the support it can.”

It need hardly be added that some of the organisations who have attacked EAPPI most vociferously have seldom been noted for their own impartiality in the Middle East conflict, promoting as they do their “Speak out for Israel” campaign.

Many of us are frequent visitors to the Holy Land and are passionate in our belief that peace with justice will only come when all communities have their need for security, equality and dignity addressed. But this will not come whilst discriminatory laws, home demolitions, planning restrictions, checkpoint and movement restrictions and enforced family separations persist. Indeed, we agree with the former Speaker of the Knesset Avraham Burg that the constant building of illegal settlements on Palestinian land, not only prevents the emergence of a viable Palestine but jeopardises the future of the state of Israel.

We welcome the news that you are to visit the Holy Land in June. In hoping that you get the opportunity for a comprehensive view of the conflict, we encourage you to visit Israelis from all sides of the spectrum of opinion, including those who are risking so much in the campaign to end the occupation. We also encourage you to visit Palestinians who are suffering behind the walls, including the Christian community in Bethlehem, the people of the Jordan Valley, those living in refugee camps such as Aida and Balata as well as the people of Gaza who are so often marginalised and forgotten. We also encourage you to visit with international lawyers, who can provide vital background on the legal obligations, such as in the 4th Geneva Convention, that a situation of Occupation imposes.

Please support those who are advocating for peace with justice, please support those who are risking their reputations and even their lives to oppose military domination of one by another and please speak out for those who oppose oppression. Above all, we ask you to hear the 2009 Kairos call of the Palestinian Christians, who ask “are you able to help us get our freedom back, for this is the only way you can help the two peoples attain justice, peace, security and love?”

This comes with our prayers, support and good wishes for your important ministry.

Yours sincerely,

Laura Abraham, Founder of the Peace Cycle
Issam Aburaya
Suzy Andrews
Revd John Angle
Revd Alan Ashton
Right Revd Riah Abu El Assal, retired Episcopal Bishop of Jerusalem
Revd Andrew Ashdown, Enham Team Rector
Fr Robert Assaly, Chair Canadian Friends of Sabeel
Revd Warren Bardsley, Methodist minister and former Ecumenical Accompanier
Leonard Beighton
Leila Bentley
Karen Chalk, former Ecumenical Accompanier and Administrator of ICAHD UK.
Revd Colin Chapman
Anne Clayton, Friends of Sabeel UK
Diane Conti
Janet Davies
Joy Davies
Rebecca Dawson
Verity Elson, St Andrew’s Church Cobham
Adam Estle, Executive Director, Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding
Noushin Framke, Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church
Angus Geddes, member of Havant URC
Sharen Green
Professor Mary Grey, Emeritus Professor of Theology, University of Wales
Norma Hashim
Kamel Hawwash
Revd Dr Fiona Haworth, Chaplain, University of Worcester
Revd Canon Garth Hewitt, Honorary Canon of St George’s Cathedral Jerusalem
Donna Hicks, Convener, Episcopal Peace Fellowship’s Palestine Israel Network
Revd Wendy Hough
Carol Hylkema, IPMN
Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Barbara Ivy
Lucy Janigian
Revd Stuart Jennings, Methodist Minister and University Chaplain
Darlene Jones-Owens, Christians United for Peace
Keith Killough
Salaam Khoury
Stevie Krayer, signing as a concerned Jew
Revd Emma Langley, Priest in Charge of St Alban’s Church, Bristol.
Dibartolo Laurie
Dr Stephen Leah, Member of the Methodist Conference
Cilla Lynch
A.J. McDonald Jr. Christians United for Peace
Joy McKenzie
Audrey McKenzie
Elizabeth M. Molchany, USA, Attorney-at-law
Mary Morris, USA, former Ecumenical Accompanier
Jon Neall, former Ecumenical Accompanier
Michael Newbold
Revd Steve Openshaw, Ramsbottom and Edenfield Team Ministry
Revd Tom Patton, Methodist Minister and former Ecumenical Accompanier
Miranda Pinch, former Ecumenical Accompanier
Penny Potter
Dee Poujade, Ecumenical Accompanier
Ronan Quinn, Armagh, former Ecumenical Accompanier
Alexandra Pupo Quintino
Linda Ramsden, Director of ICAHD UK
Christine Robson
Len Rogers, Former Executive Director, Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding
Revd Chris Rose
Revd Dr Stephen Sizer, Vicar of Virginia Water
Revd Alison Shaw, Vicar St Boniface, St Budeaux, Plymouth, Sabeel Peninsula
Philip & Denise Small
Andrew Smith
Colin South, Chair of Living Stones
Jake Terpstra
David Toorawa
Maggie Vicuna
Michaela Whitton, peace activist
Revd David Willis
Revd Simon Winn
Revd Anna Wright, Blyth Valley Team Ministry, Wenhaston

If you wish to add your signature to this letter please do so here

For more information on EAPPI

Ladies Spring Hike: National Trust Devil’s Punchbowl

Date Saturday 20 April 2013
Time 10am to 4pm
Place National Trust Devils Punchbowl , Hindhead, Surrey

Meeting Point
Gather in the Christ Church Virginia Water car park for 10 am. We plan to car share and possibly use one Christ Church minibus. Please let us know if you want a lift from the Christ Church car park and back after the walk. We will be leaving the Church Church Virgina Water car park at about 10am with the aim of setting off on the first stage of the walk from the National Trust Devils Punchbowl car park at 1045am.

The Walk
A figure of eight walk. The first half is approximately 2.8 miles. A soup and roll lunch will be provided at the Cafe located at the National Trust Devils Punchbowl car park at approximately 1230pm. We will then aim to set off on the second and final part of the walk at 145pm. There will be an option to walk for 3.1 miles (for a slightly more challenging walk) or a 1 mile walk to Gibbet Hill. We will then return for tea and cake at the Cafe afterward the second leg of the walk for those that would like to (please bring a little money for tea and cake) before heading back to Virginia Water.

Donation
We would be delighted to receive what ever amount you feel you would like to give. All donations received will go directly towards The Harpswell Foundation and the costs which Rachel has incurred in getting to Phnom Penh. Suggested minimum of £25. The soup and roll lunch will be included. You may want a little money for the tea and cake later on.

Practical considerations
Walk will suit all abilities and will have clear way markings. Individual maps will be provided on arrival. See map photo for detail. The terrain may be muddy and a little hilly so stout footwear is recommended and suitable clothing will be needed for all weathers! Maybe bring a drink and a small snack to share.

The reserved group lunch at the Café will give us a chance to hear from Rachel about her 3 month stay in Phnom Penh and her hopes and ideas as she prepares to go next month!

We are looking forward to the fun of walking together and at the same time helping young women in Cambodia with the chance to have a university education and develop the leadership skills necessary to have a positive impact on Cambodia’s future.

RSVP to Joanna Sizer (Spaces are limited so do hurry)

National Trust Devil’s Punchbowl

Harpswell Foundation Cambodia

Chinese Translation of Seven Biblical Answers

A Chinese version of Seven Biblical Answers to Popular Zionist Assumptions, based on my book Zion’s Christian Soldiers is now available.

The Chinese version was kindly translated by Lo Yuk Fai. Presentations in Chinese were delivered recently for Macau Bible Institute, Sawtow Christian Church Hong Kong and All Saints Cathedral, Kowloon.

See more photos of recent visits to China here

Evangelical Theology & American Politics in the Middle East

On September 12^th, following the tragic news of the murder of Ambassador Stevens, together with members of his staff, sheltering in the US Consulate in Benghazi, a grief stricken Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton asked a simple question. A question that was on the lips of many Americans: “How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction?” Andrew Bacevich, writing in Newsweek, asks,

“Why the Arab anger against the United States? Why the absence of gratitude among the very people the United States helped save, in the very countries Americans helped liberate? The way Secretary Clinton frames the question practically guarantees a self-satisfying but defective answer.”

The question, he argues, is predicated on three propositions that are regarded as sacrosanct by most US politicians and policy makers.

“First: humanity yearns for liberation, as defined in Western (meaning predominantly liberal and secular terms). Second: the United States has a providentially assigned role to nurture and promote this liberation… Third: given that American intentions are righteous and benign (most of the time) – the exercise of US power on a global scale merits respect and ought to command compliance.”[i]

I would add a fourth proposition, assumed as self evident, especially among Evangelicals, that, as God’s ‘chosen people’ the security of the State of Israel is synonymous with US interests in the Middle East and her God ordained role.

The problem is that the Arab world and Muslims, in particular, do not only not share these propositions, they repudiate them theologically. It is not that they do not aspire to political freedom from despotic rulers and oppressive governments. The Arab Spring has shown that many do indeed hunger for freedom. The problem is, observes Bacevich, “that 21^st century Muslims don’t necessarily buy America’s 21^st century definition of it – a definition increasingly devoid of moral content.”

Freedom of speech is assumed sacrosanct even if it offends those of other religions. Whether the movie, Innocence of Muslims was indeed responsible for sparking Muslim outrage and the subsequent violence against US interests is irrelevant. The promotion of the film by Fundamentalist Christians and their antipathy toward Islam certainly is. What we tend to ignore, while Muslims cannot forget, it the simple fact is that for more than 100 years, Christians in the USA and Europe have sponsored, defended, funded and sustained the Zionist enterprise in preference to developing normative relations with the Arab world.

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Broken Promises: The Road to Balfour

A paper on the historical link between proto Christian Zionism and the Balfour Declaration delivered at a conference organised by the Balfour Project in association with the Church of Scotland at the Quaker Meeting House in Edinburgh on Friday 2^ndNovember.

Introduction

In this presentation we are going to trace some of the significant events and individuals that led to the Balfour Declaration.

1. Puritanism and the Conversion of the Jews

The road to Balfour began in the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation brought about a renewed interest in the Old Testament and God’s dealings with the Jewish people. From Protestant pulpits right across Europe, the Bible was for the first time in centuries being taught within its historical context and was given its plain literal sense. At the same time, a new assessment of the place of the Jews within the purposes of God emerged.

Puritan eschatology was essentially postmillennial and believed the conversion of the Jews would lead to future blessing for the entire world. In 1621, for example, Sir Henry Finch, an eminent lawyer and member of the English Parliament, published a book,

The World’s Great Restauration (sic) or Calling of the Jews, (and with them) all the Nations and Kingdoms of the Earth, to the Faith of Christ.

By the late 17^th Century and right through the 18^th Century, especially during the period of the Great Awakening, postmillennial eschatology dominated European and American Protestantism.^[1] The writings and preaching of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758),[2] as well as George Whitefield, were influential in the spread of the belief that the millennium had arrived, that the gospel would soon triumph against evil throughout the world. God’s blessings of peace and prosperity would follow the conversion of Israel, prior to the glorious return of Christ.[3]

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“We are in the Middle of a World War” says Vicar of Beirut

“We are in the middle of a world war. I tell everyone to read Colin Chapman and Stephen Sizer”.

“He thanked Stephen for his courageous and important work in the Middle East and for his encouragement to his own church in Beirut.”

Revd Nabil Shehadi, RIBA, MA
Vicar, All Saints’ International Congregation
www.allsaintsbeirut.com
Alpha Adviser for Lebanon/Alpha publishing
www.alpha.org
Archbishop of Canterbury’s personal representative
to the Oriental Orthodox Church