Real friends, real enemies-Presbyterian Israel-bashing shows Jews clueless about Christian groups

Jerusalem Post ^ | 6-26-08 | JONATHAN TOBIN

[SJackson]

Two years ago, American Jewish community relations groups were busy patting themselves on the back for achieving a signal victory in turning back the attempt by anti-Israel radicals to hijack the Presbyterian Church USA.

After the Presbyterians became the first Protestant church to embrace divestment from companies doing business in Israel in 2004, Jewish groups worked hard to overturn the decision. When the church voted to back away from this stand in 2006, it was rightly seen as a triumph not just for friends of Israel, but for the tactic of outreach itself as years of tenacious diplomacy paid off.

The celebrations seem to have been premature.

The release of a document by the church last month titled "Vigilance Against Anti-Jewish Bias in the Pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian Peace" was supposed to help its members guard against anti-Semitic rhetoric when discussing the Middle East.

Instead, it is a compendium of charges aimed at delegitimizing the Jewish State. The church release avoids discussing Arab support for terrorism and, rather than serve as a warning against bias, it serves as a justification for anti-Israel invective since it places the sole blame for the conflict on Israel, rather than on those attempting to destroy it. If anything, it should serve to reinvigorate those who have been pushing for divestment, which is nothing less than a declaration of economic war on Israel and the Jewish people.

In itself, this should justify the outrage and the feelings of betrayal that have been voiced by a wide spectrum of centrist and liberal Jewish denominations and organizations that worked to reverse the previous Presbyterian stand on Israel.

BUT ALSO buried in the document is a strand of thought that is relevant not only to this battle for the soul of a powerful mainline liberal Protestant church, but to the mindset of American Jews themselves.

Amid a laundry list of anti-Israel measures in the Presbyterian statement - including opposition to the security fence that effectively ended the Palestinian suicide bombing campaign - was the assertion that "Christian faithfulness, as well as the policies of our church, demands that we maintain our commitments … to criticize forms of Christian Zionism."

That meant that in the same document in which they urged its members to avoid couching their attacks on Israel in ways that could be labeled anti-Semitic, the Presbyterians specifically attack fellow Christians who have lent their support to the idea that the Jewish people have a right to sovereignty over their historic homeland.

In particular, they singled out Evangelicals such as Pastor John Hagee, who was flogged out of the camp of Republican presidential candidate John McCain for saying the Holocaust was caused by the Jewish sin of failing to make aliya.

To support the contention that Christian Zionists are wrongheaded, the Presbyterian document cited Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the leader of the Union for Reform Judaism, who in a December 2007 speech warned Jews to avoid alliances with the pro-Israel Christian right.

Yoffie, whose Reform movement joined the coalition of Jewish groups that condemned the Presbyterian reversal, is not happy about this. He told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he is "infuriated" about the Presbyterians "embedding" his words in a "doctrine that is so hostile to Israel."

WHILE SOME of Yoffie's criticisms of Hagee are not completely off-target - particularly his reaction to Hagee's foolish talk about the Holocaust, for which the pastor has since apologized - the Reform leader is right to be embarrassed.

But rather than merely being annoyed by the church's chutzpah, he ought to be rethinking his own bashing of right-wing Christian Zionists.

Indeed, the Presbyterians' renewed flirtation with anti-Zionism should serve as a wake-up call for the vast number of American Jews who have clung to their prejudices about Evangelicals, despite the sea change in the Protestant world that has occurred in the last generation.

In the past, Jews instinctively looked to mainline liberal Protestant churches, like the Presbyterians, the Methodists, Lutherans and Anglicans, who have all been debating divestment measures against Israel in recent years, as allies. At the same time, Jews generally assumed that Evangelicals, who generally lived outside the coastal urban enclaves where Jewish life has thrived in America, were liable to be anti-Semitic.

But in the America of 2008, it is precisely the Evangelicals of the Christian right who are instinctively supportive of Israel, while our traditional allies on the Christian left are flirting with a theology that demonizes Israel and the Jews.

Though the gap between the Christian right and most Jews on domestic issues is still vast, when it comes to the life-and-death questions of Israeli survival and opposition to terror, it is the people who look to the Hagees of the world for leadership, rather than to the Presbyterians, who stand with Israel.

Unfortunately, that isn't good enough for many Jews who never tire of making unsupported and utterly false accusations that the Evangelicals actually hate Jews and want to destroy us. It is little surprise that this has only encouraged the Presbyterians to use this issue to bolster their own attempt to isolate Israel.

The point here is not to claim that the Christian right has become Israel's only American friends, though they are among the most active and effective.

The fact is, most of the rank-and-file members of the mainline churches who are dabbling in anti-Zionist rhetoric and considering divestment don't support the campaign against Israel. Indeed, it is doubtful even after all of the controversy of the past few years, that most are even aware of the fact that their spiritual home is being hijacked by radical left-wing elements.

As frustrated as many Jews are with the Presbyterian betrayal, the outreach campaign carried out by Jewish community relations councils across the country must continue.

Most American Protestants rightly see Israel as sharing common democratic values with the United States and want nothing to do with the sort of anti-Zionism that has won a foothold among mainline church activists. They need to understand that their silence will be taken as complicity with the actions of these radicals. They must understand that their churches cannot pretend to be friends with their Jewish neighbors while supporting an economic war on the Jewish state. And they must be prodded to take action to rescind such measures enacted in their names.

But, at the same time, American Jews must cease living in the past when it comes to understanding the contemporary religious and political landscape of America. At a time when Hamas, Hizbullah and their Iranian sponsors are plotting a new Holocaust for Israel and its six million Jews, treating those Protestants who actually love Israel as hateful pariahs is a strategy devoid of truth or sense.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

[Gamecock]

Let’s not confuse the Presbyterian church(USA) with the Orthodox Presbyterians, the Presbyterian Church in America, etc....

[Sudetenland]

It is maddening to see so many "Christians" using the false concept of "moral equivalency" in drawing parallels between the muderous actions of Palestinian suicide bombers with the efforts of Israel to punish the perpetrators of those acts. Self defense is the right of every person and nation.

These mainline Left-wing controlled political organizations like the Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and United Methodist "Churches," are more interested in their achieveing their political agendas than they are in saving souls or telling the truth...as are all Liberals more interested in achieving their political aims than in actually helping their constituents.

This pernicious concept of "moral equivalency" is an evil which must be confronted where ever it pops up. The statements of the Presbyterian (and other) "mainline churches" (including my own Methodist) are an affront to any who believes in truth and the tenets of the Bible and the faith these "mainline churches" profess.

[Maine Mariner]

Don’t forget one other mainline Protestant Church, the United Church of Christ, which includes Rev. Wright’s Trinity Church in Chicago.
Much of what is written in the denomination’s newsletter could have come from the Nation magazine. One UCC leader in essence said on September 12, 2001 that we deserved what happened on September 11.

[LuxMaker]

I have been going to 1st Presbyterian church of Colorado Springs for over 6 years now and have never heard or seen one antisemitic thing in all that time. I am not sure what Presbytery they are addressing in this article.

[vae_victus]

What is not generally understood is the theological basis for such a ruling by the Presbyterians.

While there is no “Evangelical” denomination, evangelicals generally believe that Israel’s existence is fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

Reform groups, such as the Presbyterians, do not. Their belief is that the church is the “spiritual” Israel, thus replacing the current state of Israel in the Bible’s promises.

This forms the opinions on each group’s ultimate political views on the nation of Israel.

It does not, however justify their ignoring the true history
of Israel and the so-called Palestinian “nation.”

[Convert from ECUSA]

Useless “churches” in name only ping!

Memo to Jewish friends: These “churches” do NOT, repeat, do NOT in any remote, way, shape or form, represent the view of real Christians. These “churches” are red-daiper bolshie marxist heathen trash trying to cloak themselves with religion, and they are the lowest form of gutter trash after the Amalekstinians.

[444Flyer]

The Presbyterian USA long ago left the dock and sunk. This is the type of church that would have placated Hitler to “keep the peace”. Their view on Israel is non-Biblical and sickening.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks C from E for both.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036656/posts

[Convert from ECUSA]

My former denomination, the Whiskeypagan Chucklehead of the USA (ECUSA - they now call themselves by a new name since the 2003 fiasco with V.G. Robinson), is just as bad when in it comes to Israel, at least among the leadership, most of the “bishops”, etc. As rad-lefty red diaper marxists-in-christian-clothing as you can imagine. They make the PCUSA look almost orthodox in comparison.

[phillyfanatic]

Correct. I left the PresbyLibersocialistpacifist Church some 20 plus years ago and pastored for 20 years at an independent conservative Christ centered MB church. As a college instructor, a Christian, and a retired pastor now, I have always been pro-Israel and have always scratched my head over the evil of our Mainline liberal churches who kow tow to Castro, Chavez, the North Koreans and the Islamofascist thugs supposedly in a trend of being non-judgemental and ‘loving their enemies.’ Useful idiots Lenin called that type.And sure enough, they loved Angela Davis too and thought that the Chicoms were ‘agrarian reformers.’
And so they have been dupes and fellow travelers with evil for over 80 years now.

[Marysecretary]

And let’s not confuse them with the Christian right, either.

[Marysecretary]

I don’t understand it either, philly. Don’t they read the Bible? (probably not) Don’t they know that God does NOT want Israel/Jerusalem divided? (probably not) Don’t they realize they are in peril for hyping this Palestinaian state business? (probably not) What’s just as bad is that Rice and Pres. Bush are going right along with it. No wonder he’s doing so badly in the polls. God is trying to get his attention.

[Gamecock]

You make a good point, though I am sure there is a remnant.

[Marysecretary]

Yes, I believe that, too.

[Salem]

"Memo to Jewish friends: These “churches” do NOT, repeat, do NOT in any remote, way, shape or form, represent the view of real Christians. These “churches” are red-daiper bolshie marxist heathen trash trying to cloak themselves with religion, and they are the lowest form of gutter trash after the Amalekstinians."

  

---

If you'd like to be on or off this
Christian Supporters of Israel ping list,
please FR mail me ~
    

There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Warnings ~
The Nature Of Bruce ~

"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Holocaust Chronicle ~



" ... It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world."—FReeper Retief
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."

[fatez]

1st Pres is an excellent church that is in the pueblo presbytery, which overall is pretty conservative. The GA and Lexingtion where the HQ is located is overan with doctrinal libs. I left a church that is a daughter of 1st pres a couple of years ago. I cannot stand what the Pres USA has become and where my tithe was going, so I left. Fight the good fight, you have a great church.

[wjcsux]

I was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church USA. I left in the early 90’s because of their extreme pro-homosexual and anti-family bias they started taking at that time. I am now with a PCA church that teaches Gods Word instead of PC crap.