Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Podcast Info
    • Hanania Podcast intro
    • Live Arab Radio
  • Your Views
  • Submit Press Release
  • Toggle search form
  • The American Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (American FRRME) helping Christians in Iraq
    New report on Christians in Iraq shows desperate situation and needs Arab World
  • Winter in Bekaa Lebanon January 2015 Photo courtesy of NRC Lebanon. January 7, 2015 in Bekaa valley Lebanon. Heavy snowfall in Lebanon January 7, 2015. Yesterday staff from NRC Lebanon’s Bekaa office were working with refugees to put in place flood mitigation measures in advance of the forecast harsh storm which hit overnight. Field teams distributed 1,205 plywood sheets and 885 bricks as floor-raising kits for tents in two settlements in the town of Sarain, and 250 wooden pallets to ensure a clear pathway in five settlements in the town at risk of flooding. Niamh Murnaghan, NRC’s Country Director in Lebanon said, “This morning residents of these informal settlements awoke to a knee-deep blanket of snow. With roads impassable in Bekaa, our staff have not been able to reach refugee settlements, but refugees have sent photos of themselves clearing the snow from their tents.” Photo credit: NRC Lebanon/Syrian refugees in Lebanon. January 7, 2015 in Bekaa valley Lebanon. Heavy snowfall in Lebanon January 7, 2015. Yesterday staff from NRC Lebanon’s Bekaa office were working with refugees to put in place flood mitigation measures in advance of the forecast harsh storm which hit overnight. Field teams distributed 1,205 plywood sheets and 885 bricks as floor-raising kits for tents in two settlements in the town of Sarain, and 250 wooden pallets to ensure a clear pathway in five settlements in the town at risk of flooding. Niamh Murnaghan, NRC’s Country Director in Lebanon said, “This morning residents of these informal settlements awoke to a knee-deep blanket of snow. With roads impassable in Bekaa, our staff have not been able to reach refugee settlements, but refugees have sent photos of themselves clearing the snow from their tents.” Photo credit: NRC Lebanon/Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
    AHRC Observes World Refugee Day American Arabs
  • Endorsements: Democrats in the Illinois June 28, 2022 Primary election Activism
  • The Arab Daily News candidate endorsements: Cook County, Illinois American Arabs
  • Endorsements: Republicans in the Illinois Republican Primary Election June 28, 2022 Election
  • Joseph Gutman was appointed by Gov. Pritzker to serve as a Member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Gutman was a Partner at BDT & Company from 2017 until retiring in January 2020 where he remains a consultant today.
    Gov Pritzker makes more appointments to state commissions, boards but no Arabs American Arabs
  • World Jewish Congress Chairman Ronald S. Lauder
    WJC President Ronald S. Lauder Receives France’s Top Distinction  Activism
  • Project DYNAMO rescues more than 600 people from Mariupol, Ukraine over the last week Major Mariupol rescue operation conducted by Project DYNAMO, more than 480 people from Mariupol as city under violent siege falling to Russian forces. 
    Project DYNAMO rescues more than 600 people from Mariupol, Ukraine over the last week Human Rights
  • US Congressman Sean Casten, 6th District, Illinois
    Congressman Sean Casten joins Ray Hanania Radio Show American Arabs
  • The U.S.S. Liberty photo courtesy of the USS Liberty Veterans.
    Survivors of Israel’s strike on USS Liberty commemorate 55th year June 6 – 8 American Arabs
  • Imad Hamad Director American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Calls for Moral Consistency on Human Rights, Urges President Biden to Pause His Trip to Israel: American Arabs
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    AHRC hosts an open meeting with TSA & community Activism
  • Former City Hall reporter Ray Hanania, ShawnTe Raines-Welch and Nick Kantas, candidates for Judge in the 4th SubCircuit, and Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar.
    Nearly 100 candidates, officials address Arab Democratic Club forum Sunday American Arabs
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    Arabs and Muslim blast Mayor lightfoot for racist store closings American Arabs
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Chicago aldermen to host “forum” to explore Mayor Lightfoot’s racist crackdown on Arab stores Activism
Ghassan Rubeiz

Christian Zionism: an explosive interfaith formula

Posted on October 11, 2018October 11, 2018 By Ghassan Rubeiz No Comments on Christian Zionism: an explosive interfaith formula
SHARE ...
97         
 
  
97
Shares

  • Tweet

Christian Zionism: an explosive interfaith formula

In its one-sided support of Israel, Christian Zionism tramples on a universally accepted social welfare principle: do no harm in delivering assistance. Implication: in helping Israelis, do not hurt Palestinians. 

By Ghassan Michel Rubeiz

Ghassan Rubeiz
Ghassan Rubeiz

In its one-sided support of Israel, Christian Zionism tramples on a universally accepted social welfare principle: do no harm in delivering assistance. Implication: in helping Israelis, do not hurt Palestinians.

Christian Zionism is an American religious-political movement obsessed with the establishment of a Jewish state, for biblical fulfillment, at any cost, and in any way possible.

A major NGO of this religious movement, Christians United for Israel, claims to have a million members in America. They have been active in driving President Trump’s regressive and punitive policies on Palestine, the wider Middle East, and Muslims worldwide. These policies are radical and far-reaching: relocating the US embassy to Jerusalem, closing PLO offices in Washington, cutting aid to Palestinians, defunding UNRWA, denying the status of refugees, expanding Israeli settlements and eliminating the prospects of a sovereign Palestinian state. In short, the Christian Zionists have prematurely declared Israel a military victor and prescribed conditions for Palestinian submission.  Against all odds, they intend to silence Arab resistance to displacement and occupation.

Underlying this extreme religious initiative is a cluster of biblical concepts being used out of historical context. Christian Zionism amounts to extreme political Christianity superimposed on unrealistic Jewish aspirations.

In his recent book, God’s Country: Christian Zionism in America, political scientist Samuel Goldman identifies three basic concepts driving this movement: the “covenant”, a special relationship between God and the Jewish people; the “prophecy”, the return of the Jews to their “promised land”; and “cultural affinity”, a symbiotic bond
between America and Israel.

Goldman is an astute scholar of American conservatism, with a contrarian mindset, and seemingly strong sympathies for the movement he analyzes. In response to a recent (10.01.18) C-SPAN covered presentation of his book at the Wilson Center in Washington DC, this writer asked Goldman to comment on the sobering fact that mainline Christian theologians are embarrassed by Christian Zionist’s approach to Israel. Goldman’s response was not satisfactory: mainline churches are dying and Evangelicals are thriving.

Indeed, mainstream Christian theologians are discomforted with the highly politicized scheme of Christian Zionists. It is appropriate to assume that Christian Zionism is toxic interfaith mal-practice.

In my past work at the Middle East Desk of the World Council of Churches I was involved in many international interfaith projects. My ecumenical experience leads me to conclude that cooperation between religious communities is at its best when it is applied to a common cause, such as search for peace, addressing climate change or helping refugees. Appropriate interfaith exchange allows different groups to cooperate on a pragmatic level without interfering with each other’s theologies.

Interfaith works well when good will is integrated with good deeds. Contrasting with the work Christian Zionism, constructive examples of altruistic cooperation among Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities
are not hard to find.

To rationalize its unqualified support of the Jewish State, Christian Zionism casts a rare blend of theology on Judaism and on the Jewish people, and thus detracts from Christianity and Judaism. Not many Jews can authentically defend partnership with Christian Zionists. Such a partnership is a marriage of convenience. Jewish thinkers may outnumber Arab critics in exposing Christian Zionism in the West.

Goldman’s selected three concepts of Christian Zionism are factually and morally problematic. First, in supporting Israel unconditionally Christian Zionists claim to honor a privileged relationship between God and the Jewish people. But for most Christians, this is an ethnocentric assumption. In Christianity God has a comprehensive, egalitarian, relationship with the entire world. God does not favor any specific community over another.

The concept of “prophecy” is also questionable. Christian Zionists proclaim that the “second coming” of Jesus Christ will follow the re-establishment of the Jewish state. Here again facts are telling. The Jews do not believe in the return of Jesus Christ. They do not believe in Christ’s expected reign in the Holy Land for a thousand
years; God’s promise of salvation for Jews willing to convert to Christianity; Christ’s inevitable battle with the Devil; the reward of eternal life for believers; and the punishment in hell for the rest of the world.

As for the third concept, “cultural affinity,” Christian Zionists, in Goldman’s framework,  consider Israel and the US bonded in shared “values and institutions.” This assumption is somewhat misleading, as Israel’s cultural similarities with America and Europe are limited. What critically connects the US and Israel is a cluster of socio-political realities, not cultural affinity. These realities include a common European industrial background, ruthless economics and a mindset to maintain a predatory, nuclear – based military.

The Zionist state is a prosperous industrial nation with a unique mixture of Western and Eastern values. What is more relevant than cultural affinity is the fact that America and Israel do not have identical strategic national interests. Theology-based support of Israel, as advocated by the Christian Zionists, pushes the US to rely on a dangerous foreign policy in the Middle East. Christians supporting a Jewish occupation of Palestinians is an explosive interfaith formula.

International intervention in a conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, two nations claiming the same land and deserving equality, will succeed only within a context of reconciliation and justice.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Ghassan Rubeiz
Ghassan Rubeiz
Blogger, writer at The Arab Daily News online
Dr. Ghassan Rubeiz is an Arab-American writer, journalist and commentator on issues of development, peace and justice. He is the former Middle East Secretary of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches. Reach him at rubeizg@gmail.com.
Ghassan Rubeiz
Latest posts by Ghassan Rubeiz (see all)
  • World community should do more than rejecting Israel’s baseless terrorist accusation against Palestinian NGOs - January 12, 2022
  • Lebanese political system cannot fix itself, responsible external assistance is badly needed - October 23, 2021
  • Lebanon’s power sharing scheme is no longer sustainable - August 20, 2021

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
97         
 
  
97
Shares
 
97
Shares
97         
 
 Tweet 
Arab World, Bloggers, Christian & Muslim, Commentary, Ghassan Rubeiz, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, Palestine & Jordan, religion Tags:Christian Zionists, Christians, Israel, Jews, Middle East, Muslims, Palestine, religion

Post navigation

Previous Post: Pritzker interview with Arab American newspapers
Next Post: The Arab Street Radio: Ghassan Khatib on future of Israel-Palestine peace

Related Posts

  • Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist and columnist with the Washington Post courtesy of Mr. Khashoggi's Twitter page
    Khashoggi mystery: From Turkey with Love Abdennour Toumi
  • Vote Yes campaign button, Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Vote and Let the Political and Legal System Run Its Course Activism
  • ADC Presents the Hala Maksoud Leadership Award at the 2021 Alex Odeh Memorial Conference Bloggers
  • Muslim groups condemn Chattanooga killings American Arabs
  • How “The Vietnam War” by Ken Burns and We Americans and the USS LIBERTY can unite Americans Arab World
  • Saudi Arabia’s Reach in Yemen: Fighting for Regional Dominance Arab World

More Related Articles

Snowden and Vanunu: Spies, Whistleblowers, Movies and Books American Arabs
Adalah Logo Israel State Attorney says social media censorship by government is illegal Civil Rights
Rafic Hariri statue in front of the St. George Hotel in Beirut Lebanon (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Lebanon’s crisis calls for radical local reforms and a revised US Mideast policy Arab World
End perpetual detention by US of uncharged political detainees Arab World
Etihad Airways sets new records in 2015 Arab World
American un-prosecuted war criminals, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, owner of Halliburton at the U.S. Pentagon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Op-Ed: 800 Lb war Gorilla hangs over Peoria Trial American Arabs

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    Nearly four years in office, Pritzker fails to deliver on promises to Arab Americans
    June 12, 2022
  • Palestinian refugees forced to flee their homes at gunpoint by Jewish terrorist groups operating in Palestine in the 1930s, 1940s and after Israel was created on May 14, 1948. Photo courtesy of the United Nations
    Unresolved status of Palestinian rights makes UNRWA essential
    May 7, 2022
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • Hollywood Sign
    Will Smith violence takes Oscar protests to dangerous level
    March 31, 2022
  • NEWS
  • The American Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (American FRRME) helping Christians in Iraq
    New report on Christians in Iraq shows desperate situation and needs
    June 20, 2022
  • Winter in Bekaa Lebanon January 2015 Photo courtesy of NRC Lebanon. January 7, 2015 in Bekaa valley Lebanon. Heavy snowfall in Lebanon January 7, 2015. Yesterday staff from NRC Lebanon’s Bekaa office were working with refugees to put in place flood mitigation measures in advance of the forecast harsh storm which hit overnight. Field teams distributed 1,205 plywood sheets and 885 bricks as floor-raising kits for tents in two settlements in the town of Sarain, and 250 wooden pallets to ensure a clear pathway in five settlements in the town at risk of flooding. Niamh Murnaghan, NRC’s Country Director in Lebanon said, “This morning residents of these informal settlements awoke to a knee-deep blanket of snow. With roads impassable in Bekaa, our staff have not been able to reach refugee settlements, but refugees have sent photos of themselves clearing the snow from their tents.” Photo credit: NRC Lebanon/Syrian refugees in Lebanon. January 7, 2015 in Bekaa valley Lebanon. Heavy snowfall in Lebanon January 7, 2015. Yesterday staff from NRC Lebanon’s Bekaa office were working with refugees to put in place flood mitigation measures in advance of the forecast harsh storm which hit overnight. Field teams distributed 1,205 plywood sheets and 885 bricks as floor-raising kits for tents in two settlements in the town of Sarain, and 250 wooden pallets to ensure a clear pathway in five settlements in the town at risk of flooding. Niamh Murnaghan, NRC’s Country Director in Lebanon said, “This morning residents of these informal settlements awoke to a knee-deep blanket of snow. With roads impassable in Bekaa, our staff have not been able to reach refugee settlements, but refugees have sent photos of themselves clearing the snow from their tents.” Photo credit: NRC Lebanon/Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
    AHRC Observes World Refugee Day
    June 20, 2022
  • Joseph Gutman was appointed by Gov. Pritzker to serve as a Member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Gutman was a Partner at BDT & Company from 2017 until retiring in January 2020 where he remains a consultant today.
    Gov Pritzker makes more appointments to state commissions, boards but no Arabs
    June 17, 2022
  • Endorsements: Republicans in the Illinois Republican Primary Election June 28, 2022
    June 16, 2022
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Imad Hamad Director American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Calls for Moral Consistency on Human Rights, Urges President Biden to Pause His Trip to Israel:
    May 24, 2022
  • The U.S.S. Liberty photo courtesy of the USS Liberty Veterans.
    Survivors of Israel’s strike on USS Liberty commemorate 55th year June 6 – 8
    May 23, 2022
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    AHRC hosts an open meeting with TSA & community
    May 19, 2022
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Chicago aldermen to host forum on Arab businesses closed by Mayor Lightfoot
    April 15, 2022

The Tabboun Column

The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
  • Tabboun
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    The Political Grapevine/The Tabboun, Friday Dec. 16, 2021
    December 16, 2021
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    Tabboun: Chicago remains strongest Palestine voice
    September 7, 2016
  • The Tabboun: Israeli human rights violations hit
    June 30, 2016
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    Tabboun: Himes questions troop deployment to Syria
    November 3, 2015
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    The Tabboun: Dearborn removes statue of racist former mayor
    September 29, 2015

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Sices-Ad.jpg
  • ZiyadBrandLogo-2016BlackRedBackgrnd.jpg
  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Ad-Pantry-essentials.jpg
  • HANANIA Arab News Op-Eds
  • Ukraine conflict gives Palestinians chance to redefine their conflict
    March 9, 2022
  • Mishmeshan PHC medical center destroyed in Syrian Government assaults. Photo courtesy of UOSSM Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations
    President Biden’s dyslexic policy in Syria is a mess
    October 20, 2021
  • Annissa Essaibi George and family
    Annissa Essaibi George faces “race hypocrisy” in campaign to be Boston Mayor
    October 20, 2021
  • Jerusalem image of Jews and Arabs walking together. Shutterstock. Courtesy of Arab News Newspaper
    Jewish Michigan lawmaker leads push for Two State Solution
    October 7, 2021
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib, book cover. Photo courtesy of Cune Press
    Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib
    November 1, 2021
  • Girl Fighters, new book on Yemen Book Cune Press
    New Book: Girl Fighters: Break Tradition in Yemen 
    October 25, 2021
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • American Arab CHamber President HassanNijem accepts the Proclamation from Chicago Ald. Roderick Sawyer at the Chamber dinner March 30, 2022
    Chicagoland celebrates Arab American Heritage Month
    March 31, 2022
  • Hollywood Sign
    Will Smith violence takes Oscar protests to dangerous level
    March 31, 2022
  • 03-30-22 Arab Chamber Heritage Month Flyer
    Arab Chamber to host Arab Heritage Month dinner March 30
    March 14, 2022
  • “Rupture”, the psychological thriller produced by MBC STUDIOS, has won Best Saudi Film at the 2021 Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF).
    MBC GROUP’s Rupture wins Best Saudi Film at the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival
    December 15, 2021
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2022 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme