Anti-Israeli Agenda Borders on Sacrilege

From Anti-Israeli Agenda Borders on Sacrilege:

Last weekend, Old South Church hosted a conference sponsored by North American Friends of Sabeel entitled "The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel" and headlined by Episcopal Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Two days of nonstop bashing of Israel, portrayed as a colonialist oppressor. Palestinian national aspirations were celebrated; Jewish national aspirations were ignored, if not denigrated. The endless wars waged by Arabs seeking to wipe out the Jewish state were characterized as aggressive wars provoked by Israel. There was no mention of suicide bombings, except possibly to justify them as understandable expressions of rage. What distresses me is the acquiescence of church leaders in this simplistic script. Even though liberal church leaders ordinarily bend over backward not to offend groups within the community, it is somehow acceptable to offend Jews.

Sabeel, which styles itself as an ecumenical liberation theology movement, promotes a retrograde anti-Jewish theology of supersession that has long since been repudiated by mainstream Christian denominations. After centuries of anti-Semitism, much of it spawned by church leaders, modern-day Christians have a particular obligation to help make the world a safer place for Jews. It is arrogant and condescending for American Christians to become partisans in this geopolitical struggle without at least acknowledging its complexities. More inflammatory rhetoric is the last thing we need.

The Historical Roots of the Anti-Israel Positions of Liberal Protestant Churches

From The Historical Roots of the Anti-Israel Positions of Liberal Protestant Churches:

The verbal attacks and boycott calls by a variety of Western Protestant, mainly liberal, denominations, as well as the World Council of Churches, have raised new interest in the origins of Christian anti-Semitism and in particular its Protestant version.

Among the Protestants' founding fathers, Martin Luther was particularly anti-Semitic. His writings were precursors of twentieth-century National Socialist texts. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and Julius Streicher gladly quoted from Luther's works.

In the current anti-Israel positions of liberal Western churches, nontheological influences are probably more important.

Churches have taught antipathy to Jews for two thousand years. It is mistaken to think this can be overturned in a few decades. The new expressions of Christian hatred toward Israel reflect deep psychological processes.