Institute on Religion and Democracy Press Release
September 18, 2014
Contact: Jeff Walton office: 202-682-4131, cell: 202-413-5639, e-mail: jwalton@TheIRD.org
“Countering the push to shift Evangelicals away from Israel will require more than old style ‘the Bible says’ arguments.”
-IRD President Mark Tooley
Washington, DC—Evangelical Christians, traditionally Israel’s strongest U.S. boosters, could be poised for a politically significant shift away from traditional support for the Jewish state.
Polls show that U.S. Evangelicals remain strongly pro-Israel. But an increasing number in parachurch groups, Evangelical schools and missions groups are endorsing pro-Palestinian political activism.
On April 17, the Institute on Religion & Democracy will host a conference at Georgetown University examining Christians and Israel. “People of the Land: a Twenty-First Century Case for Christian Zionism” will consider if Christian Zionism can be defended theologically and historically, and if its legal, moral, and political outworkings are compatible with the ideals of the biblical covenant.
Scholars and experts will explore what may be one of the most profound questions facing the New Testament church: how do Christians respond to the fact that millions of Jews once scattered around the world have returned to their ancient homeland and established a modern nation-state?
A conference schedule, list of speakers and registration information can be found on the conference web site at: christiansandisrael.org.
IRD President Mark Tooley commented:
“Countering the push to shift Evangelicals away from Israel will require more than old style ‘the Bible says’ arguments. It will require intellectually substantive explanations as to why Israel merits survival and support in a fallen world often hostile to both Jews and to ordered democracy. Neither Providence nor the Bible are neutral between a people striving to survive against many others who hope for their elimination.”
Comment by Ezekiel37 on September 20, 2014 at 5:43 pm
Are you sure that “intellectually substantive explanations” will work? Is Gnosticism dead or perhaps it has been superseded by more of the same or just renamed? Isn’t Gnosticism synonymous with intellectualism, with possibly, a hint of religiosity or mysticism? Is it possible that the Reformation was hijacked by Gnostic thought or intellectualism prodded by Satan (pride is an integral part of either)?
Isn’t it possible that “intellectually substantive explanations” has been instrumental in interpreting Scripture [incorrectly] thus bringing
Spiritual Blindness/hearing. If Scripture continues to be interpreted incorrectly then the attitude toward Israel will only worsen. If there is a
way to lift spiritual blindness or unblock spiritual hearing, perhaps that would be a better answer.