Motivations of early Christian Zionists
Reader comment on item: [Christian Zionism:] Israel's Best Weapon?

Submitted by Robert B. Arbetman (United States), Jul 15, 2003 at 09:27

It should be mentioned that in many instances, the early Christian Zionists were motivated by anti-Semitism. The idea was to find the local Jewish population a happy home far away from them.

Today, that isn't the case as most Christian Zionists in the United States are well-intentioned people. However, in some cases, the motivation for supporting Israel is not borne out of universal support for Jews or for the Jewish religion. Moreover, some of our best Christian Zionist friends are somewhat hostile to Church/State separation here in the United States.

It is a good thing, that most Christian Zionists here in the United States are well-meaning people. In many cases, it would really help if they would get to know their local Jewish communities better, but there are several outreach efforts going on. This is a marked improvement over the Christian Zionist movement as it existed at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Nonetheless, I think it is a somewhat unfair to omit the anti-Semitic motivation of a large portion of the Christian Zionist movement as it existed at the beginning of the 20th Century. Having said that, I wouldn't want anyone to think that I am ungrateful for the support Christian Zionists give Israel today.

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