A Stout Stand for Israel

Diverse Christians, citing Bible prophecy, show remarkable unity.

It seems generally that the Christians who most vocally support Israel are conservatives—those with a higher regard for biblical prophecy than liberal Protestants. But that is not always the case. An unusual meeting in Washington last month brought together mainline Protestants and Catholics from across the country, as well as those conservative Protestants who stand strongly for the defense of Israel on biblical grounds.

The National Christian Congress for Israel opened just eight days after the assassination of Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat, and scarcely an hour before the U.S. House of Representatives voted against the sale of AWACS (Advanced Warning and Control System) aircraft to Saudi Arabia. That confluence of events heightened the sense of urgency felt by the participants.

Franklin H. Littell, president of the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel, which sponsored the event, said the congress was planned to unite Christians from a diversity of denominations and organizations in their common concern for the safety of the Jewish homeland. “We didn’t know we’d be meeting at the most crucial time on the calendar for Israel’s survival,” he observed.

Attracting approximately 100 participants from across the country, the meeting opened with briefings by Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) and Robert F. Drinan, a Roman Catholic priest and former congressman from Massachusetts, who is now a professor of international law at Georgetown University Law Center. Numerous ecumenical and interfaith groups were represented, along with the Criswell Center for Biblical Studies, which is a conservative Southern Baptist School; the charismatically oriented Melodyland Christian Center; and Gordon College (Mass.). Their show of unified support for Israel came as a counterweight to pro-Arab stands taken by the National Council of Churches and some mainline groups. The NCC has advocated including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel, in Middle East negotiations.

Littell, in an opening statement, noted that “the real issue is whether you affirm or deny that in the providence of God the Jewish people have survived and are to survive.” Beyond making this affirmation, the congress took a strong position against the proposed AWACS sale.

On that point, Kemp was applauded for his departure from the Reagan administration’s position. A conservative, Kemp is well known for the Kemp-Roth tax cut bill. He is also active in congressional efforts to aid dissidents in the Soviet Union.

He made a forthright statement of his own Christian faith, calling the establishment of Israel in 1948 “a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.” Based on his own observations during a trip to the Holy Land, he praised the Israelis for supporting the Christian community in Lebanon and for their efforts to restore Jewish and Christian holy sites in East Jerusalem. Kemp told the group that “My wife and I like to think of ourselves as serious Bible students,” and he said the role of the United States is to preserve opportunities for biblical prophecies to come true.

But his opposition to the AWACS sale was based on reasons he kept separate from his own religious views. When a member of the audience asked him why, as a Christian, he opposed the sale, Kemp responded, “I would rather not put it in those terms. This is an issue on which Christians can disagree.

“I oppose it because the Saudis do not support the Camp David agreements; because they arm the PLO; because they don’t understand the threat they face in the Persian Gulf from Soviet encroachment.” Other reasons included Saudi unwillingness to cooperate with the United States in its endeavor to establish military bases in the area for its Rapid Deployment Force.

Once the Saudis indicate a willingness to reciprocate, then the sale of AWACS should be considered, Kemp said, and not before. Acknowledging that some sore spots remain following his clash with the president over the issue, Kemp said, “Political hard feelings are not the end of the world.”

Drinan, Kemp’s former congressional colleague, delivered a stem review of Christian anti-Semitism through the ages. “We have to recognize that, in all candor, Christians have always been wrong about Jews,” he said, enumerating anti-Semitic statements made by Martin Luther, Saint John Chrysostom, and the National Council of Churches, among others. A liberal Democrat, Drinan did not seek reelection to the House in 1980 after Pope John Paul II said clergy should not hold public office.

Terming the death of Anwar Sadat “very catastrophic,” Drinan warned against underestimating the importance of events in history. “We should meditate every day of our lives on what God intends to teach us by the fact that the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel happened in our lifetime. This is not just a happenstance. It is a great turning point in history.”

Instead of an alliance with Israel based on political and economic considerations, Drinan said he sees a “profound moral consensus” developing in favor of Israel. Maintenance of a relationship that ensures Israel’s security will be influenced largely by the attitudes of American Christians. “Deep down, the ultimate heresy is to deny the relevance of Judaism,” he said. “What if, by our silence or indifference, the destruction of Israel came about in our lifetime?”

Against that eventuality, Drinan urged that the United States stop arming Arab nations, reduce oil dependency, and support a unified Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Over all, he said, “we need to concentrate our energies on keeping our aid to Israel from being slashed.”

Participants at the meeting were encouraged to act on their convictions by visiting members of Congress, preparing letters to President Reagan, and joining in a prayer vigil at the Soviet embassy. U.S. Senate Chaplain Richard Halverson presided at a prayer breakfast, and participants mingled with members of the Israeli embassy at a reception. During his talk, Halverson said, “There is something shallow about a Christianity that has lost its Jewish roots.”

Littell viewed the event as the first annual meeting of its kind, and expressed his hope that the rally will attract increasing numbers of concerned Christians over the years. “It’s going to be a long, hard fight in some respects,” he said, “but it’s worth it.”

A Demonstration in Israel, Too

While that diverse group of Christians met in Washington to show support for Israel, some 3,000 evangelicals from North America, The Netherlands, and South Africa gathered in Jerusalem to demonstrate on behalf of Israel’s claim that Jerusalem is its capital. The visit was timed to coincide with the Feast of Tabernacles, or Succoth, and they attended under the auspices of the International Christian Embassy. The so-called embassy was organized in 1980 by a Dutch missionary in Israel, Van Willem van der Hoeven, after Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its “united and indivisible” capital earlier that year.

Prime Minister Menachem Begin welcomed the Christian supporters, saying they provided “great satisfaction.” Members of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s extremist Kach movement responded differently. Van der Hoeven, they charged, was “a devout missionary” attempting to convert Jews to Christianity, and Kahane’s followers managed to tear down one of the group’s banners.

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