healthyreligion.com

Something beyond obvious is that unhealthy approaches to religion dominate the landscape of conflict in the Middle East. For almost 20 years, I’ve been an activist and supporter of groups trying to forge Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation and peace. Lately I’ve been very troubled by fundamentalist and apocalyptic approaches to religion that continue to push for absolutist political positions that will lead only to more war and injustice. Just this Thanksgiving morning I read news reports about the Jewish settler community in Hebron. The religious settler movement has an uncompromising and absolutist interpretation of Torah, and this is at the root of their insistence on viewing the entirety of ancient Israel as the sole inheritance of Jews today. There’s no room for questioning sacred texts in their approach, and no room for acknowledging that another people, the Palestinians, has an equally profound attachment and rootedness to the same land. From my view, a healthy religious approach is always willing to question sacred texts, and seeks to listen to the claims of others with a spirit of openness, respect, and a willingness to seek out solutions that combine respect for one’s own sacred story with respect for another’s. Similarly, in the Islamic community, uncompromising interpretations of the Qu’ran continue to fuel a position that rejects the very notion of a Jewish homeland being part of the fabric of the Middle East. The use of Islam to promote violence and hatred of the Other is also a sad and shocking reality.

Something that’s been on my mind a lot lately is the so-called Christian Zionist movement, as energetically led by CUFI - Christians United for Israel, Rev. John Hagee’s group. This is, in my view, a Christian manifestation of an unhealthy approach to religion, combining several forces that I believe can be very dangerous: biblical literalism, absolute certainty, and apocalyptic fantasy. I’m especially bothered by the fact that some in the Jewish community, in part moved by CUFI’s emotionally warm overtures to Israel, have decided to support CUFI’s work.

Right now I’m pondering whether the US needs a new major organization to campaign across the land in the name of a healthier approach to Judaism and Christianity vis-a-vis the Middle East. (I also support this kind of movement within Islam, but right now my instinct is that a Jewish-Christian joint endeavor could be powerful as a counterweight to CUFI’s agenda.) Could it be called something like Jews and Christians United for Israel and Palestine (JACUFIP)? JACUFIP would organize churches and synagogues, rabbis and pastors, and lay leaders too in support of a set of principles that affirm Israel’s right to exist, the right of the Palestinians to a sovereign homeland too alongside Israel, and common religious values that represent the healthiest, most life-affirming elements of our faith traditions. JACUFIP would make a concerted outreach effort across the land to Jews and Christians who might be subjecte dto CUFI’s message, offering a clear critique of the unhealthy elements of their message, and providing a different way to show love and support to Israel (which, needn’t and in fact mustn’t exclude showing love and support to the future state of Palestine). Just sharing some thoughts here….