Christian Zionism: Religion as Law, Power, and Conquest

Even among conservative and fundamentalist Christians, Christian Zionists represent some of the most extreme and dangerous ideologues in American religion. Unfortunately, they are also very influential in conservative Christianity; the result is that much of conservative evangelicalism is infected by their political agenda and perspective. They aren't the first Christians to organize their theology around the concept of a "chosen people," but they are taking that doctrine to new and dangerous extremes.

The Economist reviews Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism, by Victoria Clark:

This distinction between “religion as law, power and conquest” and “religion as vision of God” can be a help to anyone who is grappling with the phenomenon which Victoria Clark presents so vividly and thoughtfully in her account of Christian Zionism, or the movement (strongest in America but also present in many other places) that wants Israel to triumph over all its earthly rivals, in the hope that this will bring closer the end of the world.

With the eye of an experienced journalist and a gift for getting along with people with whom she disagrees, Ms Clark presents some powerful vignettes of a movement which in some ways mirrors the more strident forms of Islamism: it uses quasi-spiritual language but is in fact incorrigibly political and indeed geopolitical in its preoccupations.

In certain lights, the movement's ordinary members, as presented by Ms Clark, sound almost endearing in the naive enthusiasm they show as visitors to the Holy Land. But later in her narrative, as she attends a lavish fund-raising dinner in Washington, she feels that something darker is at work: a mixture of “fear, injured pride, ignorance and perceived victimhood” whose brooding extremism could have dire consequences. Many liberal Israelis, as well as many Christians, would agree.

If there is a single word that describes the mentality of the power-brokers of the Christian-Zionist movement, as portrayed by Ms Clark, it might be Deuteronomic: theirs is a brand of religion which is fascinated by military power and the subjugation of enemies, which adamantly externalises evil and finds no place for humility, self-doubt, compassion or universal humanism. ...

Over the centuries, pioneer peoples, from the Ulster Protestants to the Boers, have drawn inspiration from passages in the Old Testament which describe the acquisition of new land, and the dispossession of its earlier inhabitants. What makes America's Christian Zionists unusual is that their fascination with conquest is vicarious: it is projected onto a land thousands of miles away. The movement's followers are unlikely to feel at first hand the consequences of the policies they advocate. This makes their aspirations both more aggressive and more fantastical.

There's nothing about Christian Zionism that isn't disturbing, but one thing that really stands out for me is the eagerness in hastening the End of the World. It's bad enough for someone to pursue their policies based on the belief that their god orders it, but that's not the case here. The Bible doesn't record God or Jesus saying "be sure to bring about Armageddon for us sooner rather than later." These Christians are actively perusing policies which they hope will bring about the destruction of humanity — just because that's what they want to see it happen.

Anyone else doing this would be treated as deranged, dangerous lunatics at best. If a sect of Islam were doing it, you know that conservative evangelicals would loudly condemn Islamofascist terrorism and all Muslims would suffer because of their connection to the extremists. Christians can get away with this, however, and are simply regarded as a "fringe" group — albeit one with extraordinary influence and power.