From one of my favorite novelists - Sigmund Brouwer.

Recently, nearly 5,000 evangelicals gathered in Washington, D.C. at a conference called Christians United For Israel. The essential message to politicians: don’t pressure Israel into peace deals or giving up any land. The essential reason: it’s against God’s will.

Unfortunately, this view is backed by a large percentage of 70 million evangelicals, willing to exert significant political pressure against a two-state solution in the Middle East and the peace it might bring.
It’s a long and unfortunate tradition.

“The Christian fundamentalists were vehemently opposed to the peace process,” says Itamar Rabinovich, Israeli ambassador to the U.S. from 1993-1996. “They believed that the land belonged to Israel as a matter of divine right. So they immediately became part of a campaign by the Israeli right to undermine the peace process.”

In 1998, evangelical leader Jerry Falwell threatened to mobilize thousands of pastors if U.S. President Bill Clinton pressured Israel into peace efforts; Clinton quickly backed down. High-profile evangelical John Hagee is continuing this pressure through CUFI.

Much of the Arab world’s shared outrage against the United States began and continues over the Palestinian land claims conflict. Without questioning in any way Israel’s right to exist, crucial geo-political decisions ought not to be affected by a theology that needs critical examination, especially since orthodox Christians disagree markedly among themselves on Israel’s divine right to the land. During his time on earth, Christ stated his mission was to establish a heavenly kingdom, not an earthly one. Furthermore, the apostle Paul tells us that the true Israel includes all of those with faith in the divine Christ – Jews or non-Jews. In short, God is not a land broker.

What’s truly frightening is a broad evangelical belief behind the support for Israel, that God wants a rebuilt temple on the site of the Muslim Dome of the Rock. If there ever was the potential to trigger Armageddon, this is it.

For millions in comfortable evangelical church pews across the United States, the conflict is merely an abstract consequence of a holy battle. To them, violent and indiscriminate deaths in Palestine or Israel are mere headlines, and the process for peace takes second place to a supposed Biblical mandate.

Forgotten in this are the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children in the shadow of Israel’s wealth, living far below poverty. One report showed that up to 75% suffer from malnutrition. If this were any other place in the world, American Christians would flood it with relief efforts instead of relying on the few groups already there.

Let’s allow Washington to help Israel work towards peace without interference from racist theology that discriminates against Arabs. In the meantime, given the immense suffering of an entire lost generation of Palestinian children, evangelicals could serve the process much better by uniting in Palestine under the directive Christ left his followers: feed the hungry and cloth the poor.

If this shift were made and the Arab world saw a different crusade by American evangelicals, the world truly would be a better place.

I found this blog post here - I think he wrote it in conjunction with the release of his novel "Fuse." (It's an old post by now.)

I was surprised by his use of the term "racist" but now I think I understand why he's using it. It's the first time that I've heard an evangelical Christian call Zionism racist. Or because he calls it theology, he could even be referring to dispensationalism!