onathan Calt Harris came to Detroit in April to
become Michigan director of the Los Angeles-
based international Israel education and
advocacy organization StandWithUs. He had previously
worked in Washington as assistant director of govern-
ment relations for the Zionist Organization of America
(ZOA). He discovered Zionism in the late '90s as a gradu-
ate student at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
"I wouldn't have thought that a Zionist was something
a Christian could be:' says Harris who was apolitical
when he went to Israel to study Roman history. His
experiences helped shape a worldview that made Israel
important to him as an American and a Christian.
Though not raised as an evangelical, he has been
attending evangelical churches for years. He has prob-
lems with the term Christian Zionist because many
assume it means his support of Israel is purely theologi-
cal.
"Yes, I am a Christian Zionist;' Harris says, "but it's
sort of a catch-all term and there are threads within it
with different agendas. The State of Israel and its exis-
tence theologically mean a great deal to me; but I rarely,
if ever, use my religion as a reason for supporting Israel.
My religion informs my own Zionism and strengthens

j

it, but to make Israel's case the religious underpinning is
often not necessary because the facts are on Israel's side.
"There are nice bonuses theologically for me [to sup-
port Jews and Israel], but I don't need it to be pro-Israel,"
he explains. "If the facts are known to thinking, rational
people, they will recognize Israel's incredible struggle to
do the right thing."
Harris doesn't buy the argument that Christian
Zionists, particularly evangelicals, move in lockstep
based on the Bible without an understanding or interest
in the world today.
"They are not ignorant; they tend to be informed and
very engaged:' he says of evangelicals he knows. "Fifty or
60 years ago, evangelicals were skeptical of any biblical
criticism and did not engage intellectually. The last 20
years this has been corrected in many ways; they engage
in biblical criticism because they want to show that they
know their Scripture."
Harris credits Pastor John Hagee, head of the San
Antonio-based Christians United for Israel, and the late
Rev. Jerry Falwell with working to "squash and eradicate
replacement theology:' the belief that a new covenant

P ho to by Don Co hen

Christian Leads Zionist Advocacy Group

Jonathan Calt Harris: "The State of Israel and its

existence theologically mean a great deal to me, but I

rarely, if ever, use my religion as a reason for support-

StandWithUs on page 22

ing Israel."

Explaining 'Christian Zionism' To Jews

Ethan Felson: "While for most Jews, justice means

doing the right thing morally and ethically, for mainline

Christians, it means alleviating the suffering of the

weak."

than Felson spends a good deal of his time
working with both mainline and evangelical
groups and explaining them to the Jewish com-
munity. Israel is always one of the hottest topics.
Felson is director of domestic concerns for the Jewish
Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) in New York, the nation-
al umbrella organization of 13 major Jewish organizations
— including the Anti-Defamation League, American
Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith and the Orthodox,
Conservative and Reform movements — and more than
100 Jewish Community Relations Councils, including
those in Detroit and Atlanta.
It's important to understand that mainline churches
take a radically different spin than evangelicals regarding
their sacred texts, he says.
"For evangelicals, Jews and Zionism figure huge in their
imagination:' Felson says, while "mainline church's take
on issues are so informed by power dynamics; they are
looking to support the underdog.
"While for most Jews, justice means doing the right
thing morally and ethically; for mainline Christians, it
means alleviating the suffering of the weak:' Felson says.
He cites liberal Protestant theology that preaches "you
should see the face of Jesus in the poor:'
This accounts in large part for the differences between
the two groups regarding Jews and Israel.
"Evangelicals are with us on our national identity
[Israel], but are concerned about our faith identity;
while mainline Protestants are fine with us being Jewish,
but have a problem with our national identity',' Felson
explains.
"In conversations with Jews about evangelical
Christians, the first reaction is they only support us
because of their views of the end-of-days [which means

suffering and death for anyone who doesn't accept
Christianity]," Felson says. "I find this is because someone
else said it of evangelicals, not because they said it them-
selves."
The importance of end-time views have been so
inflated that if evangelicals don't address it they are often
thought to be hiding a dirty secret.
We find friends of Israel among all Christians',' Felson says
He goes back to Genesis 12:3 as the core of evangelical
support. While not denying there is an interest in unfold-
ing prophecy, he says the bottom line is that "Genesis says
God gave the land to the Jews and that those that bless the
Jews will be blessed."
That Jews re-established a Jewish state with Jerusalem
as its capital after centuries of persecution, culminating
in the Holocaust, underscores the blessings promised to
Jews and their supporters in Genesis.
Nonetheless Felson says frankly, "Any Christian who
doesn't feel that you'd be better in Christ is probably lying
to you. They have a personal stake in it. The line is not
crossed when they express their religious views, but when
they use deception."
He believes Christians when they say they love Jews
and Israel based on the Bible. "It can be said with no ulte-
rior motive,' he says. "It is heartfelt and appreciated when
understood in its context."
Felson doesn't share concerns that conservative
Christian leaders will turn against Israel and Jews unless
they embrace their conservative positions on domestic
issues.
"Nothing a Jew does or hasn't done for 2,000 years
affects [the importance of] the return to the Land;' Felson
says. "There is no quid pro quo. They trade nothing and
we trade nothing when we work together on Israel." II

September 27 • 2007

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