Nadene Goldfoot
Jews have been fighting against anti-Semitism ever since the Roman days in the 300s when Rome held meetings about their new Christianity and what to do about the Jews. Out of it all came the Replacement Theology, something probably many Protestant and Catholics know nothing about. I bumped into it in my searched doing research years ago..
This is what dominates thinking now with dealings about Israel ever since its birth in 1948. However, it is a doctrinal teaching that originated in the early Church. It became the basis from which Christian anti-Semitism grew and this infected the Church for the past 1,900 years. The premise is that Israel, which includes all Jewish people and the land, of course, has been replaced by the Christian Church in the purposes of G-d, or more precisely, the Church had become the historic continuation of Israel to the exclusion of Israel. In other words, the world no longer needs Israel for any godly reason. We have been replaced. Whatever lay in the Old Testament is no longer important or rings true about the Jews.
We are no longer the "chosen" people according to these Christians. That title has been transferred over to the Christians. I believe Tevia in the Fiddler on the Roof might be overjoyed to hear this, as he complained about it many a time. However, this has hurt the creation of Israel. I do believe that many a church goer would have panicked a little at the actual creation of Israel in 1948. How could that have happened, they might have thought?
Due to this replacement theology churches who have gone along with this, which make up 63% of the American church attendees as of 2008, have helped to mislead national and international political leaders. Therefore, political parties AND religion have shaped their decisions towards Israel. As a Christian, President Bush's Middle East peace efforts have been greatly affected by this thinking as a member of the Episcopalian and the Methodist churches.
In their efforts to influence a peace settlement between Arabs and Israel, these church organization continue to call on Israel to LEAVE THE LAND G-d gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants through the Abrahamic covenant, that was an everlasting covenant. So the USA, European Union, United Nations, Russia, and of course, the Arab nations were dense about the biblical significance of what they were doing with Israel's covenant land. The Jewish leaders were not Orthodox or even very religious, but surely were aware of these facts, but their purpose in the deal was to hold onto as much land as possible at that moment and not to teach scripture to their World War I leadership. They realized just who they had to deal with, and it was an impossible situation. They were not all equal peers in knowledge, either in politics or religion.
President George W. Bush, the son, (2001-2009), a Republican, discussed his Middle East peace efforts 3 times in meetings with Pope John Paul II. The Pope signed an agreement with Yasser Arafat in February 2000 that called on Jerusalem to be shared between the Muslims, Jews and Christians. I find this shocking to know that they were not members of Israel as citizens yet they were deciding such important facts about Washington DC- not theirs. Are there other extremely important people deciding on matters about the USA that are not even Americans?
The National Council of Churches leadership had written numerous letters to President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell condemning Israel for refusing to leave the "occupied land" . They should have called it the "disputed land" as it was land in dispute and not "occupied". The Romans had been occupying Judah about 100 years or so before 70 CE when they destroyed Jerusalem by fire and had burned down the Temple. They were not invited guests. They had thrust themselves on to the Jews of Judah as invaders. That's what occupation is.
For many years, the NCC has joined in supporting a two-state solution, the right of refugees to return to their homes, the dismantlement of the settlements, and the establishment of Jerusalem as a shared international city. This latest plan, developed without input from Palestinians, does not move us toward peace or resolve conflict in the region.
The World Council of Churches, the main global body uniting non-Catholic Christians, encouraged members to sell off investments in companies profiting from Israeli control of the West Bank and Gaza. The WCC does not promote boycotts based on nationality in this or any other context. Nor does it espouse economic measures against Israel. It does, however, have a longstanding policy position in favour of boycotting goods and services from settlements (considered internationally as illegal) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 350 member churches which represents more than half a billion Christians around the world.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) is selectively divesting investments in any companies doing business with Israel, and has written a white -pater condemning Christian Zionists, and this may be referring to the Evangelicals. The Episcopalian Church was also considering similar actions back in 2008. This is all called BDS. (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions)
Now everyone is getting in on the act and I see that the Replacement Theory is being borrowed by others. "Once largely relegated to white supremacist rhetoric, “The Great Replacement” has made its way into mainstream consciousness in the past several years. From the chants of “Jews Will Not Replace Us” on the University of Virginia campus to then-U.S. Rep. Steve King’s tweeted protest, “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies,” to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson’s complaints that the Democratic party is attempting to “replace the current electorate” with “third-world voters,” the racist conspiracy theory has well and truly arrived.
Therefore, the replacement theory is always in the mind of the people making decisions if they are irreligious or believe in this theory as so many large Christian denominations do. They see no reason why Israel should have any of the land-and that rather explains the easy give-away of 80% of the allotted land originally intended to go to the Jews.
Resource:
Eye to Eye by William Koenig
https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/bds-the-global-campaign-to-delegitimize-israel?gclid=CjwKCAjwnPOEBhA0EiwA609Rea597op7k0LKoSnhWx58JFTyrZ4WG1lGQmKoOiu7p827rS5vVC5XdhoCZt0QAvD_BwE
https://int.icej.org/media/replacement-theology
https://nationalcouncilofchurches.us/a-peace-plan-that-does-not-bring-peace/
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/legislation-affecting-the-jews-300-800-ce
i love that movie. and exodus is still one of my all time favorites. i remember seeing it when i was a kid and it moved me...it still does.
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