Earlier Toni told us about the radical pro-Palestinian protesters who caused havoc in New York City, on Christmas Day, no less. The group “Shut It Down For Palestine” took to the streets to disrupt America’s most beloved holiday with chants of “People everywhere must continue to declare that there can be no Christmas as usual during a genocide!”
They also displayed an image of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus as victims of Israeli bombs. Never mind that Jesus and His mother were, in fact, Jews. Even the Quran identifies Jesus as Jewish.
But why should facts matter? As long as they can portray Gazans as innocent victims — even though most support Hamas — they’ll shamelessly twist Christianity to fit their narrative.
It’s no surprise that protesters who hate Israel also hate America. Nor is this a recent development — for decades radical Islamists have dubbed the United States as the “Great Satan” and Israel as the “Little Satan.”
However, the venom towards America also extends to its major religion: Christianity, especially because many evangelical Christians support Israel. On top of that, many of these supporters of Israel are also … wait for it … Republicans, something the media love to point out.
“File:Hands raised church worship background.jpg” by Brian A. Petersen is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Moreover, there is a subset of evangelical Christians whom the media have dubbed as “Christian Zionists,” which believe that the return of Jews to Israel fulfilled a Biblical prophecy. A 2017 Pew poll showed that half of American evangelicals support Israel because they believe it’s important to their end-times theology.
However, this isn’t the view of all Christians, or maybe even most Christians. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, rejects this belief, as does Eastern Orthodoxy. So do most Protestant denominations, including my own Lutheran denomination. I personally support Israel because it’s the only democracy in the Middle East, as well as our ally.
For the media that doesn’t matter, however. MSNBC was quick to connect the dots between Christian Zionists and Republicans:
At the heart of Christian Zionism is not a love for Israel but rather Christian nationalism. Christian Zionists maintain that the Book of Genesis says that God will bless those who bless Israel, and curse those who curse it. They insist that if America, as a country, does not “bless” Israel (that is, offer its government its unconditional support), God will curse America. Conveniently, those who Christian Zionists claim are insufficiently supportive of Israel are usually Democrats.
Thus, young adults, who have grown up with little or no religious faith, believe whatever appeals to their “itching ears,” as St. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy. And right now their cause du jour is in alignment with Hamas — the destruction of Israel.
The traditions of majority Christianity and minority Judaism have long been the bulwark of American social order. There was a time when most people practiced a faith, or even merely believed in God. Religion was important.
But recent generations, as I pointed out above, have rejected God and faith. Instead they have turned to obsession with atheism, progressivism, and the self. So when the subject turns to Israel, for many young adults it’s not so much support for the religion of Islam, it’s rejection of the God of Jews and Christians.
On Christmas Day, the Free Press published a compelling essay by British author Paul Kingsnorth, who described his journey from atheism to Zen Buddhism to Wicca, and then finally to Christianity. Today he is part of a Romanian Orthodox Church in, of all places, Galway, Ireland.
In his essay, “The Cross and the Machine,” Kingsnorth related his early lack of belief:
I didn’t know back then that the Christian story is the story of our rebellion against God. I didn’t know that by taking part in that rebellion I had become part of the story, whether I liked it or not. I didn’t know, either, why Christians see pride as the greatest sin. I only knew that I could argue a good case for the injustice of the world made by this “God,” and the silliness of miracles, resurrections, and virgin births. I knew I was cleverer than all the people who believed this sort of rubbish, and I was happy to tell them so.
He continued:
G. K. Chesterton once declared, contra Marx, that it was irreligion that was the opium of the people. “Wherever the people do not believe in something beyond the world,” he explained, “they will worship the world. But above all, they will worship the strongest thing in the world.”
Which is precisely what Gen Z protesters were doing when they disrupted activities in Manhattan on Christmas Day: they were worshipping what the secular world has told them. Compounding this factor is the poor education received by many of these young adults in the public school system. As a result, 20% of Americans ages 18-29 now believe the Holocaust was a myth.
No wonder young pro-Palestinian protesters think America and Israel are wicked. Plus Christianity is now irrelevant, and worse yet, in league with the Great Satan and the Little Satan. So how did we get here? In the words of the great Russian dissident, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Men have forgotten God.
Featured image: Joe Piette/flickr/CC BY NC-SA 2.0. Cropped.
John says: “Protesters Who Hate Israel Also Want the Demise of Christianity”.
Of course they do! They want no rules at all. No morality either.
Cameron says: Or they’re muslims who think that destroying all other faiths will make Earth a paradise.
GWB says: Interestingly, both need to destroy Christianity to achieve their utopia.
The progressives get more leeway because they’ve gotten everyone to believe they aren’t a religion.
Steve McCann says: As an evangelical, I acknowledge that your faith and mine are not the same. I believe that scripture is the inerrant Word of God. I acknowledge that as a sinner, I am vulnerable to whatever current belief or human-created tradition holds the popular interest. It is comforting to have a standard, given by God by which I can measure ideas and beliefs. The thought of having my faith (and thus redemption) be subject to the ebb and flow of popular opinion is terrifying. Your faith in your own judgement must be very strong.
GWB says: To whom are you commenting? Kim? Or the ‘protesters’?
GWB says: young adults, who have grown up with little or no religious faith
Not really, Kim. They’ve grown up with Progressivism. Admittedly, they and everyone else has been told it’s not a religion because it doesn’t worship a “sky god”, but that’s a lie. It’s propaganda to drive a wedge between Christianity and the people of this land.
Religion was important.
No. Christianity was important (as was Judaism, by extension).
See, this is why they attack Christianity: it stands between them and their utopia of a heaven on earth filled by ubermensch who have evolved themselves into their own gods. Christian morality denies them their hedonism and the creator God denies them their transhumanism.
Note, they will eventually try to crush Islam, as well. But, for now, the enemy (Islam) of their enemy (Christianity and Judaism) is a very useful tool.
GWB says: Also, an important note:
Marx hated Christianity. And he hated Jews. This comes through clearly in his writings if you read long enough. So, every spawn of his writings includes this characteristic. Progressivism has extra reason to have it, as it glorifies man and man’s power of thought above all else, and whose goal is hedonism and transhumanism.
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