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Much has been said and written in recent months about former President Jimmy Carter and his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Most reactions have been highly critical. Over the past few months, some friends of Israel have been asking how Carter, whom they had respected as a successful peacemaker, could turn and present such an uncritical and biased case for the Palestinians, blaming Israel for practically everything that has prevented a peace settlement and Palestinian prosperity. Carter’s blatant partisanship is indeed troubling.

I was surprised by how often Carter referred to his Christian background throughout this book, especially his experiences in Sunday School, first as a student and later as a teacher. Like Jimmy Carter, I also grew up in the church and regularly attended Sunday School and many other church activities. I understand how those experiences can influence a life, in both positive and negative ways. I think that I can understand something about how Carter’s Christian background has influenced him because, in spite of denominational differences, there are many similarities in basic Christian education. While I can relate to his childhood Sunday School experiences, I can not relate to many of his adult ideas, based on his Sunday School experiences, regarding Israel and the Middle East.

AN INVITATION

An invitation from Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States at the time, made possible the Carters’ first visit to Israel; Carter was then Governor of Georgia, considering a run for the presidency. Regarding their preparations for the trip, he writes:

Having studied Bible lessons since early childhood and taught them for twenty years, I was infatuated with the Holy Land, and my wife, Rosalynn, and I arranged to accept his invitation in 1973. In preparing for this trip, we pored over maps and reviewed both the ancient and modern history of Israel. Our choice of how to spend the ten-day visit was a series of compromises because I was torn between the pleasure of visiting the Christian holy places I had always longed to see and the knowledge that I should concentrate on preparing for another political career.

Many of us who grew up in the church can relate to his “infatuation” with “the Holy Land.” After years of Sunday School classes, Vacation Bible Schools, church camps, youth groups and Bible studies, it was obvious that many of our favorite Bible stories were intimately connected to the land. The repetitive telling of those stories with their settings – Bethlehem, Hebron, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem – produced in many of us a genuine interest in those places and that land. We felt that to know the stories was to know the land, but we knew the land as Canaan or Judea, both proper historical names, or as “the Holy Land” – we did not know it as Israel. It is very possible for young Christians to go through years of Christian education feeling an attraction, even feeling “infatuated with the Holy Land” and never make a connection with Israel.

A lot of Christian confusion about Israel can be traced to this ambiguity between Israel and “the Holy Land.” Today many critics of Israel expect Israel to be more like “the Holy Land” of Sunday School memory, rather than like “Israel,” a modern nation dealing with citizens’ needs, and with real security threats and real enemies. This may be why some people feel that Israel is often held to a higher standard than other nations, i.e. one standard for all nations, a higher standard for Israel based on expectations of “the Holy Land.” Jimmy Carter demonstrates this double standard throughout his book as well as in his articles and speeches defending it.

REACTIONS TO HIS FIRST TRIP

The Carters’ first visit to Israel made a deep impression on the future president, but not necessarily a good one. Much of what he experienced fell short of what he expected from Israel, the Jewish State in “the Holy Land.”

Carter mentions several experiences he had while touring and meeting people, each referred to with a critical, judgmental attitude:

It was especially interesting to visit with some of the few remaining Samaritans, who complained to us that their holy sites and culture were not being respected by Israeli authorities – the same complaint heard by Jesus and his disciples almost two thousand years ago.

In other words, according to Carter, the insensitivity of Jewish “Israeli authorities” to non-Jewish minorities in the area has not changed in over 2,000 years. It is odd that someone who could boast of teaching Sunday School for 20 years would not know that there is no mention of “Israeli authorities” in the Gospels.

Another incident that provided an opportunity to criticize the spiritual character of Israel and Israelis follows soon after:

The next morning was the Sabbath, and at the appropriate time we entered the synagogue, said a silent prayer, and then stood quietly just inside the door. Only two other worshippers appeared. When I asked if this was typical, Giora [their Israeli guide] gave a wry smile and shrugged his shoulders as if it was not important either way.

Referring to a graduation ceremony at an IDF training camp near Bethel, Carter found another opportunity to comment on what he considered Israel’s lack of a proper spirituality:

The soldiers stood rigidly at attention, and, as each name was called, the graduate ran at top speed to the reviewing stand, where the commander delivered a diploma and I presented a “Sword of the Spirit” (a Hebrew Bible), which was one of the few indications of a religious commitment that I observed during our visit.

After their ten days of touring, the Carters met with Prime Minister Meir to thank her for her help in arranging their visit. The Prime Minister asked if Carter had any observations he cared to share with her.

With some hesitation, I said that I had long taught lessons from the Hebrew Scriptures and that a common biblical pattern was that Israel was punished whenever the leaders turned away from devout worship of God. I asked if she was concerned about the secular nature of her Labor government. She seemed surprised by my temerity and dismissed my comments with a shrug and a laugh.

This is quite a statement – not so much about Israel or Prime Minister Meir as it is about Jimmy Carter. Because Christians think of spirituality differently than Jews, Christians often assume that Jews are primarily “secular” rather than “religious” people. Carter made this arrogant mistake. Prime Minister Meir’s “shrug and a laugh” may very well have been her reaction to Carter’s naiveté in judging Israeli Jewish spirituality according to American Christian standards.

A HISTORICAL PROBLEM

Jimmy Carter’s attitude towards Israel is in line with Christianity’s long history of wrong thinking about Jews, Judaism and a Jewish State, even when that state was nothing but a dream. That wrong thinking is the old idea of Christian supersessionism, sometimes referred to as replacement theology or Christian triumphalism.

Supersessionism was the dominant Christian theology towards Jews and Judaism through most of Christian history. It taught that when “the Jews” rejected Jesus as their messiah, God rejected them and replaced them with Christians who became the new people of God, the true recipients of all that had originally been promised to the Jewish people – including the promise of a land. In other words, according to this way of thinking, Jews have lost any right to their own state.

This principle has been expressed in two different, but related, ways:

Jews should not have a State

Prior to 1948, before the modern state of Israel existed, the general Christian attitude was that there should not be a Jewish State. Christians typically believed that because “the Jews” rejected God, they should live lives of poverty, misery and homelessness as an example of what can happen when people reject God. This attitude was most clearly expressed in 1904 when Pope Pius X told Theodor Herzl that the church could not support Zionism:

We are unfavorable to the movement. We cannot prevent Jews from going to Jerusalem, but we can never sanction it . . . The Jews have not recognized our Lord, therefore we cannot recognize the Jewish people . . .

Jews do not deserve a State

Today, an independent Jewish State does exist and the general Christian attitude has had to adapt. Now, instead of teaching that Jews are not entitled to a state, there is an attempt to try to prove that Jews do not deserve the state they have. Jimmy Carter and other Christian critics of Israel are clearly affected by this view when they speak only of Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians with little or no mention of Palestinian mistreatment of Israelis.

A DIFFERENT TYPE OF RESPONSE

The Jewish connection to the land of Israel is not always easy for Christians to understand since there is nothing comparable in Christian thought. Left to our own understanding, Christians will never really understand what the land of Israel means to the Jewish people. But in a relationship of respectful dialogue with Jews, Christians can learn from their dialogue partners and come to understand the covenant relationship that binds God, His people and their land. Attitudes expressed by Carter and other Christians toward Israel indicate that this dialogue is at a rudimentary stage.

The lack of dialogue about Israel between Christians and Jews has left much of the liberal Christian church unable to understand and respond to the anti-Israel accusations and threats that continue to emerge around the world – and even from the church itself. We Christians need to develop the kind of sensitivity that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America called for in its “Guidelines for Lutheran-Jewish Relations”:

12. Lutherans need to understand the depth of Jewish concern for communal survival, a concern shaped not only by the Holocaust but by centuries of Christian apathy towards Judaism. Jews will thus feel strongly about topics such as the security of the State of Israel, intermarriage, and conversion, in which Jewish survival is seen to be at stake.

It is in a committed dialogue relationship with Jews that Christians can begin to understand why and how often the Jewish community thinks of Israel in terms of community survival. Dialogue can also help Christians understand how concern for community survival can influence how the Jewish community reacts to perceived threatening words and resolutions coming from some Christian churches and their leaders.

No one has addressed this challenge more eloquently than Dr. Franklin H. Littell, the noted Christian scholar of the Holocaust and Christian antisemitism, as well as a founder and corporate vice-president of the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel (NCLCI). Writing in 1966, Dr. Littell said:

The central question after the Holocaust remains: “Where do you stand on the survival of the Jewish people?” The churches are now able to say they repent of expressions of denigration and contempt about the Jews, but they have not yet moved over to the affirmation of Jewish well-being and survival. The litmus test of antisemitism is the treatment of Israel and its problems.”

This is profoundly important, especially today! Dr. Littell’s question cuts through the layers of distractions and states the ultimate issue – “Where do you stand on the survival of the Jewish people?” This is a question that NCLCI takes very seriously as we speak up for Israel in our churches, in our communities and in all venues that are available to us.

Christians need to understand that while Israel is a nation with all the rights and obligations of any other nation, it is also a unique phenomenon that represents the survival of a persecuted people and the revival of an ancient culture in the modern world, complete with its religious and biblical overtones.

TODAY’S DANGEROUS REALITY

Israel today is in a very precarious position. On Israel’s northern border Hezbollah, the terrorist organization that Israel fought last summer in Lebanon, has now been resupplied by Iran and Syria with more lethal and sophisticated weapons. Hezbollah has had time to dig more and better tunnels and position more missile launch sites, all in preparation for what seems likely to be another round of fighting with Israel.

Syria has intensified its threat against Israel by pre-positioning troops and equipment on its Golan border. Today Syria has five highly trained military units on that border facing Israel’s one unit.
The recent Hamas takeover of Gaza and the ruthless brutality that continues against the civilian population there is a frightening demonstration of the real threat that now confronts Israel on its southwestern border.

Now that Hamas is separated from Fatah, at least temporarily, the money and support that Israel, the United States and the European Union had withheld from the Palestinian Authority is being released to Fatah, ignoring the many signs and voices that plead for caution. Insufficient attention is being given to the fact that Fatah has not dismantled its terror infrastructure, originally established by Yasser Arafat, nor has it amended its charter to eliminate those sections that continue to call for the destruction of Israel. According to Dr. Michael Widlanski, an internationally recognized expert and lecturer in Palestinian affairs at the Rothberg School of Hebrew University, “It’s the same old Fatah which has no desire to live with Israel.”

“Where do you stand on the survival of the Jewish people?”

This does not mean that there is no place for a possible Palestinian State. For years, Israeli governments have supported the goal of a two-state solution – Israel, living within secure and recognized defensible borders next to a terror-free, viable Palestinian State. Many of the difficult details of Palestinian statehood, i.e., borders, foreign relations, defense, Jerusalem, import-exports, etc., will need to be worked out in negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians with the help of a third-party mediator.

Today, as Israel faces threatening neighbors on all sides, there should be no question about the Christian church’s commitment to the security and well-being of Israel and the Jewish people – but there is. There is a steadily growing majority of Christians in local churches all over the United States and Canada who do support Israel and the Jewish people. However, there are also Christians, including Christian leaders such as Jimmy Carter, who continue to write, speak and try to influence Christians in an attempt to undermine that growing pro-Israel support. That is why it is so critical today that Christians and Christian organizations, such as NCLCI, continue to make their opinions heard in churches, in church headquarters, in places of political power and in the general community.

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1. Carter makes so much of his Christianity that at least one commentator wondered if his many criticisms of Israel might actually be an attempt to drive a wedge between Christians and support for Israel. (Jeffrey Goldberg, “What Would Jimmy Do?” Washington Post, Dec. 10, 2006).
2. p. 22 – All page numbers are from Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006) hard cover edition.
3. Through all my Sunday School and Bible Study experiences while growing up in the church, I do not remember ever hearing the land of the Bible referred to as Israel.
4. This intimate connection of Bible stories to the land of Israel should not be overlooked. Sunday School teachers and other Christian educators can be teaching supersessionism (more on this later) if they are not careful to teach biblical stories in their proper Jewish context. Taught in context, those lessons should develop a positive and respectful attitude for the Jewish people and Israel. The Jewish context of biblical stories must never be separated from the stories themselves. This may require Christian educators of all ages to learn more about Jewish history and Jewish beliefs in order to teach accurately. Two very helpful resources are:
   The Children of Abraham, by Cheryl Hauer . An excellent 24-step curriculum for teaching Christians of all ages an overview of Jewish history from Moses to modern Israel. Contact Bridges for Peace for ordering information (www.bridgesforpeace.org).
   Our Father Abraham: The Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith , by Marvin Wilson. One of the best introductions to Jewish thought, theology, history and practices. It is written by a Christian for Christian clergy, educators and laypeople. It can be found at www.Amazon.com.
   
5. It should also be noted that referring to Israel as “the Holy Land” is often a politically correct way to avoid the reality of Israel in today’s world.
6. “This is when I formed most of my lasting impressions of Israel.” p. 21.
7. p. 26
8. p. 26
9. p. 29
10. p. 32
11. Supersessionism has been soundly denounced by many mainline Protestant denominations and by the Catholic Church in the years since Vatican II. Pope John Paul II spoke often of the enduring covenant that exists between God and the Jewish people, citing or alluding to Romans 11:29 – “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” An example of John Paul’s statements:

“This people was gathered together and led by God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Thus, its existence is not a mere fact of nature or culture... It is a supernatural fact. This people perseveres in spite of everything, because they are the people of the Covenant, and despite human infidelities, the Lord is faithful to his Covenant.” (John Paul II, “The Roots of Anti-Judaism in the Christian Milieu” October 1997).

12. H. Lobenthal (ed.). The Diaries of Theodor Herzl (London: Jewish Publication Society, 1958), p. 426.
13. Although supersessionism has been officially repudiated in regard to Christian-Jewish relations, remnants of it still exist, especially in the area of Church-Israel relations.
14. “Guidelines for Lutheran-Jewish Relations” published by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 1998.
15. Franklin H. Littell. The Crucifixion of the Jew (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1966), p. vi.
16. “Hizbullah’s military might is restored” Jerusalem Post online edition, July 23, 2007 (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1184766044844&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1184766044844).
17. CNSNews.com, June 25, 2007.
18. “The Israeli government remains committed to the two-state solution – Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security – as the key to peace in the Middle East.” (“Letter from Dov Weissglas, Chief of the PM’s Bureau, to National Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice,” April 18, 2004. www.mfa.gov.il); “Israel Still Wants 2-State Solution With Palestinians” June 15, 2007 (www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15874556.htm).
19. However, the continued activity of churches, such as the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, to promote divestment from Israel indicates that there is a very clear need to promote Christian-Jewish relations that includes an on-going, honest and unambiguous dialogue on the significance of and the need for Israel, the Jewish State in its historic homeland.

* David Blewett is the National Director of the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel (NCLCI). He is grateful for the valuable help of Rev. Dr. Bill Harter and Dr. Richard Lux for their help in preparing this text.