Another report from the pews on evangelicals and Israel, from TPM Reader DH …
Josh, for what it’s worth, I grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist church (in Indiana), and my experience was more consistent with your understanding of evangelical support for Israel. Unlike your reader BR’s experience, in my church, support for Israel was very much tied to the idea that Israel played a role in the timing of Christ’s return to earth. It was understood that the benefit would redound to Christians, not to the Jewish inhabitants of Israel, who would either accept Christ or go to hell. I don’t recall any significant romantic or sentimental aspect to pro-Israel ideas.
The important practical point is that the religious right is not interested in the question of what policy is best for Israel and the Jewish inhabitants of Israel, or for stability in the Middle East, or the promotion of justice and democracy in the Middle East. Instead, they are interested only in what policies will line up best with their interpretation of the apocalyptic symbolism of the Book of Revelations. If their interpretation of Revelations calls for policies that will increase hostilities between Israel and its neighbors and destabilize the region – and it does – then they will promote such policies. The reason to be wary of evangelical support for Israel is not so much that evangelicals think Jews are going to hell. The reason is that evangelicals have no interest in creating a stable, just, and lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors. (Of course, that still puts evangelicals largely in alignment with Jewish fundamentalists.)
