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CUFI and “God’s Foreign Policy Statement”

Dave Weigel reports from the Christians United for Israel conference: “I’ll bless those that bless you and I’ll curse those that curse you,” said Hagee, quoting from the book of Genesis. “That’s God’s foreign policy statement, and it has not changed.” [bold mine-DL] I confess that I don’t really understand Hagee and his organization. Oh, […]

Dave Weigel reports from the Christians United for Israel conference:

“I’ll bless those that bless you and I’ll curse those that curse you,” said Hagee, quoting from the book of Genesis. “That’s God’s foreign policy statement, and it has not changed.” [bold mine-DL]

I confess that I don’t really understand Hagee and his organization. Oh, I know what the organization wants and why it thinks its activism on these issues is important, but that’s not what I mean. I still don’t understand why any group of Christians in this country believes it is so important to agitate so vehemently on behalf of another state, nor do I understand how they reconcile this uncritical boosterism with the Gospel. If we were being frank, we would all readily admit that God doesn’t have a “foreign policy statement” as such and that the idea of such a thing is obviously so much self-serving nonsense. At the same time, as Christians we would also have to acknowledge that God doesn’t call us to make excuses for injustice or defend policies that inflict death and devastation on people made in His image. Unfortunately, it seems to me that this is primarily what CUFI exists to do.

Christians in America are of course free to organize and support political causes of their choice, and some will favor a far more hawkish foreign policy than I think wise, but I have to admit that the zealous enthusiasm for another country and unflinching support for virtually every action taken by a foreign government don’t make any sense to me. There would never be a similar Christian group dedicated to boosting the relationship with any other government, nor should there be one. The simple reason for this is that it makes no sense for Christians to have such a strong attachment to any other country besides their own, especially when Christians are taught that they are sojourners in this world. The enthusiasm for the current state of Israel is at best a gross misinterpretation of Scripture, and at worst the substitution of a secular ideological agenda for Christian teaching.

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