Reverend Frank Chikane Christian Zionism distorts scripture to justify Israel’s occupation of Palestine, betraying Jesus’ teachings of uni...
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| Reverend Frank Chikane |
Christian Zionism distorts scripture to justify Israel’s occupation of Palestine, betraying Jesus’ teachings of universal love and justice, writes Reverend Frank Chikane
In June, the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) met in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Central Committee (CC) speaks on behalf of 352 member churches, representing more than half a billion Christians around the world. It comprises 158 members, the WCC regional presidents, and 100 advisors from the wider ecumenical movement. Its purpose is to make policy decisions and address issues affecting the life and witness of the churches. After deep lamentation and outrage as the crisis in Palestine and Israel escalates to unprecedented levels of starvation and collective punishment of the entire population of Gaza, the CC’s plenary session sounded four powerful, urgent – and long overdue - calls to action.
Firstly, it called for the naming of the reality of the system of apartheid imposed by Israel on the Palestinian people. Churches, states and international institutions were urged to take a moral stand and immediately impose sanctions, divestment, and arms embargoes to hold Israel accountable for its actions. Moral condemnation, after all, must have material consequences. The CC also demanded the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the lifting of its unlawful blockade on Gaza. The CC also called for support for the resilience and witness of Palestinian Christian churches and communities to remain on their land and to freely practice their faith – a fundamental right that the Israeli government denies them.
Sadly, it has taken far too long for the WCC to issue a clear, truthful recognition of the roots and realities of Palestinians’ suffering and a call to the global fellowship of churches to speak with clarity, urgency, and commitment. However, these resolutions signal a bold break from past WCC positions on Israel’s eight-decade-long occupation of Palestine. Many churches and ecumenical organisations have prioritised unity - rather than justice – when it comes to the unbearable suffering inflicted by Israel on Palestinians. Some of us have skirted around this issue to keep the “peace” in our congregations and to avoid offending our Jewish colleagues and risk being accused of antisemitism. This is unnecessary. As Christians, we make a clear distinction between the Jewish people - our siblings in faith - and the acts of the Israeli government that acts in the name of Zionism. As African Christians, who have witnessed and experienced injustices and colonialism, standing on the side of justice should be natural to us. Our own scars of colonialism make it impossible to ignore the same pattern of land grabs, military occupation, and erasure playing out in Palestine.
God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:3 wherein He promises that “those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed”, is often wrested from its context and misquoted by the Israeli government and its Christian Zionist supporters in Africa. They want believers to accept that any critique of the state of Israel, for its assault on international law and basic human rights and decency, is to curse Israel and incur God’s Wrath. Christian Zionism is, in fact, an annulment of everything that the just Christian gospel stands for.
It is in defence of the Christian gospel that we, as African Christian,s must renounce - in the strongest terms possible – any attempts to defend the Israeli occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people using the Bible. The Christianity that Christian Zionists ask us to practice makes our faith a servant of oppression, similar to how the Bible was used to justify colonialism throughout Africa and apartheid in South Africa.
Jesus Christ Himself is Christian Zionism’s greatest adversary. Its teachings fly in the face of the central tenets of the covenant that Jesus introduced to the world. Neither Jesus nor His early apostles preached Christian Zionism. Christian Zionism distorts scripture to justify Israel’s occupation of Palestine, betraying Jesus’ teachings of universal love and justice.
Yet, some African Christian leaders and their congregations continue to misguidedly support Israel, even hosting Israeli ambassadors and government officials at their church services and praying for the Israeli military and government that is currently perpetrating a genocide in Gaza! This goes against the very essence of Amos 5:24 (NRSV) that implores us to “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
One of the central messages of the gospel
is that those liberated by God cannot be made slaves by anyone. But this is
exactly what is happening today in occupied Palestine. Freedom for one group
cannot come through the oppression of another. Israeli security and peace
cannot be built at the expense of Palestinian life, security, dignity and
peace. It is time for Africa’s churches and ministries to support the WCC calls
for justice and speak with one voice in opposing Israeli occupation, apartheid,
and genocide. Africa’s silence would be a betrayal of both our faith and our history.
Reverend Frank Chikane is a veteran
South African anti-apartheid activist, theologian, civil servant, and writer. He currently chairs the Anti-Apartheid Conference for Palestine
& Against Israeli Apartheid.
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