“Our silence is not a rejection of Israel or even a hesitation about Israel. Our silence is to try to protect people,” he explained to Zell. “There’s a rapidly growing evangelical population in virtually every Islamic country. Much of it is underground in the countries that are more radicalized, and many of the Christians survive based on their neighbors’ just ignoring the fact that they don’t go to mosque.”
This sounded like something the mainstream Protestant denominations might say. Was the National Association of Evangelicals really more concerned with their institutional interests in the Middle East than with God’s covenant with Abraham? Did this signal a departure, a turn away from Christian Zionism by the country’s largest evangelical umbrella group?
When I called Reverend Haggard in Colorado Springs, he was at first polite but guarded.
“Of course, evangelicals are supportive of Israel,” he told me. “Two terrorist groups attacked Israel. I didn’t speak out immediately because we needed some time to move some people around, that’s all. There are evangelical Christians in just about every totalitarian nation in the Middle East, over there trying to help out. In the era of universal media, some sixteen-year-old fanatic in a village might hear or read some statement I make, pick up a machine gun, and kill a nun or a missionary. Some other evangelical leaders have made disparaging statements in the past about Muslims that have made it really difficult for our people. Every day, around the world, four hundred eighty Christians are martyred. We try to minimize that. So there is a possible clash between our principled argument for Israel and safety of Christians. But I want to make it clear: we are unequivocal in our support for Israel.”
That seemed to clarify matters, but Haggard had more to say. He was, it turned out, still smarting from Mikey Weinstein’s charges—now wending their way through the courts in the form of a lawsuit—that evangelicals at the Air Force Academy discriminate against Jews.
“The scandal at the academy was way overrated,” he said. “I hired a legal team to investigate, and they reported that there were some things over the line—like the football coach’s banner—but they were dealt with under the standing rules of the academy. What Weinstein wants to do is to force the chaplains to pray according to government supervision. This is the first time in American history that anyone has petitioned a court to supervise the words and actions of military chaplains. If he wins, it will amount to the establishment of religion in America, religion approved by the state.”
I told Haggard that I had read his e-mail exchange with Weinstein.
“Then you know who I’m dealing with,” he said. “I published the correspondence so people could see the way he thinks and expresses himself.”
Haggard was especially upset that Weinstein had implied he might be anti-Semitic. “Historically Christians, all kinds of Christians, did horrible things to the Jews. It’s only since the establishment of the state of Israel that a structural effort has been made to right that wrong. All my Christian lifetime I’ve heard that the Jews are God’s Chosen People, that those who bless the Jews will be blessed. My generation was highly motivated to unconditionally support the state of Israel, because it is a Jewish state.”
“Right,” I said. “Well, I’ve enjoyed talking to you….”
“But I’m worried,” said Haggard. He no longer sounded guarded. “A new megachurch goes up in this country every three weeks. These are evangelical churches, filled with young people. My fear is that they don’t believe they should support Israel unconditionally. They look at someone like Mikey Weinstein or hear what Abe Foxman says about evangelicals and they think, These people are my enemy.
“The Israelis need to know this,” he said. “They need to intensify their relationship with us, but mainly they need to communicate with American Jews, tell them that they should stop attacking us.”
Why go through Israel? I asked. Why not communicate directly to the American Jewish leadership?
Haggard seemed surprised. “We don’t speak the same language,” he said. “After Abe Foxman said what he said about evangelicals, I asked for a meeting, but it never took place. He didn’t want to meet. And every other time I’ve suggested Jews do anything, the Jewish newspapers in New York have just been appalled. During the controversy over The Passion I stated my opinion about the movie, and I was treated with disrespect. So I’ve decided to just stay quiet. I’m a pastor, not a warrior.”
“Mikey Weinstein, Abe Foxman, and some reporter at a Jewish newspaper, that’s who’s upsetting you?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “Look, if evangelicals step out of line, like Pat Robertson did when he called for the assassination of the president of Venezuela, we speak out. Jews ought to do the same thing. If Abe Foxman says outrageous things about us, it shouldn’t be up to us to argue with him. It should be up to the other Jewish organizations. But we’re very interested in the silence of the Jewish groups and leaders.
“Look,” Haggard said, “I’m going to support Israel no matter what. That’s how I was raised; it’s what I believe. But if this continues, I’m fearful of the rise of anti-Semitism. For the past twenty years Jews have had an opportunity to respond to the friendliness of evangelicals and they haven’t. I can’t stand the kind of vitriolic language I get, and you can imagine how it goes over with young evangelicals in the Christian blogosphere. We have to be sensitive to one another, and that means Jews have to learn how to tolerate evangelical Christians, too. I don’t want to live in an America where Jews and Christians are enemies.”
JEWS AND EVANGELICALS are major stakeholders in opposing parties. But the Judeo-Christian bargain doesn’t require Jews to become Republicans, much less Christians. It simply requires a change in attitude and tone, what Eric Yoffie meant when he said that it was time for Jews to stop dismissing tens of millions of their fellow Americans as “bigots.”
As I was finishing this book, I got a message from an old friend, a writer I respect who read an early draft. He thought I was being too easy on the evangelicals. “I believe you might be pulling your attitude in the name of fairness, journalism, balance, whatever,” he wrote. “I mean, can you get pissed off about these people horning in on a good thing in Israel? These are the same people, after all, who would sell Jews down the river. These are the good neighbors of Berlin in 1943, no?”
I don’t think they are. I looked hard for evidence that the evangelicals are insincere, cynical, or devious in their attitude toward Israel and the Jews, and I didn’t find it. They may love Jews too much. They may love Jews for the wrong reasons. They may, in the future, not love Jews at all. But for now, the evangelical Christians of America are not the enemy. They are the enemy of the enemy, and they want to be accepted and appreciated. In return they are offering a wartime alliance and full partnership in a Judeo-Christian America. It is an offer the Jews of America should consider while it is still on the table.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A great many people helped me with this book. Thanks are due to my agent, Flip Brophy, at Sterling Lord Literistic; my editor, David Hirshey, who believed in the project and steered me through it; Nick Trautwein; and Kate Hamill.
Several friends (and one daughter) read and critiqued the manuscript. Thanks to Michal Chafets, Brett O’Donnell, Malcolm MacPherson, and Rick Marino. All contributed to the making of this book. None are responsible for its shortcomings or its opinions.
A lot of people gave me their time and their help. I especially want to thank Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who opened the world of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews to a sometimes uncomfortable scrutiny; and IFCJ staffers Joan Watson, George Mamo, Dvero Ganani, and Reverend Jerry Clark. Thanks are also due to Rabbi Eric Yoffie, Reverend Dan Stratton, Reverend Ann Stratton, Reverend Jerry Falwell, Gary Bauer, Rabbi David Saperstein, Ari Fleischer, Mark McKinnon, Ken Mehlman, Professor Charles Dunn, Professor John Green, Gary Rosenblatt, Judith Shulevitz, Reverend Bill Wilson, Reverend Connie Wilson, Reverend Tom Malone, Sue Ricksecker, Gr
eg Menken, Ira Foreman, Dr. David Elcott, Ethan Felson, John Harris, Don Egle, Shira Dicker, Rabbi Tom Gutherz, Alexander Rechter, Duke Westover, Jerry Benjamin, Reverend Joe Atavai, Noga Tarnopolsky, Jay Lefkowitz, and Megan Lieberman of the New York Times Magazine.
Most of all, thanks and love to Lisa Beyer.
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