Mother Jones has a must-read post on something that is no mystery but needs to be said. Western evangelicals like Stephen Harper, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann et al have a devotion to Israel that on the surface is puzzling.
These are people who are deep down the most anti-Semitic in the world. The right, illustrated by the Tea Party, is rife with racism and an intolerance of any colour or creed outside their own. But they worship Israel and its hard line, hard right leaders as if they were their own. Why?
The answer is simple: Armageddon*. Even at Israel’s peril (emphasis mine).
Jewish leaders also tend to downplay the theological beliefs of Christian Zionists, many of whom believe that the Jews will eventually be destroyed in Armageddon. In fact, the more devout fundamentalists say that once Jews establish complete control of the Holy Land, Christ will stage his Second Coming; then Christians will be “raptured” to heaven, and many Jews who survive the ensuing apocalypse will convert to Christianity, thus fulfilling God’s original cove-nant with the Jews.
That’s a risk that Jewish leaders like Morton Klein are happy to take, given the political clout of evangelicals. “I am willing to make this deal: If they continue to support Israel’s prosperity, security, and survival, then if Jesus comes back in the future I will join their parade,” Klein says. “Hey, if I was wrong, no problem.”
I don’t know about you but if I were Israeli, would I really want to be ‘converted to Christianity’? In the event of Armageddon I guess ‘no problem’ is not such a bad deal after all.
* That, and a hatred of Islam.
