Christian Attitudes Towards the State of Israel

J.L. Granatstein, Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus,
York University, served as Director of the Canadian War Museum from 1998
to 2000. He is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and co-author
of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Infl

Israel is not only a point of continuing contention between Muslims and
Jews. As Prof. Paul Merkley of Carleton University makes very clear, it
is a subject of constant concern for Christians and one that divides the
Christian churches. Merkley’s book covers the period since 1947, and
it is based on very substantial research and many interviews.

Most interesting in this book is the author’s account of Christian
Zionists and the suspicion with which they are viewed by Jews,
especially American Jews. The difficulty springs from the truth that
Jews tend to be liberal in domestic politics while evangelical
Christians, the religious right, tend to be the most fervent pro-Israel
supporters. The suspicion of and contempt for “bible thumpers” is
real among American Jews. The evangelicals, however, admire the gains
made by Orthodox Jewry in Israel in securing legislation to mandate
Sabbath observance and religious education. The incomprehension between
erstwhile allies is all but complete.

But Merkley goes well beyond North America in his work. He categorizes
the leading pro- and anti-Zionist Christian groups and offers detail on
each. He traces the troubled relationship of the Christian church with
Islam and the ways in which pro-Arabist Christians have operated over
the years. He charts a historical course that measures the support given
(or denied) by the various Christian churches to Israel, shaped in
substantial part by the sense that Jerusalem “belongs” to
Christians.

This is not a dispassionate book, but it is an informative one that
does much to add shadings to a sometimes starkly drawn story.