The International Engagement Committee voted 40-3 on Wednesday, June 26, to recommend approval of a substitute motion on item INT-05 calling on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to reject, rather than “confess complicity in” as the original overture stated, Christian Zionism in the U.S.
The overture also calls for a study document addressing the expansion of Christian Zionism since the 216th General Assembly (2004) approved an overture opposing Christian Zionism, stating it does not reflect the faith of the PC(USA).
Overture advocate Hansen Wendlandt, pastor at Community of Grace Presbyterian Church in Sandy, Utah, said in presenting INT-05, “Christian Zionism is such an absurd fantasy. It is religious pornography. … Our denomination has rightly spoken against it.”
John Anderson, a retired pastor in San Francisco who also presented as an overture advocate, said, “Christian Zionism is not merely bad theology. It’s a theology that leads to the ethnic cleansing and murder of thousands of Palestinians. Christian Zionism conflates a nuclear powerful, religious ethno-state with ancient biblical Israel, and the displacement and replacement of indigenous Palestinians. God’s purpose becomes weaponized for political triumphalism.”
“Christian Zionism is not merely bad theology. It’s a theology that leads to the ethnic cleansing and murder of thousands of Palestinians.” — John Anderson
Responding to overture advocates, the committee amended the original language to direct the PC(USA) to make a distinction through liturgy and education between biblical Israel and the modern state of Israel. The amendment further seeks to ensure the proposed study document “[u]pholds the ethic of love and respect of neighbor, based on the teachings and example of Jesus, that rejects ideologies that justify taking land and displacing Indigenous peoples and points to a biblical theology based on the Ten Commandments (Decalogue), and is consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
The committee amended the original language to direct the PC(USA) to make a distinction through liturgy and education between biblical Israel and the modern state of Israel.
During committee debate Morgan Wilson, a young adult advisory delegate from the Presbytery of Peace River, said, “I believe based on what we’ve seen in the past decade … it is of dire necessity to move this … in order to promote awareness as well as God’s love to our partners and members in Palestine.”
Several speakers who registered during public comment to voice their opposition to INT-05 did not appear. However, Rabbi Yehiel Poupko, a rabbinic scholar with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and co-chair of the Presbyterian-Jewish dialogue in Chicago, spoke in opposition. Poupko said he wrote an analysis criticizing the 2004 overture and forwarded it to the Presbytery of Chicago sometime after the 216th GA. He said the presbytery agreed with his analysis, which then forwarded Poupko’s paper to the PC(USA) Office of Theology. Poupko subsequently met with senior staff of the PC(USA) in Louisville, Kentucky, but they rejected the presbytery’s position. Poupko recalled telling the senior staff at the time, “Keep on attacking Israel and American Jewish communal support for Israel.”
Poupko said to the committee, “The more resources you devote to attacking, the more you will wither. Foreign affairs is the last refuge of failing churches. … I have not directly addressed Israel-related overtures. It is not worth my time or that of the Jewish community to show how these overtures mistake facts and will further alienate the Jewish community. These overtures will pass no matter what I say. However, do note, these overtures will have no impact in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. These overtures will widen the existing gulf between the PC(USA) and the organized Jewish community.”
“These overtures will have no impact in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. These overtures will widen the existing gulf between the PC(USA) and the organized Jewish community.” — Rabbi Yehiel Poupko
The remaining speakers during the public hearing spoke in favor of INT-05.
“It’s hopefully clear and will be through others’ testimonies how and why Christian Zionism makes Palestinians and Muslims less safe,” said Emily Brewer, interim pastor at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York. “And the truth is that Christian Zionism also makes Jews less safe. It begins with conflating ancient Israel with modern-day Israel, which is something I think we do see sometimes in our Presbyterian churches and that, whether we realize it or not, lays the groundwork for justifying violence against Palestinians, and it makes Jews into mere pawns who serve only to bring back the messiah for Christians. They’re not seen as full humans and people of faith in their own right. It’s not what Jesus was about.”
Mitri Raheb is a Lutheran pastor and Palestinian Christian living in Bethlehem and a former mission partner in residence at the PC(USA) headquarters in Louisville. He spoke to the committee, saying, “Christian Zionism, as we know it today, is a Christian lobby that supports the Jewish settler colonization of Palestinian land by using biblical and theological constructs. This kind of theology weaponizes the Bible against our own people, which means it’s not only what people believe. What they do with the belief is really what is hurting us. And today, you can see how Christian Zionists in the [U.S.], for example, are very much connected to Christian nationalism. They have anti-Muslim sentiment, but also they are deeply anti-Semitic because they believe they want to bring all the Jews to Palestine so that two-thirds of the Jews will be killed in wars and the last third will convert to Christianity. This is against our own Christian faith. It is Islamophobic and it’s antisemitic.”
“Today, you can see how Christian Zionists in the [U.S.], for example, are very much connected to Christian nationalism. They have anti-Muslim sentiment, but also they are deeply anti-Semitic…” — Mitri Raheb
Following the committee’s final approval of the amended INT-05, Anderson shared that he had only moments before received word that one of the co-authors of the original overture, Nahida Gordon, had died on June 21, 2024. Details are unknown at this time. According to Anderson, Gordon was expelled from Jaffa, Palestine, in 1948 when the modern state of Israel was established by the United Nations.
Other business before the committee
Related to INT-05, the committee voted 40-3 to recommend approval of an amended INT-06 calling for the PC(USA) to educate members of the denomination on understanding the situation in Israel and Palestine, and urge members of the church to find ways of bringing an end to what the 225th GA (2022) labeled Israeli apartheid.
The committee voted 40-3 to recommend approval of an amended INT-06 calling for the PC(USA) to educate members of the denomination on understanding the situation in Israel and Palestine.
The committee voted 33-7 to follow the advice of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) and recommend disapproval of INT-02 on utilizing “the Gospel of Love as a guiding principle in its advocacy and humanitarian efforts, particularly in addressing the conflict between Israel and Hamas, with the aim to foster peace, reconciliation, and justice in the region.” In its comment on the overture, ACSWP stated, “ACSWP commends the call to act on the principle of love, of course, but fears that this overture could be understood, especially by our Palestinian Christian siblings, as placing Palestinians and the Israeli government on equal footing. The PC(USA) has identified Israel as an apartheid state, denounced the occupation of Palestinian land, and called for justice in the region repeatedly.”
The committee voted 42-0 to recommend approval of INT-01, directing the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with guidance from the Office of Public Witness, to urge the U.S. to continue engaging Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo in anti-corruption efforts.
On the final item of business, the committee voted 42-3 to recommend approval of INT-08, a commissioner’s resolution urging the PC(USA) “to find ways to respond to the economic crisis that afflicts the people of Cuba.”
All 456 commissioners from across the country, plus advisory and corresponding delegates, are gathered at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, this week to review the recommendations of each committee on each item of business, plus eight commissioners’ resolutions submitted.
Editor’s note: On Monday morning, July 1, the assembly approved all of the International Engagement Committee’s recommendations by consensus and without objection as a part of the consent agenda.
Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly cited Nahida Gordon’s birthplace as Haifa.
