Slouching Towards Zion
July 31st, 2007 at 7:27 am
Christian Right bird-dogger Max Blumenthal turns on the camera at the Christians United For Israel conference in Washington, D.C. and, well, you can watch for yourself. It ain’t pretty. CUFI is the brainchild of San Antonio megachurch pastor John Hagee, a man whose warped End Times theories have led him to stake out a militant pro-Israel position well to the right of even Ariel Sharon. CUFI is a lobbying vehicle for Hagee and fellow Christian Zionists who see Israel and the Jewish people as central to fulfilling biblical prophecy.
Yes, the getting is good at CUFI, where Blumenthal captures Rapture enthusiasts bashing Muslims, calling for war on Iran, explaining cheerfully why most Jews will be Left Behind, and interpretative dancing to Christian Zionist anthems. Also caught on tape are former Hammer Tom DeLay admitting that the Second Coming is “what [he] lives for” and former Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman comparing Hagee to Moses in what can only be described as a Hagee-ography (we couldn’t help ourselves). Sharing the love, Hagee backslaps Lieberman for his support for “a military preemptive strike against Iran to prevent a nuclear holocaust in Israel.”
That sounds about par for the course at a Hagee-sponsored event. Last October the Observer went down to the pastor’s Cornerstone Church in San Antonio for the annual “A Night to Honor Israel.” Imagine hundreds and hundreds of regular San Antonians waving the Israeli flag, blowing the shofar, and cheering lustfully for Benjamin Netanyahu while Hagee and his sons sit on thrones on stage, then maybe you begin to understand. The Observer also visited Cornerstone before the Iraq war to witness Hagee’s Christian militarism in full force.
Blumenthal, who is Jewish, managed to get himself ejected, ostensibly for recording the faithful rank-and-file going off the conference organizers’ script. It seems Hagee wanted to tamp down the Armageddon talk while in D.C., denying to reporters that his organization’s rabid support for Israel has anything to do with his desire to hasten Christ’s return. (For just a taste of how strange Hagee’s eschatology is consider this: He believes the Gog and Magog mentioned in the dark poetry of Revelation will in fact be a pan-Islamic military force led by elements of Russia’s high command.) Security personnel bounced Blumenthal, his cameraman, and at least one other Jewish journalist out of the conference.
While Hagee tries to turn his extreme theology into policy in Washington, other evangelical leaders are taking a more temperate approach to the thorny Israel-Palestine dispute. Last Friday, 30 evangelical leaders sent a letter to President Bush pledging support for a Palestinian state and reminding Israel of “the profound teaching on justice that the Hebrew prophets proclaimed.”
July 31st, 2007 at 8:37 am
What I find most amusing about Max’s transparent video is in the fact that he mentions that thousands came to see Hagee, but Blumenthal chose a very select portion of the “flock” to interview for his piece.
Anyone who knows Blumenthal’s point of view on matters of organized religion, the Christian Right and Republicanism/Conservatism, would expect this from him, and he did not fail to be predictable.
Maybe Max can now show you an edit of more footage, with the doctors, lawyers, small business owners, teachers, scientists and the literally thousands of others who were there who were not speaking from an uneducated perspective and who were not doing interpretive dance in the aisles, and show that there is a movement of people who do not subscribe to “the rapture” and just believe that god’s-will will be revealed one day, and until then, our lot is to work together for a common goal of survival.
Max forgot to include Hagee’s comment while holding his friend Rabbi Aryeh Sheinbaum, an Orthodox rabbi from San Antonio when asked about eschatology, “we both know that one day when we’re dancing in the streets of Jerusalem together, one of us will have to seriously reevaluate our beliefs.”
That said to anyone else listening, that while Hagee is indeed a Christian and holds to the belief in Christ, he does acknowledge that maybe he does not know everything and that God’s design is still truly unknown.
Max, an honest reporter would try to stay honest, but one with an agenda will always only find the facts that support his ends.
August 1st, 2007 at 10:21 am
The video was illunminating! Though inclinded to critically comment on various aspects, comments, etc. of both the video as well the written commentary regarding Hagee and the conference, let me just SUGGEST that the biggest most obsence STRETCH–to use a term Hagee employed in evaluating Max’s comments/question at the press conference–was when Joe Leibeman likened Hagee to the OT prophet Moses.
Chuck Deveau
Graduate: Dallas Theological Seminary