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Understanding Israel: A Different Look Into Evangelical Christianity

Israel

by  |  on June 24th, 2012  |  3 comments

New Life Church. Photo Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Understanding Israel is a video-interview series created by Rob Lattin for the Foreign Policy Blogs.  By speaking to the people on the inside and on the ground, each episode seeks to intimately expose viewers to the important and controversial topics affecting Israel today.  

Evangelical Christians make up one of America’s largest sects of Israel supporters.  Pastor John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel claims to have over one million evangelical supporters alone, and his influence on Washington’s pro-Israel policies is well documented.  However, while most evangelicals have a deep respect for the Jewish faith and Israel, not all make their religious enthusiasm for Israel synonymous with their political views.  In this segment of Understanding Israel, I speak with Senior Pastor Brady Boyd of the New Life Church, a megachurch in Colorado.  We discuss his thoughts on Judaism and his inclination that Pastor Hagee does not speak for all evangelicals when it comes to the modern state of Israel.  Headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO, New Life Church has operations all over the world.

 
  • Rhonda

    This guy was interesting because he sounds much more moderate than the Evengelical Christians that I know. They have very reactionary ideas about how Israel should be dealing with Arabs.

  • Tim Upham

    Evangelical Christians can play a very big role on supporting the establishment of a two-state solution. They have meekly tried counteracting me with quotations of Jesus Christ out of the New Testament. But I just counteracted back with quotations of Jesus Christ out the New Testament. Peace is a Christian value too, and it can be supported by Jesus Christ in Mark 12:31, when he said “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Because that is what we are trying to do with both the Israelis and Palestinians.

    • Natalie

      The advice to ask: What would Jesus say or do? should continue to guide us. He is justly called the Prince of Peace and could definitely not support the aggressive and often destructive nation that Israel has become. Jesus preached his own message, often against the pharisees and sadducees of his time. He knew the value of being “peacemakers” and we should continue to follow his example.

Author

Rob Lattin
Rob Lattin

Rob Lattin recently completed his Master's in International Affairs at the City College of New York, where he won the Frank Owarish prize for graduating at the top of his class. His thesis explored Democratic Peace Theory and its applicability to small powers, and used the relationship between Turkey and Israel as its case study. Rob received his B.A. in Near Eastern Studies and Political Science, graduating from the University of Arizona with honors.

Rob has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and has lived in Haifa, Israel. In addition to blogging for FPB, he is the Foreign Affairs Correspondent for Jspace.com. He currently splits his time between Washington D.C. and New York City.

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