I was amazed to read in today’s New York Times about an evangelical group that seems to hold considerable sway here in Washington. Thousands of members of the group Christians United for Israel came to D.C. in July as Israel and Hezbollah locked horns on the southern border of Lebanon.
At a dinner addressed by the Israeli ambassador, a handful of Republican senators and the chairman of the Republican Party, [Rev. John Hagee, leader of the group] read greetings from President Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel and dispatched the crowd with a message for their representatives in Congress. Tell them “to let Israel do their job” of destroying the Lebanese militia, Hezbollah, Mr. Hagee said.
He called the conflict “a battle between good and evil” and said support for Israel was “God’s foreign policy.”
The next day he took the same message to the White House.
“God’s foreign policy?” W. T. F.?
And these are the people who represent the Christian Right in this country? Did they smile and dance when they saw photos of the charred remains of innocent Lebanese men, women and children whose only crime was being in the same place that Israel bombed?
I don’t ever recall reading in the Bible where Jesus got his jollies off the death of innocent people. And by the way, aren’t Evangelicals all about Jesus and his teachings? Or have they spent so many years twisting Christianity to fit their own needs that things like “Love thy neighbor as thy self,” and “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you,” just don’t matter anymore?
Oh no, that’s right: their Jesus must not love Arabs, or gays, or people who use drugs or vote for Democrats or don’t go to their church. Geez, if that’s the truth, Hell is going to be a very crowded place.
But maybe that’s the point for Rev. Hagee and his ilk: More room in Heaven for him and his flock, the rest of the heathens be damned.
Ugh. Must be mindful, and compassionate, and filled with loving-kindness for all.
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