Younger Christians are rejecting Christian Zionism and rediscovering the Gospel of Peace that refuses to bless violence in God’s name.
Over the last few weeks, the cracks in American evangelicalism’s uncritical support for the modern state of Israel have become impossible to ignore.
The Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes controversy, followed by the Heritage Foundation’s response, has revealed something that many of us have seen coming for a long time. A younger generation of believers is no longer buying the idea that unquestioning loyalty to Israel is a Christian duty.
Note: For the record, I don’t share the views of Carlson or Fuentes. My concern isn’t their politics but the deeper theological confusion within American Christianity that has made this kind of debate inevitable.
According to a poll conducted a few months before Hamas’s October 7 attack, U.S. millennials are the first generation in history to sympathize more with Palestinians than with Israelis.
In my recent True Riches Academy article and podcast, Questions Christian Zionists Must Answer, I spoke about how, for decades, a distorted theological view of the modern state of Israel has helped shape the American church into an institution that too often sanctifies military aggression, justifies the oppression of Palestinians, and confuses political alliances with God’s covenant promises.
Now, with the world watching Israel’s annihilation of the people of Gaza, many young believers are asking what Jesus would say about the suffering of children, the bombing of hospitals, and the displacement of an entire people. Those honest questions are striking a nerve in churches that have long avoided them.
If these seem like radical questions, it only goes to show how seared our consciences have become. Instead, these are moral questions that demand an answer. Yet, for years, Christian Zionist leaders have brushed them aside while warning about how those who don’t “bless” the modern state of Israel will face God’s curse. Of course, most Christian Zionists teach that to “bless” Israel means supporting (or at the very least, not questioning) its political and military ambitions. Implicit in that worldview is the belief that empathy, grace, and forgiveness should not be extended to the enemies of modern Israel since they are “cursed” by God. But if that’s true, why did Jesus bless His enemies and command His followers to do the same?
Those tired interpretations of Genesis 12 are losing their grip on a new generation reading the Sermon on the Mount and realizing that Christ’s example of nonviolent love of friends and enemies cannot coexist with cheering on a genocide. The next generation is looking for a faith that looks more like Jesus and less like Moses.
Christian Zionism has tied the church’s witness to the machinery of empire. It has replaced empathy and compassion with ideology and efficiency while making allegiance to a modern nation-state a test of faithfulness to Jesus. That sounds more like idolatry than discipleship.
Those who reject Christian Zionism are not rejecting Jesus and His example of nonviolent love of friends and enemies. Instead, I believe they are in the early stages of rediscovering the Gospel of Peace. What I believe the next generation is rejecting is a political religion that supports (or ignores) genocide against those it deems enemies of God and is seeking instead the One who healed the ear of His enemy in Gethsemane and forgave His own executioners.
It is long past time for us to listen, learn, and repent. When we do, we may find that the unraveling of Christian Zionism in America is not a tragedy but a merciful warning that faith without love eventually loses its voice and its witness.
Grace and peace,
Related Resources
- (Article) 20 Questions Every Christian Zionist Must Answer
- (Article) Does Genesis 12:3 Mean Christians Must Support Modern Israel?
- (Article) The Biblical Case For Supporting Israel
- (Article) The Tragic Irony of Christian Support for Israel’s War
- (Podcast) 10 Questions Every Christian Zionist Must Answer
