More to the point, it seems like a lot of Christians approach the Bible less as an invitation to moral and spiritual growth and more as a potboiler novel with absolute good guys and purely evil bad guys. That's fine if you're writing a Netflix miniseries based on it. Not so much if you're basing your and, in fact, the nation's politics on it.
Monday, September 22, 2025
Bible study
Mike Huckabee, America's current Ambassador to Israel, has been on his current track for a long time. A brief piece from 2016 has him justifying support of Israel's settlement policies with a quote of Genesis 12:3, reading, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee." This is a promise made by God to Abraham, before even the ancient Kingdom of Israel has been founded. It's at least worth asking if it applies to all Abrahamic faiths.
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Mike Huckabee and Lindsay Graham are both Southern Baptists - an evangelical Christian sect that militates for the restoration of Jews to Palestine. Known as Christian Zionists the ideology they represent has a surprisingly long history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism
By the time Israel was established as a recognized nation state the Christian Zionists ended up supporting the political Zionists who largely run the country today. There's been something of a misunderstanding about the religion of Judaism and the beliefs of Christian Zionism which certainly explains the ludicrous nature of the support Huckabee et al have given to Netanyahu's policies toward the Palestinians - boils down to 'wipe them out, rebuild the Temple, and Jesus will return'.
The willful ignorance of Christian Zionists is very annoying. Stranger still is that they don’t believe that Jewish people go to heaven - the mental gymnastics in thinking that the Jews are both God's chosen and protected people, but also they are all destined for hell because they don't accept Jesus is bizarre. Bad things happen to them because of their disobedience to God and lack of faith in Jesus.
Sheesh. It does sound like a plot for an unlimited series on Netflix.
There might be some dissent within the Southern Baptist Church. Jimmy Carter was a Southern Baptist, and took heat for his criticism of Israel in the years after his Presidency. To give a more complete record he did leave the church in 2000 when they banned women from being pastors, but he seems to have been fair-minded on the issue before that as well. So again, there may be dissenters. Although it's not my church, I hope so.
Christian Zionism has a long and rather interesting history. For centuries it seems to have been mostly a metaphor, a kind of icon of purity. Of course eventually an actual state was founded, taking the name of Israel. It's not really pure, as no country on Earth is. But everyone--at least in that set--acts as if it is. Netanyahu is one of those who cynically exploits the Christian Zionists, although to be fair they seem eager to be conned.
I've spoken to people who think that anyone who hasn't accepted Jesus will go to hell. I've gradually come to the conclusion that it's not worth arguing the point. It's not like they're the ones making the decision, anyway. But it's arrogant, purporting to read God's mind.
Streamers do make shows for select, demographically desirable audiences. If Netflix is the role model I wouldn't be surprised.
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