THE LAST ACCEPTABLE BIGOTRY:

New constraints squeeze churches in Holy Land: Christians' concerns grow amid changes in tax-exempt status and Israel's nonrenewal of workers' visas. (Jane Lampman, 5/04/04, CS Monitor)

Christian churches in the Holy Land are facing an unprecedented crisis that some say is jeopardizing their future, including their capacity to maintain the faith's holy sites and charitable institutions and to educate clergy.

The churches' difficulties have been building over the past three years as the Israeli government has failed to renew visas or residence permits for hundreds of religious workers, and has begun sending tax bills to charitable groups that have long had tax-exempt status, some since the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, the separation wall being built in Jerusalem and on the West Bank is slicing through religious facilities, in some cases taking land and blocking pilgrimage routes.

"All indications point to the fact that the church is slowly but surely being strangled," says an official at the Latin Patriarchate, the Roman Catholic Church's regional office in Jerusalem, which serves Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, and Cyprus.

So great is the concern that Vatican diplomats have spoken out bluntly and Americans have sought US help. Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, recently sent a letter to President Bush calling this "the most difficult situation in living memory for the Church in the Holy Land."

Israeli officials have said over several months that the visa problem is a bureaucratic issue, requiring new guidelines for security purposes. But to some church officials it looks like a concerted effort to make life difficult for Christians and Christian institutions.The majority of local Christians in the Holy Land are Arabic-speaking. The Catholic church has a different perspective from Israel on the peace process, including its desire for a special status for Jerusalem and the holy sites. Others worry there could be an aim to reduce the overall Christian presence.

"This is tough, tough politics," suggests a religious observer with experience in the region, who asked not to be named.

The Evangelical-Israeli Connection: Scripture Inspires Many Christians to Support Zionism Politically, Financially (Bill Broadway, March 27, 2004, Washington Post)

The much-publicized controversy over Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" might give the impression that Jews and evangelical Christians have little in common, theologically or otherwise. Nothing could be further from the truth.

While some evangelical and Jewish leaders sparred publicly for months over the film's depiction of Jesus's last hours, especially its potential to incite anti-Semitism, thousands of evangelicals were donating millions of dollars to support the state of Israel and its people. And Jews, most notably the Israeli government, welcomed their contributions.

"We get 2,000 to 2,500 pieces of mail a day, most of them with checks," said Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, founded 21 years ago to foster better relations between the two religions. Since then, Eckstein, an Orthodox rabbi, has broadened the organization's mission and in the last decade has collected more than $100 million in financial support for Israel. Last year, the fellowship contributed $20 million from a donor base of 365,000 individuals and groups, most -- if not all -- of them evangelical Christians, Eckstein said. About half of the money was used to help Jews relocate to Israel from different parts of the world; the remainder provided food, medical care and other assistance to poor and elderly Jews in Israel, the former Soviet Union and other countries.

On Monday, the fellowship announced a campaign to raise $7.2 million to provide security for the 1,000 highest-risk public bus routes in Israel, including bomb-detection devices and equipment for screening passengers and baggage, and sent a $2 million check to begin the process.

The fellowship, the largest and one of the oldest evangelical organizations providing support for Israel, has been joined in recent years by at least a half-dozen others with such names as Bridges for Peace, Christians for Israel, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and Chosen People Ministries. Although no one tracks all evangelical contributions to Israel, Eckstein believes the figure could exceed $25 million annually.

Evangelical support for Israel dates to the 19th century, when Christian Zionists called for the return of Jewish exiles to Palestine to fulfill biblical prophecies. If the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 seemed the answer to the Christian Zionists' prayers -- not to mention those of the Jewish people -- the extraordinary victory of Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War seemed to them a sure sign of divine will.

Evangelical leaders such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell began lobbying for greater political support of Israel from the U.S. government and urging financial support from the rapidly growing evangelical movement. And the relationship between evangelical leaders and the Israeli government began to flower, slowly at first because many Israeli leaders hesitated to accept money from people who might want to convert them.

The 1977 election of Likud Party leader Menachem Begin as prime minister marked a new era in evangelical-Israeli relations. Begin was so pleased with Falwell's pro-Israel activities that in 1979 he gave the evangelical leader a Lear jet.

Today, the connection is even stronger. Likud Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has met with evangelical leaders on numerous occasions, most recently in Jerusalem last month to ask their help in countering a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Europe and other parts of the world.

In January, the Israeli parliament created a Christian Allies Caucus to coordinate activities with its Christian friends. About the same time, former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, Israeli minister to the Diaspora and for Jerusalem affairs, met with evangelical leaders at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis to thank them for their "steadfast support for the state of Israel."

Unless Israel thinks it can play off Catholics against Protestants or something this doesn't make any sense. If they're trying to play them it makes little.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 5, 2004 7:30 AM