G-2 Affirming an Inclusive Zion in the Holy Land

From the World Church Peace and Justice Team

Resolution

Be it Resolved, That Community of Christ opposes any use of scripture that promotes an end-times theology that misunderstands and misstates God’s plan for restoring Christ’s Kingdom on Earth, such as that proposed by Christian Zionism, and be it further

Resolved, That Community of Christ rejects Christian Zionism’s presumption that ethnic Jews have priority to inhabit the Holy Land, ignoring human worth and God’s love for all its inhabitants and be it further

Resolved, That Community of Christ restates and reaffirms its belief in the inestimable worth of all persons.

Background Statement

The Peace and Justice team submitted the first resolution about Israel and Palestine in 2016, which became WCR 1311. This resolution declared the church’s belief in the love of God for Muslims and Jews and denounced all Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. It resolved to join with other Christian, Jewish, Muslim, ecumenical, and secular peace movements in the call for peace in Israel and Palestine, the right of the State of Israel to exist in secure borders, the cessation of Israeli military occupation and illegal settlements in the West Bank, and for the recognition of the State of Palestine. The Peace and Justice team recommended Community of Christ join with Churches for Middle East Peace. This occurred in 2022.

Christian Zionism is defined by local heads of churches in Jerusalem as “a modern theological and political movement that embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism, thereby becoming detrimental to a just peace within Palestine and Israel. The Christian Zionist programme provides a worldview where the Gospel is identified with the ideology of empire, colonialism and militarism. In its extreme form, it places an emphasis on apocalyptic events leading to the end of history rather than living Christ’s love and justice today.”

The Peace and Justice team recognizes several incompatibilities between the theology of Christian Zionism and Community of Christ’s understanding of Zion. Unlike our understanding, Christian Zionism embraces a God engaged in favoritism through ethnicties, who ignores the equal worth of all people, and removes Christ’s invitation to all people to be a part of the kingdom of God.

Other Christian groups are opposed to Christian Zionism. In 2016, the World Council of Churches called on its members to renounce Christian Zionism as a form of Christian fundamentalism that endangered indigenous Palestinian Christian communities. In 2020, Palestinian Christians issued Cry for Hope: A Call to Decisive Action, asserting that “… Christian support for Zionism as a theology and an ideology that legitimizes the right of one people to deny the human rights of another is incompatible with the Christian faith and a grave misuse of the Bible.”

The attitudes and beliefs of citizens influence their governments. In the context of the Middle East, religion and scripture are more likely to influence the decision-making process for governments weighing whether to wage war or pursue peace. To help usher justice and peace into this conflicted region, Community of Christ advocates for a responsible reading of scripture and opposition to the approach of Christian Zionism.

A resolution opposing the theology of Christian Zionism will clarify Community of Christ’s understanding of scripture, theology, and practice of Zion and how it differs from Christian Zionism. There is no anticipated financial cost to the church.

Finally, and most importantly, this resolution will provide a foundation for everyone who wants to pursue a just and equitable (Zionic) peace in the Middle East.

Support Statement

“Seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:3a) was the clarion call of the early Restoration. Zion is referenced in nearly half of the first one hundred revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants. Zion was variously described as a place (Doctrine and Covenants 57:1b); a process of preaching, faith, repentance, and keeping Christ’s commandments (Doctrine and Covenants 6:3a); and a condition “And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, dwelling in righteousness; and there were no poor among them”; (Doctrine and Covenants 36:2h–i). Thus, Zion was initially an inclusive vision to which all people were called.

Today Community of Christ understands Zion is a “global family” (Doctrine and Covenants 161:6b) of “communities of generosity, justice and peacefulness” (Doctrine and Covenants 163:3a). Our mission initiative to Pursue Peace on Earth includes working for Christ’s mission of justice and peace in the Holy Land.

It is unjust to read any passage of scripture to “diminish or oppress races, genders, or classes of human beings.” (Doctrine and Covenants 163:7c). Thus, for us, Zion in the Holy Land is inclusive, not exclusive. ¹ Zion is a society that is just, peaceful, generous and holds the equal worth of all persons in all places, including the Holy Land. Christian Zionism betrays this idea of a just Zion. Its interpretation of the Bible is misguided.

In a world of widely divergent views about politics, religion, the Holy Land, chosen people, militarism, peace, and end times, this resolution clarifies Community of Christ’s scriptural interpretation of Zion.