From the President: Why I Signed the Open Letter

By Dr. Chris Seiple on 04 October 2007

Mr. Seiple,

With Yom Kippur on the doorstep, it is time for you to repent and turn from your evil ways. You should repent to Hashem. If you don’t turn from evil, Genesis 12:3 will surely curse you as an enemy of Israel. Why do you hate the Jews so much and love the enemies of G-d, the Muslims, so much? What paltry sum did you sell yourself for? With 20-odd Muslim states in the Middle East, why is another terrorist state needed?

Unsigned, this postcard arrived in response to the role I played in organizing the July 27 open letter to President Bush, signed by a group of evangelical leaders supporting a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine (to see CNN coverage of this story, click here). On its face, the open letter was actually rather innocuous. After all, the letter merely affirmed the official policy of Israel and the United States and reiterated an easily verifiable (albeit widely ignored) fact of evangelical public opinion: not all evangelicals provide unconditional support to Israel as a function of their belief. It’s also worth noting that the letter was distinctly more moderate in tone and content than an open letter that many of the same evangelical leaders sent to President Bush on November 1, 2002.

Nonetheless, our recent letter has generated intense discussion and strong feelings, as the above postcard attests. So why sign such a letter when I believe in my heart and mind that: the Jewish people have a special relationship with God; Israel is the greatest ally the U.S. has in the Middle East, not to mention the only democracy, and should never be threatened by terrorism; and Israel will play a pivotal role—some how, some way—in God’s plan for this earth?

In ascending order of importance, three reasons pushed me to participate in this letter: perception; policy; and principle.

Perception

I travel frequently, especially in the Muslim and Communist worlds. Whether one agrees with U.S. foreign policy of the past six years or not, there is nevertheless the widespread perception abroad that imperial America is trying to build a Christian empire.

This perception is acute in the Muslim world. As one Muslim friend finally shared with me: “You Americans have the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other.” Many Muslims assume that if you’re American then you’re Christian; and if you’re Christian, then you’re evangelical; and if you’re evangelical, you’re political, strident, unforgiving—and you support Israel, right or wrong. American Christians can complain to each other about this unfair stereotype all they want, but in the global political arena perception is reality until it is overcome by concrete action to the contrary.

In my travels I regularly meet people who have never experienced the love of Christ because of the evangelical stereotype. I signed the letter to let non-believers know that there are evangelicals beyond this stereotype.

Policy

Christians who happen to be American have the responsibility to steward their national citizenship pursuant peace and justice. In our fight against the terrorists for these very values, it is simply not in the national interest of the United States to let the current state of affairs continue in Israel-Palestine. Not only does this conflict impact ten million Jews and Palestinians in a strategically important region, it has become the primary prism through which 1.3 billion Muslims around the world view the U.S. That prism portrays the U.S. role as one-sided in support of Israel, and as such it is a recruiting tool for terrorists worldwide who use the name of Islam to validate violence against innocent people.

Put differently, the single greatest thing the U.S. can do for its long-term national security is to take the Israel-Palestine issue off the table by playing an even-handed, active, and sustained role in creating a peace that is just.

Most Israelis and Palestinians: (a) want a two-state solution; (b) agree to the parameters of a solution as presented by President Clinton in December of 2000; and (c) recognize that U.S. leadership is the sine qua non to achieving the previous two points. I signed the letter because I believe a two-state solution is the most realistic chance for peace and justice that is also consistent with local desires and U.S. national security.

Principle

As a Christian, Jesus commands me to love God and to love my neighbor, including those who do not look like me, vote like me, or share my faith. More specifically, I am called to act as an Ambassador of Christ’s reconciling love until He returns—a time that He himself told us we cannot know.

Unfortunately, this essence of the Christian faith does not come across in the theological-political discourse about Israel-Palestine among Christians. In fact, Christians often treat each other poorly, sending a negative signal about Christ to all non-believers. Theologically speaking, whether Christians believe that God has a separate and ongoing covenant with the Jews or that the original covenant with the Jews was completely superseded by the covenant of believers in Christ, pales in comparison to whether Christians obey God’s simple command: Love your neighbor.

Certainly, each Christian is entitled to his/her own theological convictions—and resulting political conclusions vis-à-vis today’s secular state of Israel—but these convictions and conclusions never warrant the vicious attacks we see among Christians against each other. I signed the letter because it is my prayer that Christians can agree to demonstrate the love of Christ in all that we do, especially when we disagree.

Conclusion

I am a Christian who happens to be American, a Christian tired of the evangelical stereotype and an American who wants his country to work for peace and justice in Israel-Palestine. Further, I believe that as a follower of Christ, I am obligated to try to find practical ways, however imperfect and incomplete they may be, to be an agent of God’s grace to Christian and non-Christian alike. I signed the letter because it is wise in its policy recommendation but foremost because it is consistent with my responsibility as follower of Christ to love my neighbor.

"We love because he first loved us. Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also." (1st John 4:19-21).

If we cannot love as God commands—if we cannot be obedient—then we ourselves become the point of reference as we begin to assume that we know His will. It is best to remember that we are all but “aliens” and “tenants” (Leviticus 25:23) in this world that “God so loved” that “He gave His one and only Son” (John 3:16). Let us disagree in the love and humility that He would die for even us, as we continue to renew ourselves in Christ, and thus transform the world.

Last updated 15 September 2008