McChurch – Hoist by Its Own Petard

"Prooftexting" leaves the Christian Right with blood on its hands — Palestinian blood.

David Van Biema wrote a riveting editorial for Time, Inc. on July 20, 2007, in which he explored a new pop-Christian movement — the New Sanctuary Movement.  He began by explaining the term "prooftexting" as "…the cherry-picking of Biblical quotations out of context in order to claim scriptural authority for a particular proposition."

We who have been poking fun of the "scholarship" of the Christian Right often have called prooftexting, "Smorgasbord Christianity."

Biema tells us that this time it is liberals who are picking and choosing Scripture to satisfy their agenda, while conservatives demur.  Liberals quote Numbers 35:11, "…then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there."  They justify the illegal harboring of aliens on the grounds that, although they have committed a crime, they are in safe harbor.

The Christian Right, supporters of the recent failed immigration bill, counter with, "Although we are commanded to be responsible to our neighbor, we are not permitted to break the law."

In light of the propensity of the Christian Right to adhere to the End Times beliefs of Christian Zionism, that is an interesting example of "prooftexting."  Christian Zionism is the unyielding support of the nation-state of Israel on the grounds of God's promise to Abraham of the land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River.  No distinction is made between Israel, once a physical and now a spiritual symbol of God's power, glory and presence, and the Jews as a people.

Thus, the only correct definition of Israel for the Christian Zionist is the myth of a "land without a people for a people without a land."

Prooftexting leaves the Christian Right with blood on its hands — Palestinian blood.  Illegal settlements funded by the American Christian Right and failure to acknowledge even the existence of Palestinian Christians and Muslims has violated the Biblical command of hospitality to "the least of these, my brothers."

Hospitality, for the Christian Right, is selective.  It is extended to Jews because of the horrific circumstances of the Holocaust.  It is withheld from Palestinians because Palestinians fail to fit within the framework of such drivel as the "Left Behind Series" of pop-Christian novels. 

Likewise, hospitality is withheld for Hispanic aliens because they are eating away at the spoils of capitalism, that God-given blessing for a "faithful nation."

As for me, I take sanctuary in the present and eternal Kingdom of God.  It's consistent.

Stan Moody is the author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry