Jerusalem church leaders condemn Christian Zionism as harmful political ideology

The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem have issued forceful public statement denouncing Christian Zionism as a “damaging ideology” that threatens the unity of Christian communities in the Holy Land and serves external political agendas at the expense of the indigenous Christian presence.

The statement warns that Christian Zionist actors, both within and outside the region, are misleading the public, promoting confusion, and interfering in the internal life of churches. Church leaders accused these actors of operating under the guise of Christian support while advancing a political project that “wounds the unity of the faithful” and undermines the pastoral mission of the historic Churches entrusted with care of the Holy Land.

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“These undertakings have found favour among certain political actors in Israel and beyond,” the statement reads, “who seek to push a political agenda which may harm the Christian presence in the Holy Land and the wider Middle East.”

The document, signed collectively by the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, directly challenges efforts by pro-Israel evangelical networks to insert themselves into ecclesiastical affairs in the region—efforts which have grown increasingly visible and politically influential over the past decade.

The statement reiterates that only the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem have legitimate spiritual authority over Christian religious, pastoral and communal life in the Holy Land. It expresses deep concern over the fact that Christian Zionist figures have been welcomed at official levels, both locally and internationally, despite promoting theologically and politically dangerous views.

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Such endorsement, the Church leaders warn, emboldens interference in the pastoral governance of historic churches and disregards centuries of rooted ecclesial presence.

Christian Zionism is a political theology, primarily associated with US evangelical movements, which links the return of Jews to the land of historic Palestine with biblical prophecy and endorses unwavering political support for the state of Israel.

Palestinian theologians and church leaders have long denounced it as a form of theological colonialism that distorts Christianity, marginalises Palestinian Christians, and underwrites Israeli settler expansionism.

In their statement, the Jerusalem church leaders affirm their unity and spiritual mandate over the sacred Christian sites in the land “where our Lord lived, taught, suffered and rose from the dead.” Quoting the Apostle Paul, they reaffirm that “we, though many, are one body in Christ,” and stress that any claim to authority outside this communion of churches undermines the faith and burdens the local Christian mission.

The leaders concluded with a pastoral invocation: “May the Lord, who is the Shepherd and Guardian of souls, grant wisdom for the protection of His people and the safeguarding of His witness in this sacred land.”

This is the latest in a series of warnings from Christian leaders in Jerusalem who have raised the alarm over the increasing instrumentalization of Christianity by external actors seeking to advance political agendas that ignore the lived reality of Palestinian Christians under Israeli occupation.