Evangelical leader accepts Jews as Jews

In this week's (May 5-11) Manhattan Jewish Sentinel, David Horovitz interviews John Hagee, an evangelical Christian minister who has started a pro-Israel grassroots lobbying organization, "Christians United for Israel":

http://www.cufi.org/

The article is a reprint of an interview that appeared in the Jerusalem Post this past March:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395642585&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

In the article, Pastor Hagee renounces "replacement theology", saying, "Replacement theology falsely teaches that the Church has replaced Israel." He states that anyone who holds to that position is not welcome in his organization, and will not target Jews for conversion. He also says that his support for Israel is unconditional, even when the government of Israel takes positions he opposes. (One could even argue that this support is therefore stronger than that of some Religious Zionists.)

This is a refreshing change from the position of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has plans to convert millions of Jews and thus destroy the Jewish people. While Jews should indeed stay out of intra-Christian theological disputes, it is refreshing to see an evangelical Protestant who accepts us the way we are and is willing to give us support in this important area with no evidence of strings. Would that there would be another Reinhold Niebuhr who did the same in liberal Protestant Churches over a half-century ago!