evangelical christians think that jews occupying israel is a prerequisite for the rapture, so they want to defend israel to ensure that happens. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism
Sure, there are a lot of evangelical Christians in America but they are not that stupid and naive?
Plus aligning the world's most powerful country's foreign policy with superstitions like the rapture is so ridiculous that it would not be plausible even as a plotline of a novel.
Are you european by any chance? US christians are much less secular than european christians. Also, opinion polling data (in the linked article) supports the claim.
1. Latent racism. Having minority groups set up a homeland and encouraging all of them to move there is a core tenant of some racist groups.
2. Natural support by US Jews, and the many many people who know them and believe having Israel be a country is good for the safety of the ethnic group.
3. Israel is a natural ally of the US, and cannot become a local leader no matter how much support is given to it. This makes for a fairly stable partnership. US gets to aid a power hostile to its enemies like Iran, etc. while making a pretense to neutrality since it’s not directly acting.
4. Progressive social groups like Israel. It’s the most westernized style nation in the Middle East, but it retains enough cultural heritage to be palatable to conservatives too.
5. The more mundane biblical stuff. Even lip service only Christians have heard of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, etc. being a part of Israel in historical times. Thus there is a tendency to support Israeli control of the area since from the US point of view, which never takes into account fine ethic differences, Jews are Jews thus even European Jews have a historic right to the land.
6. Supporting Israel, a country hated by the oil powers of the Middle East, makes US nationalists happy since it acts as proof that oil-powers do not hold America’s leash.
There isn’t really any one singular reason for support to Israel. It’s more of a perfect storm making it easy for activists of any stripe to thumbs up supporting Israel as a budget item. Remember support for Israel is a feel good measure. American lives aren’t at risk.
However, people would rather claim someone strongly supports Israel, even if he reasoning is irrational, than say many millions vaguely support Israel so long as it is limited to “safe” things like money, political speech and weapons sales.
Israel is a key ally in a very strategic location in the middle east and crucial to US foreign policy is the real answer.
Now that we have better relations with multiple middle eastern countries, what explains the special deference that the US gives to Israel? Why is Israel still our largest foreign aid recipient? Why do we still protect them at all costs, even while they perpetually antagonize their neighbors? The only other country that we regularly look the other way for is easy to explain: Saudi Arabia has the largest oil reserves in the world. What do we get from Israel that would explain our willingness to ignore the shit that Israel pulls?
The 1980's hot take that you lambast is still relevant. If it weren't for the support of Evangelicals that see it as some sort of prophecy, combined with a general hatred of everything muslim, the US would have no appetite for their shenanigans and would have dropped them like we dropped Syria and Turkey.
I can assure you the people receiving wealth and power to make the decisions that lead to this kind of policy, nor the people paying them care in the slightest about "the rapture" or what your imagined church going enemies in "bumfuck nowhere" care about.
>A 2017 LifeWay poll conducted in United States found that 80% of evangelical Christians believed that the creation of Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy that would bring about Christ's return and more than 50% of Evangelical Christians believed that they support Israel because it is important for fulfilling the prophecy.[100]
>According to the Pew Research survey in 2003, more than 60% of the Evangelical Christians and about 50% of Blacks agreed that the existence of Israel fulfilled biblical prophecy. About 55% of poll respondents said that the Bible was the biggest influence for supporting Israel which is 11 times the people who said church was the biggest influence.[100]
Those polls (we seem to be straying dangerously close to "the blacks and the jews" level of hateful conspiracy theory, by the way) are not evidence for the cause of the creation of this legislation, nor even attempt any semblance of cause and effect.
It might also help you get some perspective to keep in mind that those in actual positions of power (that's not Bob the unemployed coal miner from West Virginia who didn't finish highschool and goes to church once a week), spend considerable resources curating and influencing public opinion to their end. Consider, for example how many people were deluded into believing the baseless conspiracy theory that there existed ample evidence which proved Trump colluded with Putin to hack the election.
and a laughable response from you. I presented my evidence. You failed to do so and decide to fall back on "common sense and simple observation".
>Those polls (we seem to be straying dangerously close to "the blacks and the jews" level of hateful conspiracy theory, by the way) are not evidence for the cause of the creation of this legislation, nor even attempt any semblance of cause and effect.
Your best response to the survey data is dismiss it saying it's tantamount to racism?
>It might also help you get some perspective to keep in mind that those in actual positions of power (that's not Bob the unemployed coal miner from West Virginia who didn't finish highschool and goes to church once a week), spend considerable resources curating and influencing public opinion to their end.
We literally still have "in god we trust" on our bills, added back in the 50s, despite being a secular country. Several states pushed creationism to be taught in schools as an alternative to creationism. I think you're underestimating how much impact evangelicals have.
>Consider, for example how many people were deluded into believing the baseless conspiracy theory that there existed ample evidence which proved Trump colluded with Putin to hack the election.
"hacked"? maybe not. Interfered? definitely.
>The FBI's work was taken over in May 2017 by former FBI director Robert Mueller, who led a Special Counsel investigation until March 2019.[3] Mueller concluded that Russian interference was "sweeping and systematic" and "violated U.S. criminal law", and he indicted twenty-six Russian citizens and three Russian organizations. [...] The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee submitted the first in their five-volume 1,313-page report in July 2019 in which they concluded that the January 2017 intelligence community assessment alleging Russian interference was "coherent and well-constructed". The first volume also concluded that the assessment was "proper", learning from analysts that there was "no politically motivated pressure to reach specific conclusions".
> We literally still have "in god we trust" on our bills,
You seem hatefully fixated on things which really don't matter all that much.
Why do you have to construct these vast strange conspiracy theories about the religious beliefs of some segment of the population? So you can have an excuse to hate them?
Supporting Israel (note: that does not equate to the spontaneous creation of any laws) honestly doesn't seem like the world's biggest problem. America recently sponsored wars, genocides, toppling of governments in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan which seems a bit more problematic. Or do you blame the blacks and the Jews for those as well?
> "hacked"? maybe not. Interfered? definitely.
Wrong. There was no evidence ever produced indicating that Trump colluded with Putin to hack or interfere with the election, and the Mueller report quite explicitly stated that none was found. Another baseless conspiracy theory you have been deluded into believing.
1. We're discussing why a democratically elected government is behaving in a certain way. Citing polling data is a perfectly reasonable way to determine that, considering such governments are supposed to serve their voters' interests
2. You resorting to name caling (ie. "conspiracy", " deranged" is disrespectful and against site guidelines. If you can't refrain from that I'm going to have to disengage with you.
>You seem hatefully fixated on things which really don't matter all that much.
Banning high res satellite pictures matters even less
>Why do you have to construct these vast strange conspiracy theories about the religious beliefs of some segment of the population? So you can have an excuse to hate them?
>Supporting Israel (note: that does not equate to the spontaneous creation of any laws) honestly doesn't seem like the world's biggest problem. America recently sponsored wars, genocides, toppling of governments in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan which seems a bit more problematic. Or do you blame the blacks and the Jews for those as well?
Not really a conspiracy when they admit that to pollsters. Also I have not expressed any hate at evangelicals or jews. That seems to be something that you're dreaming up.
2. You are the one peddling hateful conspiracy theories. Fairly sure that goes against the site guidelines.
> Banning high res satellite pictures matters even less
Matters so little that it was the masterstroke of the evil black-Jewish-Christian cabal from your imagination? Hilarious.
> Not really a conspiracy when they admit that to pollsters.
Admit what?
> Also I have not expressed any hate at evangelicals or jews. That seems to be something that you're dreaming up.
Sure, of course you haven't. Dog whistles are great like that aren't they?
> evangelical christians think that jews occupying israel is a prerequisite for the rapture, so they want to defend israel to ensure that happens. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism
Such a categorical statement doesn't seem to pass the smell test, since a quick google found this survey which seems to show that a large fraction of American Evangelical leaders likely don't believe in the rapture at all (I say likely, because it doesn't give that number explicitly, but it seems safe to say it's more than a third).
https://www.pewforum.org/2011/06/22/global-survey-beliefs/:
> Among leaders from the Global South, 73% say they believe in the Rapture, compared with 44% of Global North leaders. But majorities of those surveyed from all regions except Europe believe in the rapture of the Church; evangelical leaders from sub-Saharan Africa are especially likely to believe in the Rapture (82%).
I think the real reason for Israel's special treatment is Cold War and post-Cold War politics. much of Israel's population had ties to Europe, many of its neighbors were Soviet allies, and similar Islamic militant groups have caused headaches to both countries.
Arabs were moved out from what is now (and much earlier) Israel. Jews were moved out from neighboring Arab countries.
Also, maybe even more importantly: Much of the world felt guilty after what happened to the Jews during the Nazi regime.