Christian Zionism Takes Root in Latin America

IN LATE MARCH, when Far Right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro returned from self-imposed exile, supporters greeted him with chants of “God, family, and liberty,” harkening back to the motto of the dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Overwhelming political support from evangelical Christians — similar to that received by Donald Trump — had swept Bolsonaro into office in 2018. Both men repaid this support by moving their respective embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, actions that were long sought by conservative Christians in the West, signaling a rejection of Palestinian aspirations for independence.

Brazil is only one of the countries in Latin America where right-wing evangelical Christians have become a political force. Today, evangelicals constitute about 27 percent of Brazil’s population, compared to about 25 percent in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center. As the number of Latin American evangelicals has soared in recent years, Christian Zionism has also risen as a political and cultural force in the region.

Christian Zionists believe that support for the modern secular state of Israel is a scriptural obligation with theological ramifications for the “end times.” Too often Christian Zionists defend Israel while perpetuating Christian supremacy and antisemitism; they remain ignorant of the persecution of Jews throughout history. Adopting uncritical, religiously motivated support for the secular state of Israel, Christian Zionists provide cover for Israel’s internationally recognized human rights abuses against Palestinians. The embrace of Christian Zionism threatens to be as damaging to marginalized communities in Latin America as it has been to Palestinians.

In November 2022, religious, community, and academic leaders met in Santiago, Chile, to examine the impact religious, political, and economic fundamentalisms are having in Latin America and Palestine. The event was organized by Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, the Evangelical Theological Community of Chile, the Alliance of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of Latin America, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, and other denominational bodies. The 65 participants focused on the role Christian Zionism plays in maintaining current systems of political, economic, and social exclusion of marginalized people. While most participants were Christian, several Jewish and Muslim leaders were critical to the conversation.

“Christian Zionism is older than Zionism itself,” historian Yakov M. Rabkin told the gathering. Rabkin, author of A Threat From Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism, argues that political Zionism’s historical and theological roots are in Protestant Christianity more than Judaism.

Because Christian Zionism comes in various shades (evangelicals think about it differently than do mainline Protestants and Catholics), Lutheran pastor Mitri Raheb, founder of Dar al-Kalima University, suggested that “we need a different definition of Christian Zionism, one that equates Christian Zionism with the [political] lobbies that are the driving force behind it.” Sociologist Maria das Dores Campos Machado named factors that have contributed to the rise of political power by Christian Zionists in Brazil, including “the increase in evangelical missions, the diffusion of Dispensationalism, and the growth of evangelical representation in the political sphere.”

Allan Boesak, a South African pastor and anti-apartheid activist, framed Israel’s military occupation of Palestine in terms of South Africa’s former system of apartheid. When people from South Africa visit Palestine, “they come away shocked at the depth of apartheid in Palestine,” Boesak said. “Apartheid exists in many places around the world in various forms, where the poor are always the victims of economic exclusion,” Boesak added.

Delia Leal Mollinedo, a prominent Baptist pastor and human rights defender in Guatemala, spoke passionately about “the oppression of women from religious fundamentalism, like Christian Zionism.” On a recent trip to Palestine, women pleaded with Leal to host more discussions between Latin American and Palestinian women “because women especially need to be together.”

Álvaro Ramis, a theologian at the University Academy of Christian Humanism in Chile, argued that Christian Zionism as a political force is “an anti-democratic and colonialist system that denies human rights.” Ramos raised concerns that, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ushered in the most right-wing government in the country’s history, policies tested against Palestinians will be “just a preview of what will happen” in Latin America.

All followers of Jesus are called to act like Christ in breaking the chains of injustice. All people have a right to live in security and freedom — free from all forms of terrorism. Christian Zionism increasingly has nothing to do with Christianity or with security for Israelis; instead, it provides religious justification for authoritarian policies. It is imperative that North American Christians confront Christian Zionism as the distorted theology and dangerous political belief that it is.