Zionism & Christian Zionism

Political Zionism was founded by Theodor Herzl — a secular, non-practicing Jewish journalist who had no interest in biblical prophecy. His motivation was entirely political: European antisemitism was intensifying, and he believed Jewish people needed a nation-state of their own for safety and survival. His 1896 book Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) laid out the vision. God was not in it.

Herzl actually considered multiple locations for this state — including Uganda and Argentina. It was not about a divine return to a promised land. It was about political survival in a hostile Europe. The biblical framing came later, added by others to make the project more palatable — especially to Christian audiences whose support was needed.

The Balfour Declaration was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community — promising British support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Britain controlled Palestine at the time and made this promise without consulting the Arab population already living there.

This was geopolitics. Britain needed Jewish support during World War I and wanted influence in the Middle East after the war. The declaration was a diplomatic instrument — not a fulfillment of scripture. The land was not Britain's to give. The people already living there were not consulted. The consequences of that 1917 letter are still being lived out today.

Christian Zionism as most American evangelicals know it did not come from scripture — it came from John Nelson Darby, a 19th century Anglo-Irish preacher who developed a theological system called dispensationalism. Darby taught that history was divided into distinct ages, that the church and Israel were two separate peoples with two separate destinies, and that a future earthly reign centered on national Israel was essential to God's plan.

This theology was then embedded into American evangelical culture through the Scofield Reference Bible, published in 1909. Cyrus Scofield's study notes — printed directly alongside scripture — interpreted the Bible through a dispensationalist lens and treated those interpretations as obvious fact. Millions of Americans read Scofield's notes as if they were scripture itself. The notes are not scripture. They are one man's theological system, invented less than 200 years ago, that did not exist in the early church.

Over the 20th century Christian Zionism became deeply embedded in American evangelical culture and politics. Supporting Israel became a litmus test of faithfulness. Billions of dollars in Christian donations have flowed to Israel. Politicians have used evangelical Zionist theology to justify foreign policy positions. Pastors have told their congregations that questioning Israeli military actions is equivalent to cursing Abraham.

This merger of theology and geopolitics has made it nearly impossible for many Christians to look at what is actually happening on the ground and apply the same moral framework they would anywhere else. Palestinian Christians — believers, followers of Jesus — have been made invisible in this narrative. Their suffering does not register because the theological framework has already decided whose side God is on.