Drinan Believes Christians Beginning to Understand Importance of Israel to Jews

The United Nations General Assembly resolution of 1975 condemning Zionism as racism was the act that “galvanized Christians to state that they have solidarity with Israel,” according to Father Robert E. Drinan, a Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts who believes that Christians have long misunderstood the relationship of the State of Israel to the Jewish people.

Drinan, a nationally prominent Jesuit scholar and theologian, addressed a meeting of the National Conference of Christians and Jews here which awarded him its National Media Brotherhood Award for his book, “Honor the Promise: America’s Commitment to Israel.”

In his remarks he traced the history of anti-Semitism in Christianity and the aversion, until fairly recently, of many Christians toward Zionism, including the traditional Catholic Church. “After the Holocaust, I thought Christians finally would sanction Zionism,” Drinan said. But between 1945-1948 Jews found no encouragement for Zionism from Christians. He recalled that as early as 1903, Pope Pius IX issued a declaration stating that the Catholic Church “cannot approve of the Zionist movement” because “The Jews have not recognized our Lord.” He said this attitude could be traced back to early Christianity which believed that the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem was due “to direct intervention of God to punish the Jews.” It was the early Christian fathers, he explained, who elaborated on the theme that Jews killed Jesus.

CONFIDENT U.S. COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL IS FIRM

At least today, Drinan said, “Christians are recognizing the validity, dynamic quality and permanence of the State of Israel. At least I know that anti-Semitism is a type of de-Christianization.” According to Drinan, what Christians have to understand is that “the country (Israel) is an essential part of the Jewish faith throughout the world.”

Referring to the Carter Administration’s policies toward Israel, Drinan said he hoped that Vice President Walter “Mondale is right” when he says the White House stands fast in its commitment to Israel. He noted that this year, Israel has received from the U.S. aid equivalent to $600 for every man, woman and child in that country. He said those figures lead him to believe that Congressional support for Israel “has not been eroded.” He called the American commitment to Israel from its inception “very, very unusual” observing that the financial aid it has received from the U.S. is unique in the history of American foreign assistance.

Drinan added, “We need to explore the moral commitment that this country has toward Israel and put it in religious terms. No one can be a good Christian until first he is a good Jew.”