The Christian – Zionism penetrates the Churches of Canada

“Sixty-seven percent of all Canadians register
as Christians, while 24% state they have no religion. Islam is the third
largest religion with 3% of the whole population, while Judaism is in seventh
place at 1%. About 25% of Canadians say that they attend church regularly.
“Roman Catholics make up about 40% of Canadian Christians. All
Protestant denominations account for 35%, of which mainline churches represent 18%. The largest mainline
Protestant denomination is the United Church of Canada (UCC) with about 9%
of Canadian Christians, followed by Anglicans, Baptists and Lutherans.
"Membership in these mainline churches, all affiliated with the World
Council of Churches, has declined steadily in recent decades. Evangelical churches represent about 10% of Canadian
Christians."
"Christian Zionists believe that a faithful attitude toward the
Scriptures embodies credence in prophetic sections of the Hebrew Bible.
Mainline churches and more established Evangelical churches – such as
Methodists and Baptists – reject this notion.
“In recent years, the UCC adopted many resolutions concerning ‘occupied
Palestine’ and Israel. The principal issue at recent conventions has been
expanding the BDS campaign. There have also been workshops and a major prayer
service for the ‘defeat of the Israeli occupiers.’
“During summer 2013, the UCC held a national convention while the Anglican
Church and the Lutheran Church conducted a combined national convention. They
adopted resolutions against Israel similar to those which had failed to pass
earlier. Anglican/Lutheran resolutions called for ‘education in churches about
the impact of illegal settlements on the lives of Palestinians and
Israelis…about imported goods identified as produced in, or related to illegal
settlements, etc.’
"They also called on churches to explore and challenge theories and
beliefs which deny Israel’s right to exist. It seems to ignore that this denial
is the official position of all Palestinian political groups, including
Hamas and Fatah.
“These Anglican/Lutheran resolutions neglect the suffering of Israelis under
Palestinian rocket attacks, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) frequent
celebration of terrorist attacks, the dedication of Palestinian sports arenas
and other facilities to suicide bombers and incitement of school children to
become martyrs. The resolutions seem to accept the falsified narrative of ‘an
original Palestinian people.’
"They do not mention the PA’s denial of the Jewish people’s millennial
history in the land of Israel.
“The Canadian Council of Churches is the principal inter-church body. It
includes the World Council-affiliated churches as well as Roman Catholic and
Orthodox bodies. Since 1947, it has bombarded the government with advice on the
whole range of current policy matters, domestic and international. The rank and
file in churches have little awareness of the public positions taken by their
leaders.
“The Roman Catholic laity and most of the clergy – with the denomination’s
point of gravity being in the province of Quebec – are probably better disposed
toward Israel than both Vatican and Protestant mainstream leaders. Yet, Roman
Catholics are not moved like Christian Zionists by the notion of Israel
enjoying God’s particular favor.
The Bible does not hold a central place in their tradition, although there is
reason to believe that this is changing. They are also less interested in
current religious books and Christian television.
“For many years, Kairos was a very effective inter-denominational Canadian
Christian organization promoting social and political issues. Its positions
were on the left-internationalist side. Its leaders often came from historical
peace churches such as Mennonites and Quakers. Kairos supported Israel Apartheid
Week and described Zionism as ‘an ideology of empire, colonialism and
militarism.’ It also adopted the Palestinian narrative about the Nakba
unconditionally.
"In 2009, the Canadian government announced the gradual withdrawal of
all Kairos’ public funding, which has since been completed.
“Church affairs draw little attention in Canada’s media. Exceptions are
stories about long-ago sexual abuse in schools and occasional current items
about misuse of parish funds by clergymen. Protestant denominations make major
efforts to draw attention to their convention resolutions. The BDS issue got
some headlines on inside pages of papers, but drew no editorials.
“When I searched the internet for references in print media to recent
anti-Israel declarations by the UCC, I only found one observation in a local
paper in April 2014. Barry Kay, a Political Science professor at Wilfrid
Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario made a passing remark: ‘Institutions
such as the United Church of Canada, which among all the abuses in the world
has targeted only Israel for boycott, and further declared that Palestinians
should not recognize the Jewish state, are themselves an obstacle to a
conduit for peace in the region. In their quest for sanctimony, they merely
served to perpetuate futility.’”