July 2, 2021: Evangelicals and US Foreign Policy by Dikshita Venkatesh
Faith and religious beliefs have been extremely influential in guiding political decisions and foreign policy considerations. Since the late 1900s, US foreign policy in the Middle East has been deeply rooted in Evangelical ideals. To understand the extent of influence, it is important to delve into who evangelicals are and how they are different from mainline protestants.
The term evangelical takes its roots from the Greek word euangelion which refers to the ‘good news’ or ‘gospel’. This ‘good news’ or ‘gospel’ deals with the idea of Jesus Christ being the savior of humanity.[i] Thus, a person or an organization that believes and furthers this ‘gospel’ is an evangelical.
Further clarity on this community was provided by David Bebbington in 1989, through his Bebbington Quadrilateral[ii], which defined evangelicals based on their beliefs. According to the Quadrilateral, there are four beliefs that are central to evangelicalism:
- Biblicism: Obedience to the Bible and believing that it is inerrant in terms of how it portrays the nature of God and the world.
- Crucicentrism: The belief that following Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation of humanity.
- Conversionism: The belief that redemption can only occur by converting to Christianity or following Jesus Christ.
- Activism: The belief that one’s faith or the ‘gospel’ should reflect in one’s public life through social reform efforts.
This Quadrilateral has been useful in distinguishing evangelicals from mainline Protestants. Mainline Protestants have a more modern and adaptable faith.[iii] First, they don’t see the Bible as an inerrant word of God, rather as a document that contains various important truths which are subject to interpretation. Second, while they agree with the fact that Christ is the way to salvation, they are more tolerant to the idea that there may be other ways to redemption— based on one’s faith and religious practices. This belief further portrays that they do not consider conversion to Christianity to be very important. Lastly, they believe in furthering their faith, and not the ‘gospel’ per se.
Based on these beliefs, there are three areas of foreign policy that are of most importance to evangelicals— Israel, humanitarian assistance and religious freedom— out of which, Israel was identified as the most significant concerns for evangelicals.
This is because evangelicals consider Israel as a significant part of the Christian messianic tradition. That is, they consider the return of Jews to Palestine “as the first step in the advancement of the messianic timetable” or Christ’s second coming.[iv] Furthermore, they believe that the US has a “special role and mission in God’s plans for humanity: that of a modern Cyrus, to help restore Jews to Zion.”[v] Thus, a combination of both these beliefs forms the bedrock of evangelical support to Israel and contextualizes the long-standing relationship between the US and Israel. Over the course of this relationship, Israel has been the largest recipient of US foreign aid.[vi] It has received more funds than “Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan combined, more than the counter-insurgency efforts in Vietnam and more than all of Europe under the Marshall Plan.”[vii]
Furthermore, Israel has enjoyed sustained prioritization in American foreign policy, irrespective of the administration in power.[viii] For instance, during the 2012 Presidential Election Campaigns, Mitt Romney made it a point to visit Israel between his trips to the UK and Poland, instead of visiting rising powers like India and China. Subsequently, John Kerry—as the US Secretary of State—chose to focus on rekindling talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, when there were other pressing matters such civil war in Syria, the war in Afghanistan, the rise of China, to name a few.
Lastly, humanitarian assistance and efforts to initiate religious freedom form part of ‘activism’, discussed above. However, these activities are being used to further evangelical domestic goals such as abortion. For instance, the Global Gag Rule prevents foreign NGOs, receiving US aid, from discussing abortions with constituents.[ix]
Thus, the domestic and geopolitical aims of evangelicals has been impacting US foreign policy considerations in a very conspicuous manner.
[i] Green, John. “Evangelicals – Evangelicals V. Mainline Protestants | The Jesus Factor | FRONTLINE.” PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/evangelicals/evmain.html.
[ii] “What Is an Evangelical?” National Association of Evangelicals. Accessed July 30, 2021. https://www.nae.net/what-is-an-evangelical/.
[iii] Green, John. “Evangelicals – Evangelicals V. Mainline Protestants | The Jesus Factor | FRONTLINE.” PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/evangelicals/evmain.html.
[iv] Ariel, Yaakov. “Messianic Hopes and Middle East Politics: The Influence of Millennial Faith on American Middle East Policies.” VOL. IX – N°1 | 2011 Religion and Politics in the English-speaking World: Historical and Contemporary Links. https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/4165?lang=en.
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Hubbard, Kaia. “3 Charts That Illustrate Where U.S. Foreign Aid Goes.” U.S. News. March 24, 2021. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2021-05-24/afghanistan-israel-largest-recipients-of-us-foreign-aid.
[vii] Miller, Paul D. “Evangelicals, Israel and US Foreign Policy.” Survival 56, no. 1 (2014): 7-26. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00396338.2014.882149.
[viii] Ibid.
[ix] Redden, Molly. “‘Global Gag Rule’ Reinstated by Trump, Curbing NGO Abortion Services Abroad.” The Guardian. January 23, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/23/trump-abortion-gag-rule-international-ngo-funding.
