Dispensationalism

I've often wondered about the strong pro-Israel support by the Christian far-right and today I've read an interesting article on Salon about it. It talks about dispensationalism, the fundamentalists' belief that history is divided into periods described in the Bible (this is not to be confused with the Catholic dispensation, which is a sort of free-out-of-jail card).

The Dispensationalist fascination with Armageddon and the second coming is apparently quite prevalent. A lot of current fiction based on Revelations (be it the crappy Omega Code movies or the successful Left Behind book series) is quite popular and wide spread. Many people take all of the bible quite literally, even the funky parts like Revelations.

Some fundamentalist groups, such as Christian Friends of Israeli Communities are raising millions of dollars to support settler movements to help them to "[fulfill] prophecy". They believe that

• God promised to Abraham the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river (which includes the Gaza strip and the West Bank).
• Jews must return to Israel and reclaim the Temple mount in order for the Rapture to happen

I figure this is fine, everyone has a right to their belief, even if I might find it questionable. What is scary, though, is when the leaders of our country take this stuff as a guiding manual for their foreign policies. Dick Armey said that he is "not content to give up any part of Israel for that purpose of that Palestinian state" since he happens "to believe that the Palestinians should leave."

So how come the Christian Right, who is or has generally been perceived a anti Semitic is suddenly so concerned for the welfare of Israel? I don't think it's the love of Judaism that is driving it. It just that Jews have to return to "Judea and Samaria" as Tom Delay calls it, before the divine plot can continue. And, hey, someone's gotta provides those millions who get slaughtered at the battle of Armageddon, right?

While I'm not sure how the situation in the Middle East should be resolved, I do think that Israel needs to pull out of the occupied lands (which is what many in Israel agree with, though no one seems to know how or if this can be achieved) and that the international community should come down hard on the Palestinians if they continue their campaign of terror. But how is the US going to help getting this accomplished if significant portion of the Republican leadership (Armey, DeLay, Ashcroft and their ilk) think that that's against the Will of God?