The Spirit of Amalek
In 2016, I traveled with a group of leaders, clergy, and lay members from the Black Pentecostal Church of God in Christ (COGIC) denomination for what was described as a “mission” to the State of Israel. One of the unifying motivations for the trip among its Black Pentecostal participants — including first-time and return visitors — was the religious significance of traveling to and experiencing “the Holy Land” or “the land of the Bible.” This religious significance informed much of the trip’s itinerary, with significant time spent touring traditional Christian pilgrimage sites like, the Mount of Beatitudes, the Sea of Galilee, and the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. For various stakeholders contributing to the “mission” of the trip, sites like these afforded opportunities to extend the group’s religious enthusiasm into concern for the land, not only in terms of its historical significance as “the land of the Bible” but also its contemporary significance as a Jewish state and God’s “chosen land” for a “chosen people.” This was an effort to politicize (even weaponize) religion (specifically African American Christianity) with significant theological, political, and ethical implications.
On the first day of the trip, we met one of the stakeholders who would significantly advance in these efforts to deploy religion in the service of Christian Zionist advocacy — Reuben (a pseudonym), one of the Jewish Israeli partners and coordinators for the trip. A charismatic and charming man in his mid to late 60s, Reuben opened his first meeting with participants with a pledge that the trip would both shed light on the political situation in Israel and that participants would come away with a deeper understanding of the scriptures. “We’re in the most important piece of real estate in the world,” he said, with some ambiguity about whether he was referring to the land’s historical or contemporary significance—or maybe both.
The following day, Ruben shared more about himself and how he had come to particularly focus on partnerships to bring African American Christians to Israel. He said that people who visit Israel with him “go back messengers of goodwill.” “Just go back and tell them what you saw… Tell the truth. Tell the story.” As the trip unfolded, it became clear that it was significantly structured around telling a specific story that drew on African American Christians into a religious-political narrative that participants were being asked to retell when they returned home. Ruben further promised an impactful session later in the trip when he would teach about the Middle East and Bible prophecy. “I would like to teach you the Middle East,” he said, “and how we can fight the Spirit of Amalek.” References to Amalek continued throughout the trip, as various stakeholders used religion variously to create and bolster overlapping religious and political reasons for why the Black clergy and lay leaders on the trip should stand in solidarity with the State of Israel.
Context, Significance, and Argument
Drawing on participant observation and interviews on two Christian Zionist tours of the State of Israel for African American church leaders, this paper provides a critical analysis of the ways that stakeholders in these tours — including Jewish and Christian trip organizers, coordinators, participating clergy and denominational leaders, lay participants, and tour guides — invoke and deploy religion in the service of Christian Zionist political solidarity building. This analysis of the ways that religion is deployed on African American Christian Zionist tours of Israel further explores the theological, political, and ethical stakes of position-taking on the issue of Israel and Palestine within American Black churches since October 7, 2023.
In the past year and a half, visions of Black religious politics in United States have existed in a wider political climate where Black clergy have variously organized around calls for an immediate ceasefire and release of hostages (King 2024), and have drawn attention to the role of American military support for the State of Israel, calling for an end to U.S. support for Israel’s war of “mass genocide” (Burch and King 2024). Other Black clergy have organized African American Christians in political solidarity with the State of Israel since October 7, 2023 (Plummer 2023; Stevens 2023). Far from operating in isolated social spaces, both African American Christian leaders who criticize the State of Israel and those who stand with it unwaveringly do so within the religious/political social space of “the Black Church.” Within this space they offer competing claims about how African American Christians should respond to the issue of Palestine and Israel as a group with an ostensible shared history, identity, and culture.
This also opens further implications for how we should understand Black religious politics; the social significance of Black churches in the United States more broadly; and the ways race, religion, and politics converge in transnational solidarity building. In taking up these questions, I suggest that African American Christian engagement with Palestine and Israel is an instructive case for understanding the overlapping role of race and of religion in the global context of the issue of Israel and Palestine. This involves competing claims about the meaning and global significance of race and about the character and purpose of the Black Church. I argue that attention to African American Christian engagement with Israel and Palestine reveals competing priorities about appropriate Black church identities, each of which is sustained by particular narratives and memories, and each of which leads to the development of particular transnational solidarities.
References
Burch, Audra D. S., and Maya King. 2024. “Prominent Black Church Leaders Call for End of U.S. Aid to Israel.” The New York Times, February 17.
King, Maya. 2024. “Black Pastors Pressure Biden to Call for a Cease-Fire in Gaza.” The New York Times, January 28.
Plummer, Glenn. 2023. “COGIC Bishop to CBN News: After Centuries of Enemies, There’s Only 1 Reason Israel Is Still Here.” CBN. Retrieved February 6, 2024 (https://www2.cbn.com/news/us/cogic-bishop-cbn-news-after-centuries-enem…).
Stevens, Michael A. 2023. “The Appalling Silence of the Black Church During Israel’s Time of War.” Charisma News. Retrieved February 26, 2024 (https://www.charismanews.com/culture/93597-the-appalling-silence-of-the…).
In response to the seminar’s call on the theme of “Remember Amalek,” this paper offers a critical analysis of the ways that religion is used on African American Christian Zionist tours of the State of Israel towards the goal of bringing African American Christians and Black churches into the religious/political project of Christian Zionism. It draws on participant observation and interview data from two trips to Israel and Palestine with groups of Black clergy and lay leaders to show how a range of stakeholders invoke, deploy, and weaponize religion in the service of Christian Zionism. These stakeholders include Jewish and Christians trip coordinators, clergy, denominational leaders, tour guides, and others. More broadly, the paper considers the implications how race and religion overlap for African American Christians who get involved in Israel and Palestine and how the stakes of position-taking on that issue have changed since October 7, 2023.