Within the contemporary international relations literature, where secularization theses are being questioned, the determining influence of religion on political processes has once again become a rediscovered research agenda. The role of theological currents such as Evangelicalism, Dispensationalism and Christian Zionism in comprehending the Middle East policies of the United States necessitates a multilayered examination. This study adopts a theopolitical approach, asserting that the aforementioned religious movements cannot be treated merely as belief systems but rather present ideological frameworks that guide and legitimize geopolitical preferences. Throughout the study, the historical transformation of the Evangelical movement, the central position attributed to modern Israel by Dispensationalist eschatology and the effects of this theological foundation on the legislative and executive branches of the United States are analyzed. Furthermore, the theopolitical nature of the strategic alliance between pro Israel lobby activities and Evangelical politics is opened for discussion. Taking into account the risks of overstating the influence of religion on foreign policy, this assessment aims to provide an evidence based and multidimensional analysis.
In the era dominated by modernization theories, it was assumed that the weight of religion on the public sphere and international politics would gradually weaken. Yet the Iranian Islamic Revolution, the founding role played by the Catholic Church in the Solidarity movement in Poland and the rising debates on religious fundamentalism following the September 11 attacks have revealed how resilient and transformative a force religion remains in global politics. In the context of the United States, Evangelical Christianity, which shapes the policies of the White House and Congress, constitutes one of the most concrete and striking manifestations of the relationship between religion and politics. The nearly unconditional support directed toward Israel possesses such deep theological roots that it cannot be explained solely by strategic and economic calculations, and this phenomenon makes a theopolitical framework indispensable.
The intellectual and institutional roots of the Evangelical movement can be traced back to the Great Awakening waves of the 18th century. This Protestant tradition, centering on the absolute authority of the Holy Scripture, the individual conversion experience and missionary activities, acquired a distinct identity with the fundamentalist modernist split at the beginning of the 20th century. As comprehensively documented by George M. Marsden, fundamentalist Evangelicals positioned themselves as “guardians of the truth” against mainstream Protestantism and constructed a counter culture against intellectual modernity (Marsden 2006). Emerging back onto the mainstream political stage after the Second World War through charismatic leaders like Billy Graham, Evangelicals formed an organic alliance with the Republican Party from the 1970s onward on culture war issues such as abortion, homosexual rights and education. Formations like the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition turned into instruments of political pressure that mobilized the Evangelical voting bloc. Today, approximately one quarter of the American electorate identifies as Evangelical, and this demographic weight is particularly felt when it comes to Middle East policies.
Dispensationalism, one of the most influential theological variants of Evangelicalism, was systematized by John Nelson Darby in the 19th century and gained global prevalence through Cyrus I. Scofield’s reference Bible. As demonstrated in detail by Timothy P. Weber, the Dispensationalist schema divides human history into eras where God relates to humanity through different covenants and makes a sharp ontological distinction between Israel and the Church (Weber 2004). The most decisive consequence of this distinction is the belief that the promises of land, kingdom and national restoration given to Israel in the Old Testament cannot be spiritualized and taken over by the Church, but on the contrary, these promises literally belong to the Jewish people. This theological premise functions as a hinge that connects the eschatological timetable directly to modern Middle Eastern politics. In the Dispensationalist scenario, the return of the Jews to the Promised Land, the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948 and especially the capture of Jerusalem following the 1967 war are read as the literal fulfillment of prophecies. The impending Great Tribulation period, the Second Coming of Christ and the physical presence of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel prior to the battle of Megiddo are encoded as an indispensable prerequisite of the eschatological process.
The Left Behind novel series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins transported this complex theological scenario to the center of popular culture, creating a fatalistic sympathy toward Israel in the minds of tens of millions of Americans (LaHaye and Jenkins 1995). The sales figures and cultural penetration of the novels prove that Dispensationalist expectations are not confined to a narrow circle of theologians but shape the way broad masses interpret world politics. Stephen Spector has comprehensively analyzed how this cultural wave reinforced the emotional and psychological foundation of the special relationship between Evangelicals and Israel (Spector 2009).
It is precisely at this point that the concept of theopolitics comes into play. This approach, which expresses the capacity of religious beliefs to transcend being merely otherworldly doctrines of salvation and to transform into ideological apparatuses that determine the foreign policy preferences, national security definitions and geopolitical alliance maps of states, allows us to understand how Dispensationalist eschatology constructs a “sacred geography.” In this sacred geography, Israel is coded as the party that must be supported absolutely as God’s chosen instrument, while actors opposing it are coded as satanic forces. Consequently, a heavily value laden foreign policy motivation that transcends rational interest calculations is generated.
Christian Zionism is an ideological political stance that feeds on this Dispensationalist wing of the Evangelical movement, views the modern State of Israel as a theological necessity and envisages providing political, financial and diplomatic support for the return of Jews to Palestine. As meticulously set forth by Victoria Clark, for Christian Zionists Israel is not merely a strategic ally but an indispensable part of a cosmic narrative (Clark 2007). Nevertheless, Clark, Stephen Sizer and other critical researchers underline that this stance harbors a deep instrumentality toward the Jews. According to Evangelical eschatology, following the return of Christ, Jews will either convert en masse to Christianity or perish. Therefore, behind the enthusiastic support given to Israel lies both a theological affection and an instrumental view of the Jewish presence as a necessity for the realization of the end time scenario (Sizer 2004). This paradoxical unity constitutes one of the most controversial dimensions of Christian Zionism.
The influence of Evangelicals on American politics materializes most visibly in the domain of policy concerning Israel. The statement by fundamentalist leader Jerry Falwell during the Reagan era, implying that “whoever stands against Israel stands against God,” became the symbolic manifesto of the Evangelical Israel alliance and placed the Reagan administration’s steps deepening strategic cooperation with Israel on a theopolitical legitimacy ground. The strong support given by the Evangelical base to the invasion of Iraq during the George W. Bush era was partially read in connection with Baghdad’s location in the ancient lands of Babylon, which are associated with Armageddon, suggesting that the theopolitical imagination could have an indirect influence even on military intervention decisions. Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2017 and the official recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019 have been evaluated as direct outcomes of commitments made to the Evangelical voter base. Many observers emphasize that these radical decisions were more a product of Evangelical advisors and electoral dynamics than strategic military assessments. On the Congressional front, Evangelical Zionism adds a profound ideological dimension to the general bipartisan American support for Israel. Many members of the House of Representatives and the Senate sign bills and resolutions that meet the scripture based expectations of their constituents, and hawkish policies toward Iran as well as steps such as cutting aid to the Palestinian Authority are legitimized on this theopolitical ground.
The ideological convergence between the Evangelical movement and pro Israel lobby organizations gains decisive importance at this juncture. As discussed in detail in the widely resonating work of John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, pro Israel lobby organizations, primarily AIPAC, are among the most influential pressure groups shaping the Middle East policy of the United States (Mearsheimer and Walt 2007). Although Mearsheimer and Walt argue that this influence is largely strategic and ethnically based, the theological legitimacy that Evangelical Zionism provides to lobbying activities renders this alliance far more resilient. By disseminating the belief that the security of Israel is not merely a matter of national interest but a divine imperative determining the very flow of sacred history, Evangelical eschatology provides pro Israel policies with an unquestionable metaphysical framework. As pointed out by Clark, this intertwining can at times lead even within the Pentagon and State Department bureaucracy to rational calculation mechanisms being replaced by eschatological expectations (Clark 2007).
Despite all these debates, there is no consensus within the academic literature regarding the extent and limits of Evangelical influence. One group of researchers argues that U.S. foreign policy is determined primarily by geostrategic interests, the military industrial complex and bureaucratic structures, and that religion can only serve a symbolic legitimizing function. In contrast, experts such as Weber, Spector and Sizer emphasize that particularly in moments of crisis and during election periods, the Evangelical voting bloc exerts a distinct influence on decision makers and that the policy preferences regarding Israel carry a theological content that cannot be explained by ordinary strategic calculations. In this context, the theopolitical approach offers a complementary level of analysis by demonstrating how religious discourses transform into political action and through which metaphysical narratives the conflicts in the Middle East are made meaningful. Examining the relationships between religion, politics and geopolitics from a multidimensional and critical perspective is of decisive importance for understanding not only the U.S. Middle East policy but also the permeability between the sacred and the secular in contemporary international relations.
Bibliography
Clark, Victoria. Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
LaHaye, Tim, and Jerry B. Jenkins. Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1995.
Marsden, George M. Fundamentalism and American Culture. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Mearsheimer, John J., and Stephen M. Walt. The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.
Sizer, Stephen. Christian Zionism: Road map to Armageddon? Leicester: Inter Varsity Press, 2004.
Spector, Stephen. Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Weber, Timothy P. On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004.
Sefa Yürükel
Danish ethnographer and social anthropologist (MA)
Aarhus University, 1997
Independent Researcher
Fields of Research: International Politics, Public International Law, Geopolitics, Sociology, Psychology, Cultural Studies, Systems and Structures.
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