Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews:
In recent years, "mainline" Protestant denominations have become vocal critics of Israel. They take every opportunity to condemn the Jewish state while ignoring the threat posed to Israel — and free societies everywhere — by Islamist terrorism and the culture of death that produces suicide bombers. This year, the United Church of Christ (UCC) is preparing to jump on the anti-Israel bandwagon. This 1.4-million member group will be considering three resolutions at its denominational meeting in early July — two recommending divestment from Israel and another condemning the security fence that has saved so many Israeli lives.Last year, the Presbyterian Church (USA) approved similar measures, putting a huge strain on Jewish-Christian relations. Meanwhile, evangelicals continue to rebuild the bridges that mainliners tear down by expressing their solidarity with Israel and the Jewish community through financial support, prayer and advocacy.
One of my reasons for joining American Baptists is their independence from any man's creed. Though worship and study is conducted through responsible and guided interpretation, it is to come from the Bible. The American Baptist Churches of the United States of America leans significantly to the left on matters of market and foreign affairs but their policy statements and resolutions are little more than chatter at the coffee table, congregational churches by no means bound to national declarations.
This sort of news — Christians abandoning Israel for the sunken ganglands where Arabs, not Jews, see that Arabs suffer — fortifies two of my beliefs: that I am a Christian first and denominationalist second; and that evangelicals are this country's most faithful bedrock.