mOf all the recent news, one story that has piqued my interest is that of Carrie Prejean Boller. Who’s that you ask? She’s a member(well, depending on a future outcome) of President Trumps Religious Liberty Commission who was “fired” from the commission by chairman and Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick for, well, supposed antisemitic statements. What was it Ms. Boller said that prompted this disagreeable charge? She simply questioned whether or not anti-Zionism is antisemitism. She said that as a Catholic, her faith did not require her to support Zionism. Not being Catholic, I have no idea what the Catholic church says about Zionism and frankly, I don’t care. I don’t want to turn this into an argument for or against Zionism, but instead, what constitutes religious freedom. One would think, however, that a commission on “religious liberty” would be agreeable to questions concerning anything that has to do with any religion. I guess not.

One topic that is clearly out of bounds is the idea of a Jewish State. Since 1948, the State of Israel has existed in the modern world and is home to the majority of people of the Jewish faith. There are approximately sixteen million people that identify as Jews and almost half of them live in Israel. The United States has the next largest number with countries in Europe and around the world making up the remainder two to three million. Here’s a map:

It appears that the question of Zionism is a delicate matter to discuss, even in a county that was founded on religious liberty on a commission specifically set up to explore the same. The same question could be asked of Catholics as well since the Catholic State, also known as The Vatican, was established in 1929 as is trated as a soverign state. The Vatican issues it;s own passports and has it’s own currency (based on the Euro) and no one seems to question the ned for a Catholic state. If someone doesn’t believe the the sanctity of a Catholic state, doesm that make tht person anti-Catholic? Maybe, but I’ve never heard anyone referred to as being anti-Catholic for opposing the Catholic state.

So why does being anti-Zionist make a person antisemitic.It seems to be taken for granted that being against a Jewish state makes a person anti-Jewish? Were Jews in hiding before the formation of Israel? Of course not. It’s also known that throughout history, especially since the Christian era, Jews have been persecuted. In the New Testament they are blamed for the crucifixion (Acts 2:22-24) even though it was the Romans that actually crucified Jesus (Yes, we’ve been taught to not blame the Jews even though Peter was explicit in those verses) Of course the horror of the Second World War when at least six million Jews were murdered. I use “at least” because no one knows for sure the actual number, but historians agree that six million is close. So we, the guilty west who’ve spent centuries persecuting these people decide to give them a land of their own. In their historic land in the middle east. Of course, that just angered the people that were already there, Arabs, and began the over 70 year conflict in that small area between Jews and Muslims. The United States was first to recognize Israel and to this date supports this state both financially and militarily. So, it might not be a great idea to question Zionism to the faces of Zionists.

Some of the commentary I’ve heard on this is that Christians, by default, should support the State of Israel since Judaism and Christianity are inexorably linked, even though Judaism is far older and Jews never recognized Christians in that way, until recently.Maybe.

But does not recognizing the right of a certain group of people to have their own country make someone anti-whoever-those-people-are? In this case, yes, I guess even though I wonder if suddenly the world decided that the Vatican, unlike Israel, a strictly religious state, were to be unrecognized, would those people be called anti-Catholic? I would say probably even though there are millions more that adhere to Roman Catholicism than Judaism. Would someone be kicked off a commission on religious liberty for being against the Catholic state? Is the Catholic church anti-Zionist ? Of course, Prejean turned the meeting more political when she said, “Christians have been manipulated into believing that God blesses bombing, starvation, and mass killing”.

Although I think Ms. Boller has every right to discuss any aspect of antisemitism she desires, this may have been the straw for everyone else in the meeting. This was probably not the right place to bring current politics into the arena.