Why Ted Cruz Is Wrong About Christian Zionism

Texas Senator Ted Cruz recently shared an article on social media that many Catholics saw as a direct attack on their faith.

That might be because it was a direct attack on their faith. Treating refutations of sola scriptura as hostility toward Israel, as the article does, is certifiably insane.

I heard rumblings of the situation until this morning, when I watched my mate Joe Heschmeyer’s assessment of it. So, if you’re out of the loop like I was, here’s a quick summary of what happened.

Cruz posted a link to an (almost certainly) AI-generated essay by the online personality “Insurrection Barbie,” calling it “the best, most comprehensive explanation of what we’re fighting.”

The piece itself is … something. It claims that a kind of “Catholic cabal” made up of integralists, obscure intellectuals, and figures like Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes are working to displace evangelical Protestant influence in conservative politics. It describes these Catholics in inflammatory language — “political parasites in the technical sense” — and frames their theology as not just wrong, but dangerous.

According to the article, this cabal has spent years working to shift the ideological center of the GOP toward Catholic integralism, portrayed as anti-Protestant and anti-Israel, hostile to Jews and evangelicals alike.

More specifically, the article treats Catholic rejection of Christian Zionism as evidence of this supposed hostility. It assumes Catholics who deny that the modern State of Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy are not simply offering a theological opinion, but stating a political position that places Catholics at odds with Israel itself and, by extension, with the moral commitments of the American Right.

In other words, a disagreement about how to interpret Scripture begins to look, in the author’s telling, like a kind of disloyalty.

Given how misunderstood the topic of Christian Zionism apparently is, I thought I’d lay out the Catholic position as straightforwardly as possible. Namely, with a mini-catechism — y’welcome.

What is Zionism?

People mean different things by the term. Some mean simple political support for the State of Israel, as one might support any ally. Others mean support for a Jewish nation-state, without any claim about biblical prophecy or divine promises. Even Theodor Herzl, the father of political Zionism, proposed other possible locations for such a state. The term itself, then, does not necessarily carry any theological meaning.

What is Christian Zionism?

It is the ideological belief that the modern State of Israel fulfills biblical prophecy concerning the restoration of the Jewish people and that the promises made to Abraham, especially that of land, await a future political realization.

Why is the ideology of Christian Zionism incompatible with Catholic teaching?

Because the Church teaches that the promises made to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1725) have already been fulfilled in Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven, not in any modern political state. How are the promises to Abraham and Israel understood in the Church?

They have been fulfilled and transformed in Christ, who established the new covenant open to all nations (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Luke 22:20).

Who now constitutes the people of God?

Those united to Christ through Baptism, as St. Paul teaches (Galatians 3:7-9; 27-28; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 12:13). The Gentiles are grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17), making the people of God no longer defined by ethnicity or territory.

What is the proper understanding of the promise of land?

It points beyond itself to the Kingdom of God and the New Jerusalem (Hebrews 11:10; Revelation 21:1-2). As Benedict XVI writes, it ultimately “refers to the future world and relativizes the different affiliations to particular countries” (Communio: International Catholic Review 45 (2018), p. 177).

Why does the Church reject a theological reading of a modern state?

Because, as Pope Benedict XVI explains, a state understood as the fulfillment of God’s promises is “unthinkable within history according to Christian faith” (Communio 45 (2018), p. 178).

How does the Church view the modern State of Israel?

As a legitimate political entity, but not as the fulfillment of Scripture. The Jewish people, like every people, have a natural right to their own land.

Why must this distinction be maintained?

To avoid confusing the order of grace with the order of politics.

What does the Church affirm about Israel’s election?

That it endures, as “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).

How is this election fulfilled?

In Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection bring Israel’s original vocation to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood, and a light to the nations to its ultimate fulfillment.

Can I be against Christian Zionism without being anti-Semitic?

Yes! Catholic teaching distinguishes political criticism of Zionism or Israeli policies from anti-Semitism, which is always condemned as a sin. As “Nostra aetate,” one of the key documents of the Second Vatican Council, reads:

“The Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.”

This distinction also means that legitimate criticism of governments must not be confused with hatred of a people. As Archbishop Alexander Sample notes, “All Christians must reject unjust discrimination on the basis of religion or ethnicity. But that principle must not be misused to silence legitimate criticism of governments.”

What, then, is the Church’s final judgment on Christian Zionism?

It is an ideology that misplaces the fulfillment of God’s promises by assigning to a political state what belongs to Jesus Christ and the Church that he established.

Now, can someone please send this to Senator Cruz?