Should You Be a Christian Zionist?
Does the Bible Demand Unconditional Support for the Modern State of Israel?
Is Zionism a legitimate Christian belief?
When Carrie Prejean Boller, a Catholic commissioner on President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, declared, “I am a Catholic, and Catholics don’t embrace Zionism,” a routine hearing on antisemitism exploded.
She asked if opposing Zionism or criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza made her—or all Catholics—antisemitic.
But what exactly is Christian Zionism?
Christian Zionism is a belief that holds that the modern State of Israel inherits God’s promises to Abraham, fulfills the Old Testament prophecies, and demands unconditional support from Christians.
Is this a faithful biblical teaching—or a modern innovation?
Three questions will help you navigate this question:
Is the Church the “new Israel”?
Do Jews retain a divine claim to the land?
Do the Jewish people hold a unique role in salvation history today?
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What started the debate?
On February 9, 2026, at a hearing of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, held at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., Carrie Prejean Boller, a convert to Catholicism and member of the commission, engaged in heated exchanges with others present about the definition of antisemitism.
She questioned whether criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza (which she described as genocide) or opposing Zionism equated to antisemitism. Moreover, she asked if not supporting the political state of Israel—a foreign country—made her an antisemite. Carrie Boller disputed that criticism of Israel often masked hatred of Jews, invoked a Bible verse attributing Jesus’ death to Jews while questioning if social media should ban scriptural quotations, and emphasized Catholic teachings that no nation speaks for God, no ideology justifies killing innocents, and every human life—including Palestinian lives—bears God’s image. The commission chair, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, interrupted at points, asserting the discussion was not about defining religions or foreign conflicts.
Carrie Boller explicitly tied her stance to her Catholic faith, stating during the hearing, “I am a Catholic, and Catholics don’t embrace Zionism,” rhetorically asking, “So are all Catholics antisemites?” and elaborating that “as a Catholic,” she does “not agree that the new, modern state of Israel has any biblical prophecy meaning at all.”
Following the hearing, Carrie Prejean Boller was removed from President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission by its chair, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who stated in an X post, “Carrie Prejean Boller has been removed from President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. No member of the Commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue.”
In response, Carrie posted on X, “I will never bend the knee to the state of Israel. Ever,” affirming her determination to speak out against Zionism. She reiterated Catholic teachings, quoting Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium: “The Church is the new People of God, the new Israel,” and rejected the idea that any modern nation-state fulfills biblical prophecy or justifies violence, declaring, “Christians have been manipulated into believing that God blesses bombing, starvation, and mass killing. That is the opposite of Christ, who came to stand with the suffering and confront power. I reject that lie completely.”
Carrie concluded by stating, “I would rather die than bend the knee to Israel,” ending with “Christ is King.”
While the political drama leaves room for many topics of debate, the primary spiritual question is this:
Should a Christian be a Zionist?
But first, what is Zionism?
What is Christian Zionism?
One major challenge to these debates is the grammar. How you define terms affects both how you logically work through an idea and how you speak about it. In a debate, someone might use the term “zionist” and the interlocutors have two different definitions—but debate like they are discussing the same thing. Aristotle called this an “equivocation,” and it ruins logical progress and any benefit to the conversation.
So, what is our working definition of Zionism and Christian Zionism?
The term Zionism refers to a nationalist movement that emerged in the late 19th century, primarily among secular Jews like Theodor Herzl, advocating for the establishment and support of a Jewish homeland—ultimately realized as the modern State of Israel in 1948—as a solution to antisemitism and for Jewish self-determination. Sometimes this Zionism is supported by theological argument from Judaism, but oftentimes it is held and advanced by secular Jews for political and other temporal reasons.
So, what is Christian Zionism?
The term Christian Zionism, in short, sees the modern state of Israel as the inheritor of God’s promises to Abraham and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. In other words, the modern state of Israel is not merely a legitimate nation but the creation of Divine Providence and a prerequisite for the biblical end times and the second coming of Jesus. As such, Christian Zionists tend to give Israel unconditional support and a certain immunity from otherwise legitimate criticisms (e.g., war crimes).
Are all Christian supporters of the modern nation state of Israel Christian Zionists?
No. One key distinction is that support for the modern state of Israel is not sufficient to be a Christian Zionist. A person may support the modern nation state for purely secular and temporal reasons, or, in other words, their support of Israel is akin to their support for Great Britain or France—a purely secular discernment based on geopolitical prudence.
In contrast, Christian Zionism is the support for the modern nation state of Israel for theological reasons—and these reasons tend to import a different moral standard for Israel and place upon Christians a biblical mandate to support the modern nation.
So, what Christian groups are Christian Zionists?
And why do Catholics, as Carrie Boller explained, reject Christian Zionism?
Protestant Support for Christian Zionism
Certain Christian groups, particularly modern evangelicals influenced by dispensationalism, strongly embrace Christian Zionism.
So, what is dispensationalism?
Dispensationalism, a 19th-century biblical interpretation popularized by figures like John Nelson Darby and later through the Scofield Reference Bible, divides biblical history into distinct “dispensations” or eras, maintaining a sharp distinction between Israel and the Church.
Dispensationalism teaches that God has two distinct covenants. First, there is the covenant with Christians through Jesus Christ, the New Covenant. Second, there remains a distinct covenant between God and the ethnic Jews—and this covenant includes the promises made to Abraham about the Promised Land and subsequent Old Testament prophecies. It rejects the idea that the Catholic Church (or any Christian group) is the fulfillment of Israel, a new Israel, and condemns these theologies as supersessionism or replacement theology. As an example, some Christians may hold that Jews need not convert to Christianity or accept Jesus Christ, because they have their own covenant with God.
Under this belief, the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the regathering of Jews to the land are seen as direct fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy, signaling the approach of end-times events like the rapture, the Tribulation, and Christ’s second coming. And this dispensational theology, whether known by name or not, has permeated deeply into modern, American evangelicalism.
As a result, many evangelicals view support for the modern state of Israel as a biblical imperative. In fact, many hold that by “blessing” Israel—often through unconditional support—God will bless them, which they draw from God’s promise to Abraham (Gen 12:3). American evangelicals will often preach that the modern state of Israel holds prophetic significance, making it deserving of special protection, different moral standards, and immunity from criticism.
So, are all Protestants Christian Zionists?
No, not at all. Many historic Protestant groups, particularly those in the Reformed tradition (such as the Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America, and denominations adhering to covenant theology like the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and various Reformed Baptists), reject Christian Zionism as a distortion of biblical teaching, viewing the Church as the fulfillment of Old Testament promises to Israel rather than assigning prophetic significance or unconditional support to the modern State of Israel.
These groups often criticize dispensationalism as a 19th-century innovation that separates Israel and the Church, with bodies like the Reformed Church in America explicitly calling Christian Zionism a “distortion of the biblical message” that impedes peace in the region.
And, as Carrie Boller stated, Catholicism rejects Christian Zionism—and this would include its theological substructure, like dispensationalism and other “dual covenant” theologies that teach that Jews do not need to accept Jesus Christ for salvation.
But is denouncing Christian Zionism that simple?
Let’s look at three important questions:
First, why do some Christians believe that the Church is the “new Israel”?
Second, do Jews today have any special or divine connection to the Promised Land?
Third, do the people of Israel have any special role in Divine Providence today?
The answers may surprise you.
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