NEWS STORY: Israeli law would restrict Christian missionaries

c. 1997 Religion News Service JERUSALEM _ A legislative attempt to severely regulate missionary activity in Israel has evangelical Christian groups on both sides of the Atlantic working hard to block the bill, which they say could severely impact their ability to function in the Jewish state. As currently written, the bill would prohibit”the possession, […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ A legislative attempt to severely regulate missionary activity in Israel has evangelical Christian groups on both sides of the Atlantic working hard to block the bill, which they say could severely impact their ability to function in the Jewish state.

As currently written, the bill would prohibit”the possession, printing, copying, distribution, sharing of and importation of advertisements to induce religious conversions.” Not surprisingly, the proposed law has alarmed evangelical Christians involved in proselytizing in Israel. In the United States, evangelical leaders have urged Christians to express opposition to the bill in letters and calls to Israeli and American officials, including President Clinton.


However, some evangelicals who do not engage in efforts to convert Israeli Jews also are worried. They view the proposed legislation as a threat to freedom of religion and fear it could cripple the operation of Christian churches and organizations.”Simply possessing a New Testament for personal use at home could be a violation of this law,”said Clarence Wagner Jr., Jerusalem director of Bridges for Peace, a non-missionary, evangelical group based in Tulsa, Okla.”Israel, as a democratic state, has no place for such a law,”added Wagner, whose organization works to build support for Israel and strengthen Christian-Jewish ties.”If such a law were discussed in the United States, (American) Jewish organizations (who generally oppose government efforts to regulate or promote religion) would be jumping out of their skins”in opposition.

The proposed bill has received initial approval in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, and has been referred to the Knesset Law Committee for further action. The committee is unlikely to consider the legislation before mid-May.

The bill is intended to amend Israel’s current anti-missionary statute, which provides a fine and jail sentence to anyone offering, or accepting, any material incentive for conversion to another religion.

Observers consider it unlikely the proposed bill will survive in its present form. Even one of its sponsors, Knesset member Nissim Zwilli, secretary-general of Israel’s opposition Labor Party, said the current language is subject to change.

He also said the bill’s intent is not to curtail an individual’s right to possess or disseminate religious literature. Likewise, it is not intended to affect the activities of Israel’s traditional Christian denominations, such as the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, which have large followings within the Israeli Arab community.

Rather, said Zwilli, the bill is aimed at limiting”organized”activities engaged in by foreign evangelical groups intent upon converting Jews to Christianity.

A number of factors are responsible for the bill’s surfacing at this time.

One immediate impetus was a recent campaign, orchestrated from the United States by evangelist Morris Cerullo, in which unsolicited copies of a Hebrew-language missionary pamphlet Jewish leaders are also concerned the large-scale Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia in recent years has brought to Israel many Jews who are particularly vulnerable to Christian evangelization. Many of these immigrants already have non-Jewish family members, have previously been proselytized or have little knowledge of traditional Judaism. Much Israeli hostility to proselytizing arises from the perceived targeting of such individuals by Christian missionaries. An official in Israel’s Foreign Ministry, who did not want to be identified, said missionary groups sometimes persist in proselytizing”even in contravention of people’s requests to be left alone.” The election victory won last year by Israel’s political right is another factor. The victory, which put Benjamin Netanyahu into the prime minister’s office, strengthened the hand of Israel’s religious political parties who are an integral part of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition. Other than Zwilli, all of the new bill’s sponsors are from Orthodox parties. But it is the long and difficult history of Jewish-Christian relations itself that defines the larger context of the dispute over missionary activities. For many Jews, the long record of Christian persecutions and forced conversions of Jews gives missionary activity the quality of an ongoing religious war. Having the war brought home to them in Israel is, to many, especially galling. Even evangelical leader Chuck Kopp, a Southern Baptist pastor who leads Jerusalem’s Narkiss Street International Congregation, acknowledged being”bothered”by the”foreign invasion”of missionary material sent by Cerullo. But Kopp also emphasized his commitment to preach Christianity to non-Christians in Israel, just as he would anywhere in the world. Notwithstanding last year’s Southern Baptist Convention decision to put new emphasis on proselytizing Jews, Kopp said Southern Baptists”don’t target Jews”over other groups. He also vehemently repudiated any use of”coercive or unethical means”to interest others in Christianity.”We’re for the free dissemination of thoughts and ideas,”Kopp said, accusing the Jewish religious establishment of trying to”keep everything under their strict control.” Such formulations, however, may ignore the depth of Jewish sensitivities on this issue. Orthodox Rabbi David Rosen, director of interfaith relations for the Anti-Defamation League’s Israel office and generally moderate on interreligious activities, said he was”not opposed”to further restrictions on disseminating missionizing materials. Urging Christians to take into account the”wounds of Jewish history that have not been allowed to heal,”Rosen said that proselytizing produces a hostile”backlash”from Jews that harms the ability of evangelical groups to establish themselves in Israel. Despite all the furor, no evidence exists of large-scale missionary success in Israel. Zwilli claimed that 24,000 Israeli Jews have converted to Christianity in the last 20 years, citing the Israeli anti-missionary organization Yad l’Achim as his source. But a spokesman for Yad l’Achim said he had no statistics on conversions. MJP END MARGOLIS


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