NEWS STORY: Christian agreement ends Israeli anti-missionary law threat

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ An unprecedented statement by Christian groups in Israel has virtually derailed proposed anti-missionary legislation that would have criminalized the possession of materials intended to induce religious conversion. The legislation _ aimed primarily at evangelical Protestant missionaries _ had caused consternation among Christians in Israel, some of whom argued […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ An unprecedented statement by Christian groups in Israel has virtually derailed proposed anti-missionary legislation that would have criminalized the possession of materials intended to induce religious conversion.

The legislation _ aimed primarily at evangelical Protestant missionaries _ had caused consternation among Christians in Israel, some of whom argued the bill was written so broadly it would have made it illegal in the Jewish state to possess a New Testament.


The statement pledges”respect”for the”identity and integrity”of the”Jewish people”and not to engage in activities”which have as their intention to alienate (Jews) from their tradition and community.” In return for the statement, liberal Israeli lawmaker Nissim Zvili of the Labor Party agreed to withdraw his support for the proposed legislation he co-sponsored with Moshe Gafni of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party.

The proposed legislation would outlaw the importation, reproduction or distribution of religious materials used in conversion efforts and carried a one-year prison term for violators.

Gafni was not a party to the agreement but without Zvili’s support the bill is given virtually no chance of passage. Further diminishing its chances is the opposition of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said last June he”strenuously”objected to the bill and would”act to ensure that it does not pass.” In Israel, Zvili was quoted as saying the Christian statement”is better than a law. This is a very big accomplishment.” Some 50 Christian groups _ both Protestant and Roman Catholic _ have endorsed the statement, hammered out in meetings over the past eight months and which will be formally unveiled Wednesday (April 1) in Jerusalem.

Messianic Jewish groups have also endorsed the statement, said Clarence Wagner Jr., Jerusalem director of Bridges for Peace, a Christian group seeking to better relations between Jews and Christians and build support for Israel.

Messianic Jews, who say belief in Jesus as the Messiah does not cut their ties with the larger Jewish community _ a position adamantly rejected by mainstream Jewish leaders _ are at the center of the controversy over Christian missionary efforts in Israel.

Israel’s Messianic Jews, who number an estimated 3,000 to 6,000, viewed the proposed legislation as an effort to undermine their future growth and were among the bill’s most ardent opponents.

The bill was introduced in the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) early last year following a mailing sent to hundreds of thousands of Jewish homes in Israel by San Diego-based evangelist Morris Cerullo.


The well-financed mailing urged accepting Jesus as the Messiah and enraged Israel’s Orthodox Jewish religious leaders, who are particularly sensitive to any Christian efforts to lure Jews away from Judaism.

Wagner said in an interview Tuesday (March 31) that the proposed bill would have curtailed religious freedom in Israel without preventing a repeat of the foreign mailing that prompted the writing of the legislation.”The kind of intrusive and disrespectful proselytizing work that the bill sought to end does not exist among Christian groups in Israel,”said Wagner.”This was a problem that came from the outside.” Current Israeli law allows missionaries to operate in Israel but makes it a crime for them to offer material inducement to potential converts or to try and convert minors. At the same time, Christian groups who do offer material assistance to Israeli Jews are prohibited from engaging in open evangelization.

The statement also pledges Christian groups not to”exploit, for the benefit of our denominational interests, such economic, social or psychological needs as may emerge.”

DEA END RNS

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