Bad Theology: Busted

This month we're diving into one of the most pervasive and dangerous distortions in American religious and political discourse: the problem of Zionism in US media and publishing. In conversations about Palestine and Israel, many people encounter not just facts on the ground, but carefully shaped narratives about identity, history, and morality. One term that comes up in this context is “hasbara,” Israel’s approach to public diplomacy—how the state explains and justifies its actions to the world. For everyday media consumers, these narratives don’t always arrive labeled or obvious. They’re woven into news coverage, social media, political rhetoric, and faith-based discussions, sometimes carrying theological undertones or moral framing that can be hard to parse in real time. The distorted theological language of Christian Zionism is one such manifestation of Israeli Hasbara. For decades, we've seen how the narrative around Palestine gets shaped by powerful interests, with religious language often weaponized to legitimize the illegal Israeli occupation, apartheid, and ongoing genocide.

Resources Mentioned
Times of Israel article on Gaza Encampment at Columbia
The Atlantic magazine article
How To Sell A Genocide, Adam Johnson
America’s Misadventures in the Middle East, Chas W. Freeman Jr.
History of Zionism from 1600-1918, Nahum Sokolow
Public Opinion, Walter Lippmann
“The Problem with Passover,” Harriet Malinowitz
“New public diplomacy”
The Network approach
The Nation
Mondoweiss
Middle East Monitor
The Electronic Intifada
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)
Fairness Doctrine in FCC
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming
Hasbara Handbook: Promoting Israel on Campus
The Global Language Dictionary
The Complicit Lens: The US Establishment Media’s Role in the Gaza Genocide
Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, Michael Pollan
Makdisi Street Podcast
Support the show
Credits:
Original music: Karl Saint Lucy & Danny Frye (feat. Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac) - “The Path Forward”
Produced, written, and performed by: Karl Saint Lucy (ASCAP) & Danny Frye (BMI)
Featuring sampled speech by: Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac
Drums, mixing, and mastering: Danny Frye
Keyboards and programming: Karl Saint Lucy
Logo design: Dee Roberts

This month we sat down with Rev. Gerlyn Henry, Dr. Christine Pae, and Jessica Sun to talk about the manifestations of Christian Zionism within Asian and Asian American communities. On the one hand, Christian Zionism in Asia is a growing movement that combines a dispensationalist end-times theology with strong support for Israel. On the other hand, many minority and tribal communities in Asia have found common cause with the Palestinian people, finding many parallels between the situation in Palestine and their own respective struggles.  During this episode we will dive deeper into a seemingly contradictory set of realities to gain a clearer understanding of what Christian Zionism looks like in Asian and Asian American communities.

Resources Mentioned
Contending Modernities — https://contendingmodernities.nd.edu/global-currents/reflections-gaza-global-south/
A Transpacific Imagination of Theology, Ethics, and Spiritual Activism: Doing Feminist Ethics Transnationally by Keun-joo Christine Pae via VitalSource 
Embodying Antiracist Christianity: Asian American Theological Resources for Just Racial Relations ed. Keun-joo Christine Pae, Boyung Lee via SpringerLink
Searching for the Future in the Past: Renewing Feminist Theological Voices ed. Keun-joo Christine Pae and Kathleen T. Talvacchia via Bloomsbury
Theology after Gaza: a global anthology ed. Mitri Raheb and Graham McGeoch via Wipf & Stock
Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment by Mazin B. Qumsiyeh via Pluto Press
An Asian American Theology of Liberation by Wong Tian An ebook available via Amazon
Black Theology and Black Power by James Cone via Orbis Books
Teología de la Liberación / A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation by Gustavo Gutiérrez via Orbis Books
Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation by Mary Daly via Beacon Press
The Contemporary Way of the Cross (Sabeel) via FOSNA bookstore
Orientalism by Edward Said via Penguin Random House
Support the show
Credits:
Original music: Karl Saint Lucy & Danny Frye (feat. Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac) - “The Path Forward”
Produced, written, and performed by: Karl Saint Lucy (ASCAP) & Danny Frye (BMI)
Featuring sampled speech by: Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac
Drums, mixing, and mastering: Danny Frye
Keyboards and programming: Karl Saint Lucy
Logo design: Dee Roberts

Today, on the 78th Nakba Day (May 15, 2026), we welcome Mark Charles, Shadia Qubti, and Rev. Dr. Robert O. Smith to the podcast, each representing different Indigenous perspectives on the problem of Christian Zionism and what can be done to give people alternative theological positions to grab ahold of. In Season 1, Episode 4 of the podcast, Rev. Emilee Walker-Cornetta said that, “we’ve been disciplined to not seriously engage our own history of settler colonialism, genocide, and enslavement…and that we’re still enchanted by our own narrative of Manifest Destiny” and that’s what we’re going to focus on in this episode. How has the United States’ refusal to seriously critique our own foundation story impacted people’s willingness to look past the suffering of the Palestinian people? It’s so easy for people to look abroad and see horrors in far away places, but to admit the same in our own backyard is more difficult for people encultured within “American exceptionalism.”

FOSNA Nakba Day 78: A Solidarity Toolkit

Resources Mentioned
Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery purchase via InterVarsity Press
More Desired than Our Owne Salvation: The Roots of Christian Zionism purchase via Oxford University Press
Comprehending Christian Zionism: Perspectives in Comparison purchase via Augsburg Fortress Press
International Solidarity Movement (ISM)
Now I walk in Beauty, a Navajo Prayer, English version here
The Kairos DocumentsSouth Africa
Kairos Palestine I
Kairos Palestine II

Gender, Genocide, Gaza and the Book of Esther: Engaging Texts of Terror(ism) purchase from Routledge Press
Inst. for the Study of Christian Zionism
The ISCZ is the primary resource for the study, critique, and response to Christian Zionism.

Friends of Sabeel North America
Seeking justice and peace in the Holy Land through education, advocacy, and nonviolent action.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show
Credits:
Original music: Karl Saint Lucy & Danny Frye (feat. Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac) - “The Path Forward”
Produced, written, and performed by: Karl Saint Lucy (ASCAP) & Danny Frye (BMI)
Featuring sampled speech by: Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac
Drums, mixing, and mastering: Danny Frye
Keyboards and programming: Karl Saint Lucy
Logo design: Dee Roberts

In this episode, we are excited to connect with Rev. Dr. Cláudio Carvalhaes, Rev. Dr. Crystal Silva-McCormick, and Dr. Nicolás Panotto, for what promises to be a fascinating conversation exploring the influence and impact of Christian Zionism in Latin American contexts—both within and among Latine communities and institutions—but also the harm Christian Zionist ideologies and power structures have brought to Latine individuals and families, whether here in the United States or abroad.

Resources mentioned
• Decolonizing Theological Knowledge in Latin America: Religion, Education and Theology with a Postcolonial Accent by Nicolás Panotto (interview on the book)
• Theology after Gaza: a global anthology ed. Mitri Raheb and Graham McGeoch (via Wipf & Stock)
• Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire (via libcom.org)
• Decolonizing Palestine: the land, the people, the bible by Mitri Raheb (via Orbis Books)
• Kairos Palestine II
• Kairos Palestine II Lenten study guide
• “Liberation Theology as a Test for Authentic Religion” by Naim Ateek (via FOSNA store)
This is the podcast of the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism (ISCZ). To learn more about ISCZ visit our website at: https://studychristianzionism.org

Got a question about the podcast?
Reach out to us via email at BTBusted@studychristianzionism.org.
Support the show
Credits:
Original music: Karl Saint Lucy & Danny Frye (feat. Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac) - “The Path Forward”
Produced, written, and performed by: Karl Saint Lucy (ASCAP) & Danny Frye (BMI)
Featuring sampled speech by: Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac
Drums, mixing, and mastering: Danny Frye
Keyboards and programming: Karl Saint Lucy
Logo design: Dee Roberts

Today we’re excited to connect with Josiah R. Daniels, Rev. Keyanna Jones Moore, and Rev. Dr. Reggie Williams. During our conversation this month, we will dive deeper into how Christian Zionism shows up in the spiritual and political realities of Black Christians in the United States.

Resources mentioned:
Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance by Reggie Williams 
The Cross and the Olive Tree: Cultivating Palestinian Theology amid Gaza edited by John and Samuel Munayer 
Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman 
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd
‘I’m so dehumanized’: Journalists say U.S. newsrooms treat Palestine with fear and contempt by Laura Albast via Prism Reports
Want to Love Your Neighbor? Grieve With Them By Elom Tettey-Tamaklo via sojo.net
What is neutrality bias, and why do we need to address it? by Gina Baleria via the Wayback Machine
Department Press Briefing – February 14, 2024 Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson via state.gov
Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE)
Highlander Folk School
Shalom Hartman Institute
Video of “flying checkpoint” in North Georgia
The Wayback Machine
John Coltrane: A love supreme
Inst. for the Study of Christian Zionism
The ISCZ is the primary resource for the study, critique, and response to Christian Zionism.

Friends of Sabeel North America
Seeking justice and peace in the Holy Land through education, advocacy, and nonviolent action.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show
Credits:
Original music: Karl Saint Lucy & Danny Frye (feat. Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac) - “The Path Forward”
Produced, written, and performed by: Karl Saint Lucy (ASCAP) & Danny Frye (BMI)
Featuring sampled speech by: Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac
Drums, mixing, and mastering: Danny Frye
Keyboards and programming: Karl Saint Lucy
Logo design: Dee Roberts