The Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate spoke in New York on Tuesday during a press conference on Israel and Palestine.
(Mary Altaffer - AP)
Texas Governor Rick Perry said during a New York press conference Tuesday that his Christian faith requires his strong support of Israel.
“I also as a Christian have a clear directive to support Israel, so from my perspective it’s pretty easy,” Perry said when a reporter asked if Perry’s faith was driving his views, according to the Associated Press. “Both as an American and as a Christian, I am going to stand with Israel.”
Perry, surrounded by what he called “a diverse group of Jewish leaders from here and abroad,”characterized President Obama’s approach to the Middle East as “naive and arrogant, misguided and dangerous.” Perry also outlined the policy stance he would take toward Israel as president. You can read Perry’s proposal here.
A June 2011 Pew Forum poll of American evangelicals showed that nearly half “say the state of Israel is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy about the Second Coming of Jesus” Many point to Genesis 12:3, which reads, “And I will bless them that bless (Israel), and curse him that curseth (Israel),” as scriptural evidence of the need to support the Jewish state.
In a 2009 video interview with The Washington Post’s Sally Quinn, Texas pastor John Hagee, one of Christian Zionism’s most prominent leaders, explains the theological roots of Christian support for Israel. Hagee was an official endorser of and participant in ‘The Response,’ Rick Perry’s Aug 6 prayer revival.
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