Alwaght- The American President Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy in the Israeli regime from Tel Aviv to al-Quds (Jerusalem) is widely seen by many politicians, pundits, media, and global public opinion, including those of the US, as being devoid of any track of rationality, because of inflaming the tensions and also endangering the American interests in the region.
There are a lot of analyses worldwide on the root causes of such an extraordinarily controversial step by the American leader. However, one significant reason, among many others, could be an effort to appease the Zionist lobbies as well as the right-wing American Christians. In fact, the main reason that can provide justification to Trump himself is a fear of his own from losing the support of the evangelicals at home. When he was fighting against Hillary Clinton last year for the presidency during the presidential campaign, the evangelical supporters firmly had his back against his opponent.
Who are the American evangelicals?
The evangelism is a branch of the Protestant Christianity. The movement grew among the American whites between the 1820 and 1830 and now leads as one of the most important branches of the white rightist Christians of the US. There is no accurate number of the population of the evangelicals in the US, but some figures put the number of them at between 15 and 20 percent of the total American population.
In the beginning, the evangelical doctrine was limited to the US, however, later it stretched out to Canada and also parts of Europe. The branch is also identified as the pro-Jewish Christianity or Zionist Christianity. Beside their doctrinal closeness to Judaism, the evangelicals hold highly friendly ties with the Jews.
Here are some of their beliefs:
1. Advent of Jesus Christ
2. There is a war between the good and evil under way anytime. When the Jesus Christ appears, the good will win, and only the evangelicals will be blessed.
3. There will be the Armageddon, or the final war between the good and evil at the end of the world.
4. The Solomon's temple is beneath the holy al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds. The evangelicals further believe that al-Aqsa is the courtroom of the Jesus Christ and so needs to be restored to its originality.
5. The God has built al-Quds city for the Jews and that the Jesus will reign again in this city. They, moreover, believe that Israel and Zionism are the God's finale for the West Asia and the whole world.
6. When Antichrist, al-Masih ad-Dajjal in the Islamic eschatology and Armilus in Jewish eschatology, rises, the Jews will shift faith to the Jesus Christ, and in the final stage of the world all of the Jews will return to the land of Palestine.
With the evangelicals' beliefs in mind, it can be easily figured out as why the occupied Palestinian territories, and specifically al-Quds, are of significance for this group. In fact, this group recognizes al-Quds and the occupied territories of Palestine as the capital of the Jesus Christ's rule in the eschaton, or the end time.
How evangelicals approach US domestic politics
The evangelicals have always been identified as leading a hard-line, rightist movement. They in many cases advocate the hard-line Republican fractions. One of their controversial causes took place during the presidency of the former president Barack Obama. They firmly came against the Obamacare, a nationwide insurance, because the healthcare plan contained state financial support for abortion. Politically and socially, the evangelicals hold conservative values. They are vociferous opponents of not only abortion but also feminism, Muslims, and the Hippies.
The evangelicals are real chrematistics. According to them, the humans are predestined. They believe that if a man is destined to be blessed in otherworldly life, then he will be wealthy and successful in this world. This belief drives a majority of the Protestants to strive for making a wealthy life. They put their capital to work and now are running the world’s largest capitalist country. They advocate capitalism, tax cuts, and at the same time social services spending scaling down. The evangelicals have supported Trump’s push for cuts in tax and social programs sectors.
Why evangelicals support Trump
Looking at the Trump’s backgrounds makes it clear that he is neither a rightist Christian nor any other kind of a religious man. He is a Protestant. And this is one of the reasons that the evangelicals have his back. Trump is a rich man and that well suits their chrematistic doctrine.
But, the key factor behind their backing for trump lies in his plans and political agendas which are really on good terms with those of them. His campaign-time slogans as well as stances such as anti-Islamism, tax and social services cuts, and most importantly pro-Israeli positions marked him out as the candidate of choice for the evangelical groups. That was the root cause for many of them to vote Trump in the 2016 presidential race. To put it differently, their favoring of Trump was key to his beating of the Democratic Clinton.
Now Trump is taking such steps as recognition of al-Quds as the capital of the state of Israel as part of a hard work to save the evangelical vote. The analysts suggest that it was his fear of losing the evangelical backers' vote in 2020 presidential election that stirred him to announce the intention to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to al-Quds, despite being aware of its being a huge political risk. Reportedly, over 80 percent of the evangelicals are happy with Trump administration's functions. Following the al-Quds-related decisions, they on their media named him a God-blessed president. But he is far from being that blessed. He, in fact, has won the blessing of the Zionism. That is why he has turned out to be a driving force pushing ahead the grim Israeli plans in the region.
