Black and white world?

The strange alliance between Jews and evangelical Christians grows more troubling in its implications.

This week the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that a group of Jews and evangelical Christians are going on a solidarity mission to Gaza to oppose Israel's scheduled withdrawal from that region (see Page 25). New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who organized the mission, calls the pullout - which, according to the JTA, has broad support from Israelis, American Jews and the Israeli and U.S. governments - "bad policy."

Hikind is entitled to his opinion, of course. But we wonder if he knows how fundamentally his views diverge from those of his evangelical compatriots.

Take James Vineyard, a pastor from Oklahoma City, for example. On the surface, Vineyard is a valuable asset to Hikind's movement. He's raised more than $600,000 and spent more than $750,000 to protest the withdrawal plan, taking pastors to Israel and coordinating lectures and rallies.

Unlike Hikind, however, Vineyard isn't just opposing what he considers bad policy. He claims he's obeying the word of God. The pullout from Gaza "puts a curse on the Jews of Gush Katif," Vineyard told JTA. "The judgment of God will fall on America if this goes through."

Which begs the question: How can American Jews - or any Americans with a sense of our nation's great history - in good conscience ally themselves with people who would make policy according to biblical prophesy and the fear of God? Such behavior is counter to everything the United States stands for, regardless of one's personal religious beliefs.

Meanwhile, Capt. MeLinda Morton, the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy chaplain who helped write a July 2004 Yale Divinity School report that found some academy chaplains insensitive to the religious diversity of the cadets, has been dismissed from her position as administrative assistant to the academy's chief chaplain, Col. Michael Whittington. Among other things, Morton says that she was pressured to deny a statement by Yale Divinity School Professor Kristen Leslie that a chaplain told 600 cadets during basic training last year to "go back to their tents and tell their fellow cadets that those who are not born again will burn in the fires of hell."

"I was told by Chaplain Whittington that if someone was going to be loyal to the chaplaincy and the Air Force, then someone would take a certain view of the Yale report and view Dr. Leslie as disloyal," Morton told reporters from Associated Press. She was fired after she refused to do so.

And that's where the philosophy of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" falls dangerously short. Because in order for any friendship truly to flourish, it needs to be rooted in more than just a shared antipathy. Some Jews and evangelical Christians may agree on Gaza. But what about Colorado Springs?

Home