No Catholic Brand of Christian Zionism, or Tolerance for Antisemitism
In a recent Washington Post op-ed, R. R. Reno argued that Catholics have a moral duty to support Zionism and the State of Israel. Two Catholic scholars—Jordan Denari Duffner and Julie Schumacher Cohen—push back on that claim, saying it distorts both Church teaching and historical reality.
Together, they argue that Catholic Social Teaching offers a critical framework for evaluating Israeli policies and the ongoing war in Gaza—while also requiring Catholics to confront the Church’s own history of antisemitism.
Their intervention follows a recent publication (February 20, 2026) op-ed in the Washington Post entitled “I am a Catholic. And a Zionist.”, R. R. Reno argues that the Catholic Church is agnostic about Zionism, and that Christians have a responsibility, post-Holocaust, to make reparations to Jews by supporting Zionism, fueled by thehearing where Carrie Prejean Boller, formerly of President Trump’s religious freedom commission, presented a Catholic critique of Zionism. According to Duffner and Cohen, Boller’s argument relies on outdated “teachings of contempt” about Jews, even as she rightly distinguishes anti-Zionism from antisemitism. Accepting her point without questioning those problematic foundations, they warn, risks undermining advocacy for Palestinian rights.
The two scholars call for a clear and principled critique of Zionism, constant vigilance against antisemitism, and a grounding in Catholic Social Teaching as essential to promoting justice and peace in Israel‑Palestine:
“As the genocide in Gaza unfolded for two years, partly under the second Catholic president, Joe Biden, we witnessed silence on the part of too many American Catholics, many of whom were “progressive except on Palestine.” Now, things are beginning to shift, with both the political right and left coming to recognize failings in Zionism, Christian or otherwise. In this moment—as the U.S.-Israel war on Iran drags the region into conflict, and as Palestinians are still facing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the deepening of Israel’s military occupation and annexationist policies in the West Bank—it is important that we not repeat past mistakes and failures. There is no Catholic brand of Christian Zionism. Rather, Catholic Social Teaching provides a blueprint for promoting Palestinian freedom while eschewing anti-Judaism and broader antisemitic views that have no place in the movement for peace, justice, and equality in Israel-Palestine.”
To read the complete article, please visit:
https://contendingmodernities.nd.edu/global-currents/no-catholic-brand-christian-zionism/
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