Walter Russell Mead: belief

Transcript context

…How pro-Israel are American Mormons compared to American evangelicals? Well, again, we’re talking about millions of people in both cases, and nobody’s a homogenous block. But in general, I think American Mormons have consistently seen the rise of the state of Israel in many ways as confirming some key Mormon tenets. In the same way, many evangelicals in the US have seen the rise of Israel as confirming some of their theological ideas. In both cases, what you have is people supporting the state, not necessarily for traditional foreign policy reasons, but because they think it’s a sign of God working in the world. And this both reassures them in our very dangerous and terrifying world that there is a benign, omnipotent deity is in charge of our destinies, but also, “Well, we believe that in these latter days, God is doing great things and new things. ” If you’re a Mormon, a member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, it means the LDS is on the right track. That’s also what American evangelicals, going back 200 years, have been arguing, that the Bible prophesies a return of the Jews to Palestine at the climax of history. In a time that feels a lot like the climax of history — nuclear bombs, et cetera, et cetera — the Jews return. Whoa, whoa, whoa, this Bible, written 2,500 years ago, must know something. Only a supernatural intelligence could have revealed 2,500 years ago what’s happening today. In both cases, the rise of Israel is seen as underwriting the truth of their core religious faith. Circa summer 2022, why haven’t the Saudis stepped up and pumped more oil to keep the price down? Isn’t that part of their implicit contract with the US? We defend them, they cooperate on global oil markets?…

Stored transcript either side of the excerpt. The highlighted words are the published quote; the surrounding text is unedited source, never generated.