NASHVILLE, Tennessee – As concerns over antisemitism continue to grow, a unique gathering in the United States is bringing together influential voices from Jewish, Christian, and Arab communities in a historic alliance that many believe is critically needed.
The multicultural meeting in Nashville drew 400 leaders for the first-ever Judeo-Christian Zionist Congress (JCZC). It echoed the 1897 meeting led by Theodore Herzl, which helped give birth to modern Israel.
More than a century later, organizers believe this marks a crucial new chapter focused on uniting millions who stand for Judeo-Christian values.
Calev Myers, co-founder and president of the JCZC, told CBN News, “It was even more shocking to me to see that on October 8th (2023, after the Hamas massacre and kidnappings in Israel), about 120 demonstrations on university campuses in the United States for Hamas against Israel.’
Myers explained, “We came to realize that there is a state-funded, highly motivated, well-managed campaign to destroy the Judeo-Christian foundations of Western Civilization.”
Myers notes that when those global reactions revealed a deeper ideological battle, the need for this union became clear.
“You have hundreds of millions, between 600 to 800 million Christians in the world, who support Israel,” Myers stated. “You only have 15 million Jews in the world. So, 99.9 percent of Zionists in the world are not Jewish. Why don’t we have a Congress for them?”
For many who attended the congress, mobilization became the priority.
A.J. Nolte, director of Regent University’s Israel Institute, observed, “You look at the first Zionist Congress in 1897, 200 delegates. We’ve got close to 400 here. But they’re estimating there are about 800 million globally – biblically faithful Christians – who love Israel, who are in their hearts, Christian Zionists. They need to be educated, trained, equipped, and mobilized to basically form an alliance.”
Speakers framed the moment as a turning point in history. The Rev. Johnnie Moore, author of The Martyrs’ Oath, told us, “Christians have sort of awakened to the fact that actually there is no Christianity without Judaism,” and added, “This is a historic change, a historic moment of Jewish-Christian solidarity and friendship. And this is a naturally fitting next step, to come together and say: ‘We’re not just going to be friends, we’re going to fight and win this battle together.'”
Many at the congress told CBN News that the conflict surrounding Israel reflects something much bigger: a struggle over the future of the West.
Author and commentator Eric Metaxas remarked, “The rise of antisemitism, the rise of Islamofascism, the rise of atheistic Marxism, cultural Marxism, the DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) lunacy – all of it – we’re dealing with it now. We’re in the third existential crisis of our history. The first is the revolution. The second is the Civil War. And it’s all these forces arrayed against the forces of God.”
Metaxas continued, “If I’m dealing with the sum of all evil in the world, you know, hatred of the people that God loves is always at the forefront. There’s just no way around it.”
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Others warn that what appears to be political is, at its core, deeply spiritual. In the keynote address to the Congress, Danny Burmawi, author of Islam, Israel, and the West, declared, “Israel has been at war for the past 80 years, not because of what Israel did, but because of who Israel is. And if that is true, and it is true, then Israel’s war is the war of the West.”
Former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos warned that foreign money pouring into colleges and universities helps fuel a broader battle. She told CBN News, It is inconceivable to me that we would sit idly by while billions… are flowing into higher-ed institutions that are then funding agendas that are antithetical to the freedoms that we have long enjoyed.”
Many believe that a new front has emerged in the battle of ideas playing out online and on college campuses. Iranian-American journalist Lisa Daftari is one.
“This is not just the war going on in the Middle East,” she insisted. “The bigger war, the pervasive war, is a war of the narrative, which is going on in the media and social media, and it’s something that each one of us is fighting.”
Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, agrees. He explained, “This is called the eighth front – to build on the seven fronts that Israel has had to defend physically in order to survive. This eighth front is not only about Israel, it’s about all of us.”
“The West didn’t wake up enough to this soft war, to this information warfare,” Diker said. We are going to determine what the narrative warfare is, and we’re not going to concede to our enemies who have taken over American campuses, who have infected the minds of young people across the United States and Europe, brainwashing them to think that they are the oppressors.” Rev. Moore
Rev. Moore contends that this eighth front has also made its way into the Church.
“I’m actually alarmed that the sewer of the Internet is causing an ever-so-small but growing degree of antisemitism to sort of move its way towards the doors of the Church,” Moore asserted, ” And we have to absolutely reject this, entirely, immediately, and totally.”
A common theme throughout the congress was the importance of moving beyond a diagnosis to what comes next.
Actress Patricia Heaton, founder of the October 7th Coalition, told the gathering, “Now we must invest our energies into taking back the story of our histories. Coming together as we are doing these two days is the opening salvo in a war against the constant barrage of misinformation and hatred.”
She concluded, “What we’re fighting for is worth fighting for. And so I’ll leave you with (the biblical prophet) Jeremiah. I’m crying now, so I can’t read now.”
Bruce Pearl, former college basketball coach, followed Heaton, quoting from Jeremiah, “There are going to be some watchmen on that wall, right? There are gonna be some watchmen on that wall. I’m asking this Congress right now: are you gonna join me and be watchmen on the walls?”
Danny Burmawi exhorted, “I call on both the Judeo and Christian to become the cure… to unite as true Zionists in defense of the future of Western civilization.” More than a century after the first Zionist Congress, participants here believe this moment could shape the future of a new alliance between those willing to stand for the values the West was founded upon.”
Coach Pearl enthused, “I like my team. I like my team because we are on the side of truth and we are on the side of justice, and God is with us.”
