Fast Forward

Millennial Evangelicals Less Supportive Of Israel, Survey Finds

Charged Up: American evangelical Christians show backing for Israel at a Washington, D.C., convention. Image by Wharton Photography

By Nathan Guttman December 4, 2017

Younger evangelical Christians are less likely to support Israel than their older co-religionists, a new survey has found.

The survey found still showed high levels of support for Israel among evangalicals, but clearly indicated a generational shift in which younger evangelicals are less inclined to be pro-Israel than their parents and grandparents.

According to the study, 58% of Millennial evangelicals aged 18-34 said they had a positive perception of Israel, compared to 76% of older evangelicals. A closer breakdown of the numbers shows younger evangelicals are not anti-Israel, but are rather unwilling to commit to unconditional support.

A possible explanation for the decline could be found in the feeling among respondents that Christians are not doing enough to support Palestinians. 59% of evangelicals, and two-thirds of younger ones, agreed that Christians “should do more to love and care for Palestinian people.”

“We as a church need to do a better job educating millennials, or else we may see the collapse of Evangelical support for Israel,” Joel Rosenberg, one of the activists behind the survey, told the Forward.

The survey of 2,002 evangelicals was also sponsored by Chosen People Ministries, a Messianic Jewish organization.

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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