Wow, you had quite a bit to say on this and you make some very good points.

I’d like to explain the little I can about the evangelical attitude toward Israel from an insider’s perspective, though for reasons I’ll get to, the Rev could probably give a better answer. At least a little of the evangelical support comes from end-times prophecy and the belief that Israel represents (or will represent) “God’s chosen people”. For some Christians, this has led to an attitude of “I’m a Christian, therefore I support Israel.”

One of the notable things is that in the bible, the end-times are prophesied to come when Israel is at peace and walls are no longer necessary (my paraphrasing here). Until recently, this has really made no sense as there was no Israel. Now it makes more sense, though of course Israel is certainly not at peace. Some see the possibility that removing the threat of Iraq being the first step toward this peace coming about. I am inclined to view the situation this way, though I don’t believe bringing peace to Israel should be our nation’s motivation in attacking Iraq. I should also point out that there are some evangelicals who don’t believe that the Israel of today corresponds to the Israel spoken about in these prophecies (i.e. the name is the same, but the people are different).

There are at least two major views of eschatology within evangelical Christianity (and many more depending on how you count), though it seems that one particular version of dispensationalism is loudly touted as being the “party line”. My own church (and the Rev’s if it is Southern Baptist) holds to this view of the end-times, though personally I am not decided and will probably remain that way. Edit: I forgot to finish this thought: However, this prevalent view holds that during the “tribulation” (7 years of badness) God (who has been working through the Christian Church ever since the first century) will again work thorough Israel.

How exactly this translates into the U.S. foreign policy I’m not certain, but this is clearly a driving force among evangelicals. This is where I’ll have to defer to those more knowledgeable than myself. However, my feeling toward biblical prophecy is that it is generally not something designed to show us how to live and act, but to confirm the authenticity of scripture as well as Jesus Christ. The foretelling in Daniel of very specific events that would happen years after the book was written did not as much help prepare the people for the events as it offered compelling evidence afterward that he’d received inspiration from a divine source.

From my perspective, we should treat Israel as any other nation, and if God’s prophecies occur, then that is a testimony to the scriptures. I don’t believe we need to “help things along”.

As far as evangelicals and conspiracies go, I think that’s a little bit far. More likely there is a pattern of thinking that has developed certain attitudes toward Israel that influence Christian decision makers. I should emphasize that I’m speaking a great deal out of ignorance here, but I do understand at least a few of the underlying issues.