(Photo by U.S. Embassy Jerusalem via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0 DEED)
In early 2026, United States (U.S.) South Carolinian Senator Graham travelled repeatedly to Israel to meet high-ranking government and intelligence officials for the purpose of convincing President Donald Trump to initiate military action against Iran. Senator Graham, a longtime advocate for war in Iran, was celebratory as he revealed his participation with Israel. He bragged that the Israelis told him things “our own government won’t tell me.”
It makes sense that Senator Graham was so giddy during the interview, for the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign that began on February 28th represented a massive policy victory for him and his constituents. None of whom are more important than the nearly 2.2 million Evangelical Christians who make up 40% of South Carolina’s population.
Evangelical Christians, of which Senator Graham is one of the approximately 78 million currently living in the US, represent a highly religious and politically involved base of support for the Republican Party. And no issue matters more to them than unwavering support for Israel.
Polls show that 50% of Evangelical Christians believe Jews are God’s chosen people, a view that is highly correlated with support for the US-Israeli Alliance. Evangelical Christians, such as Senator Graham, have had a disproportionately large impact on keeping the U.S. on the side of Israel. Their reasoning? To fulfill a biblical prophecy that will bring about the second coming of Jesus.
Where did Evangelical Christians Come From?
There are three major branches in Christianity: Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Protestantism arose in Europe in the 16th century in direct opposition to the corruption of the Catholic Church.
The term “Evangelical Christians” is difficult to define precisely and refers to a collection of sects within Protestantism. According to the National Association of Evangelicals, they all share four key characteristics: the spread of the gospel through missionary and social activism, absolute obedience to the bible, the sacrifice of Jesus as a humanitarian act, and conversion. Specifically, conversion, meaning “born again”, is a distinct moment in a person’s life to repent and follow Jesus.
Although the history of Evangelism can be traced back to the Protestant Reformation, modern American Evangelical Christianity rose in prominence in 1976 when Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter captured a large portion of Evangelical voters.
President Carter had appealed to another Evangelical tradition known as Progressive Evangelicism. He advocated for racial, economic, and gender equality, as well as respect for human rights. For Progressive Evangelicals, Carter symbolised reform and change following the distrust of President Richard Nixon. Yet, this was the last time the Evangelical voting bloc would support a democratic agenda in large numbers.
The Rise of Evangelical Republicans
By 1980, Evangelical Christians had shifted decisively to the right in support of Ronald Reagan. Since then, Evangelical Christians have become the Republican Party’s base of support. As demonstrated by their consistent voting records in favour of Donald Trump, Church-going white Evangelicals have reliably voted for him. With 80% support in 2016, 85% in 2020, and 82% in 2024.
The rise of Evangelicals as a powerful voting bloc coincided with the rise in popularity of premillennialism, the belief that the second coming of Jesus, also known as the Rapture, will usher in a thousand-year reign as foretold in the Bible. The Rapture will mark the return of Jesus Christ, who will take the faithful to heaven, followed by a period of crisis on Earth culminating in the apocalypse.
The spike in popularity of premillennialist theology amongst modern-day Evangelicals can be traced to Hal Lindsey and Carole C. Carlson’s book The Last Great Planet Earth. When Lindsey and Carlson published their book in 1970, it became an instant bestseller, selling 10 million copies by 1980. The book sought to make the Bible relevant to modern audiences by connecting current events to scripture.
Lindsey, who had become popular in Christian circles through his Bible study sessions, argued that Jesus’ return to Earth will only take place when the Jewish people return to their land, take control of Jerusalem, and rebuild the Third Temple of Jerusalem. As things stand, a great number of Evangelical Christians have formed a bloc that is faithfully awaiting Jesus’ return. An event reliant on Israeli control of the Middle East.
Evangelicals: “Israel’s Best Friend”
“Israel has no better friend than America, and Israel has no better friend in America than you,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2017 at a conference held by Christians United for Israel.
Netanyahu had good reason to say this, as Evangelicals and Israelis share a strong bond due to Israel’s central role in initiating the Rapture. At a political level, Evangelical Christians are also valuable because they are crucial to keeping Republicans and Donald Trump in power.
Israelis rooted for a Trump victory over Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential elections. Netanyahu went as far as delaying peace talks with Hamas to skew the result in Trump’s favour. The reason is obvious: Israelis believed that Trump would provide more material and political support than Harris would have.
(Photo by Daniel Torok via Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)
Israeli society has recognized that their only hope for unrestricted support will come from the American Right, a political identity that has increasingly been dictated by the policy priorities of Evangelical Christians in areas such as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Evangelicals have come to increasingly overlap with the identity of Republicans.
Although Trump campaigned as a peacemaker and promised no more military entanglements abroad, he enthusiastically began the war on the belief of a quick victory despite the opinion of his advisors. This new engagement has shown to be unpopular among Americans, even among his voters.
Biblical Support for the War
A significant percentage of Americans, 38%, support the war in Iran. Among self-proclaimed MAGA members, the proportion is even higher, with 81% supportive of the war. Although no polls are available showing opinions among Evangelicals, surveys show that Evangelicals make up one-third of his support.
In recognition of this, Evangelicals now hold positions of immense power and influence in the Trump Administration. From Secretary of War Pete Hegseth of the archconservative Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, Paula Cain-White as the faith advisor for the White House and recently compared Trump to Jesus, to current Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who frames his support for Israel in religious terms.
In recognition of the importance of Evangelicals in Trump’s administration, Israel has strengthened their partnership with them in the hopes of saving support as they become increasingly unpopular among everyday Americans.
Ties between Israel and Evangelicals are plenty. In 2025, when the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted 1,000 Christian pastors and influencers in Jerusalem, an event hosted by Friends of Zion, a self-proclaimed “Christian Zionist” organization committed to the dream of helping Jews return to their “homeland” as foretold by “Biblical prophecies.”
Also in 2025, the Israeli government finalized a $4.1 million contract with Show by Faith to launch a media initiative to monitor American Christians and target them with pro-Israeli propaganda. Founded by Chad Schnitger, a high-profile Evangelical in California, Show Faith by Works is now registered with the U.S. government as an official lobbying group on behalf of Israel.
The Road to Iran
When approaching the U.S. with an operation in Iran, the Israeli plan hinged on four objectives: assassinate Ayatollah Khomeini, destroy Iran’s ballistic missile program, incite a popular uprising, and replace the Islamic Republic with a secular pro-U.S. regime.
Trump’s closest advisors were almost unanimously against the operation, all save for one: Secretary of War Hegseth, the only Evangelical in the room. While all other Trump advisors recognized the unlikelihood of a successful regime change, Hegseth remained the most proponent of the joint U.S.-Israeli operation that began in late February. Hegseth made the argument that the Iranian regime would have to be dealt with eventually, so the President might as well do it now with overwhelming force.
(Photo by Daniel Torok via Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)
The war is the culmination of Israel’s top foreign policy objective: regime change in Iran. The catastrophic effects of the war, which have shocked the global economy, and the unreliability of their Israeli allies were foreseen by all other Trump advisors.
Trump’s top military advisor, General Caine, thought the plan ridiculous, saying: “Sir, this is, in my experience, standard operating procedure for the Israelis. They oversell and their plans are not always well-developed.” CIA director John Ratcliffe described the Israeli plan as “farcical,” supported by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who would call it “bullshit.”
Evangelical Support for the War
The role of Evangelicals in government in setting the stage for the war is clear. While non-Evangelical Trump advisors cautioned against it, his Evangelical supporters all encouraged him to wage war against Iran. This brings us back to Senator Lindsey Graham, who had worked for months with Israeli intelligence to convince Trump to initiate the war.
Justifications for the war have since then taken a religious spin, both from high-level officials in the administration and Evangelical voters. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation reported that hundreds of American military personnel complained that their superior officers used fundamentalist Christian rhetoric to justify the war.
One soldier reported that his commander tried to inspire the troops by citing the Bible’s Book of Revelation and that the war was “part of God’s divine plan.” The soldier quotes his officer as saying: “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”
This quote matches the language of premillennialism discussed earlier.
Similar apocalyptic language can be heard coming from Evangelicals. From a pastor in Oklahoma framing the conflict as a biblical showdown between “good and evil” to Hegseth who, while leading the first of his monthly prayer circles at the Pentagon since the war began, prayed for “overwhelming violence against those who deserve no mercy.” Hegseth later also prayed for God to “let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation.”
The Future of Evangelical Christian Support for Israel
Despite the frightening notion that Christian fundamentalists are on a quest to initiate the Rapture, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Not all Evangelicals are committed Zionists, and evidence points towards a shift. Especially in the younger generations and their on support for Israel. Unlike their parents, only 33% of Evangelicals under 30 have favourable views of Israel as of 2021.
As President Trump becomes increasingly unpopular, he is becoming increasingly reliant on a base of Evangelical supporters. Trump even recently urged Republicans to pass a voter ID law in the name of Jesus. Ultimately, Trump has recognized that to stay in power, he will have to appeal more than ever to the Evangelical Christians who see him as being appointed by God.
Still, the MAGA coalition will soon find that its Evangelical base is not as stable as it once was.
Edited by Isaac Code
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