In an Interview with Jerusalem Post’s Editor-In-Chief, Zvika Klein, Pastor Luke Moon, CEO of the Philos Project, talks about the relationships between Jews and Christians in the United States, mobilizing support for Israel, and how he fights antisemitism - even from within his own camp.
Listen to the full interview here at jpost.1eye.us
Last week, a group of Christian leaders visited Israel. The relatively new initiative is called the “Conference of Christian Presidents for Israel,” which brings together 70 organizations across the United States. Among the leaders visiting was Pastor Luke Moon, who says this is only the beginning and that they are looking to expand the group to hundreds of organizations nationwide.
Pastor Moon is the CEO of the Philos Project, which he describes is true to its name - meaning “friends” - creating friendships between people. He tells that the organization was founded during the height of ISIS’s activity in the Middle East to tackle the situation that local Christian groups found themselves in, at times receiving no help or facing severe persecution.
Pastor Luke Moon
Originally from Seattle, Moon says he only met a Jewish person for the first time in 2011. The following year, he visited Israel and has since made the trip 40 times. He says that the October 7 massacre has brought on a shift in the Philos Project dynamic, which is in part derived from the change in American society, seen in the intersectional growth of the left-leaning organizations and what he calls “Hamas supporters”.
Moon stipulates that Hamas didn’t limit themselves to Jews and targeted Christians as well - making it easy to make the case that they are against people who believe the bible is true. He ties this to the situation in America, saying, “there is a red-green alliance against people who believe the bible is true.”
But Moon wants to promote friendship and understanding and tells the Post about how he is sometimes met with suspicion given his Christian affiliation. He explains that exchanges between liberal Jews and conservative Christians tend to present an intersection of ideas, which in turn leads to distrust and divisive positions towards both groups. Moon further elaborates about how sometimes Jews themselves are suspicious of the Evangelical establishment and the topic of who are the evangelicals. In the experiences he describes, Jews approach pro-Israel Christians with suspicion - “I don’t know anyone who understands it in a way calling for you to die in the apocalypse,” he says.
Yet he recognizes issues from within the American right. He identifies that there is a growing problem with antisemitism - progressive Jews have become the model of America’s problems, according to certain people in the American right. This is a focus for Pastor Moon and his organization to try and tackle.
Pastor Moon is also not shying away from self-criticism and unequivocally says that even though there are billions of Christians, they do not show up enough for Israel. “People see Israel a bit like Narnia,” he says, and he sees the need to mobilize them in support of Israel - “I expected more”.
Moon also touches on the topics of Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and its popularity with Christian communities in America, and also the the issue of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and how he sees growing isolationist movement in the Republican Party that would not want to see a war, which he defines as a challenge as time is running out.