Pastor’s murder exposes violent rise of Christian Zionism in American society, politics

By Maryam Qarehgozlou

Adam Sheafe, an American Zionist who confessed to the gruesome crucifixion of an elderly pastor in Arizona and a foiled plan to kill 13 other Christian priests in ten states across the US, had admitted that his motive was “to rid Israel of evil.”

Sheafe, 51, made the confession in a chilling jailhouse interview to killing Pastor Bill Schonemann, 76, leader of the New River Bible Chapel in Arizona, two months ago.

Schonemann was discovered in his bed, covered in blood, on April 28.

“I drove from there (Phoenix) to Bill’s house, like two in the morning on a Sunday night, and I executed him,” he said, claiming to be on a divine mission, punishing religious leaders who, in his view, were misleading their followers.

Following Schonemann’s murder, Sheaf said he had placed a crown of thorns on his head.

Justifying his actions, he explained, “I’m saying what you’re preaching is not what God said, It’s the opposite of what God said.”

Sheafe admitted to planning a nationwide, religiously motivated killing spree.

“From there, it was Las Vegas, Nevada; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Billings, Montana; Detroit, Michigan; New York, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Mobile, Alabama; Beaumont, Texas and El Paso, Texas,” he said, noting that four of his targets were in Arizona.

Sheafe claimed that he acted under God’s law and believed he would be forgiven. “It’s a commandment to rid Israel of evil,” he said.

After murdering Pastor Bill, he fled to Sonoma but was apprehended two days after the body’s discovery when police were investigating a string of burglaries.

Currently held at Coconino County Jail, Sheafe awaits extradition to Maricopa County. Charges pertaining to Schonemann’s murder are still pending.

Christian Zionism rising force

The horrifying murder of Pastor Bill draws attention to the concerning rise of Christian Zionism in the United States.

This interpretation of Christianity, rooted in racism, highlights how various forms of Zionism—both Christian and Jewish—stand in opposition to humanity, according to commentators.

Jewish Zionism, the ideological basis for Israel’s decades of settler colonialism, has led to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the occupation of their lands. But Christian Zionism is another form of Zionism that reigns in the United States.

It is centered around the belief that Jewish people returning to the so-called “Land of Israel” is necessary for fulfilling biblical prophecy and ushering in God’s plan for the second coming of Jesus and the establishment of his kingdom on Earth.

Christian Zionists hold varying interpretations of what happens after, but they generally agree that only Christians will be saved from damnation, with Jews either being killed or converted.

Ironically, Christian Zionists back a place that isn’t exactly hospitable to the Jewish people.

Christian Zionism, an organized and institutionalized political movement with roots in 19th-century European imperialism, rose to prominence before the foundation of Jewish Zionism.

Key figures such as Lord Arthur Balfour, responsible for the 1917 Balfour Declaration that granted Palestine to Zionist settlers, were heavily influenced by Christian Zionist ideology.

Christian Zionism disregards Palestinian existence and their connection to their land and history while connecting a modern, Western, colonial project to the same place and history spanning three millennia.

Pertinently, Christian Zionism’s foundational ideas stem from Western colonial culture and white supremacy, not Christian theology or faith, which acknowledges all humans, regardless of nationality or origin, as part of God’s people.

Supported by power and money, this political ideology fully backs Israel’s colonization and erasure of Palestinians, having a substantial impact on tens of millions of lives.

This support includes lobbying governments, advocating for Israel’s genocidal policies, enabling the regime’s horrendous war crimes in occupied territories, and providing various forms of aid, most notably military assistance.

Christian Zionism in the Trump administration 

Donald Trump administration’s ongoing suppression of Palestine activism on US campuses and unwavering support of Israel’s nearly 21-month genocide in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of over 56,600 Palestinians, is indicative of the administration’s alignment with this ideology.

Trump’s cabinet selections also reflect the influence of Christian Zionism in shaping US foreign policy.

In April, Mike Huckabee, a radical Christian Zionist known for his controversial statement that “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” was appointed US ambassador to Tel Aviv.

During his Senate hearing, Huckabee reaffirmed the spiritual roots of his connection to Israel and Zionism: “We ultimately are people of the book. We believe the Bible. And therefore, that connection is not geopolitical. It is also spiritual.”

Huckabee is a staunch advocate for the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and promotes the Zionist narrative that these territories rightfully belong to the Jewish people, often dehumanizing Palestinians in the process.

In a 2017 speech during his visit to settlements in the occupied West Bank, Huckabee declared: “There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as the West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”

Last year, after he was named for the ambassador role, he told Israeli army radio that annexation was “of course” a possibility.

Huckabee has close ties to Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a large American evangelical organization rooted in Christian Zionism that strongly supports Israel.

Founded by influential televangelist Pastor John Hagee in 2006, CUFI boasts over ten million members and leverages its well-oiled political machine to influence US policy and politicians on various issues, with Israel at the forefront.

During the first Trump administration, CUFI made significant efforts to push Israeli agendas, including the annexation of the occupied Golan Heights, relocating the US embassy to al-Quds, and slashing aid to UNRWA, the United Nations body responsible for assisting Palestinian refugees.

Christian Zionists in the US number around 30 million, according to an academic estimate, forming a significant portion of the larger and influential voting bloc of evangelical Christians. Eighty percent of white, evangelical Christians voted for Trump in 2024, highlighting their political clout.

A Pew Research Center study reveals that 63 percent of white evangelicals in the US believe the occupation of Palestinian territories has fulfilled a biblical prophecy.

Christian Zionism in the United States extends beyond evangelicals, with Pew data showing that a quarter of white US Catholics share similar views.

Trump’s appointment of Elise Stefanik, a Catholic, as US ambassador to the UN reflects this ideological influence.

Stefanik stated in a congressional hearing in January that she agreed with Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich that Israel “has a biblical right to all of the West Bank.”

Another denier of Palestinians’ right to exist is Reverend Johnnie Moore, an evangelical Christian Zionist and staunch ally of both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Earlier last month, Moore was appointed as the executive director of the contentious American-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), where Israeli soldiers have “routinely” and “deliberately” opened fire on Palestinians seeking aid.

According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to obtain food at aid distribution points set up by GHF since they began operations on May 27.

These attacks on aid seekers have also resulted in 4,066 injuries, with 39 civilians still missing. British charity Save the Children reports that over half of the casualties near distribution hubs were children.

Over 130 charities and NGOs have recently demanded the shutdown of the “militarized aid scheme.”

Moore has publicly defended Israel’s narrative, denying their crimes at the aid distribution points, dismissing reports of a massacre near Rafah that killed 31 Palestinians seeking aid at a GHF site last month.

He has also condemned the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu, regarding his war crimes in Gaza, as an act of “white-collar antisemitism.”

Moore, serving as the president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, has been a vocal advocate of Trump’s contentious plan for the US to seize control of Gaza and forcibly displace its 2.3 million inhabitants – an agenda that amounts to ethnic cleansing and colonial occupation of the region.

Another Christian Zionist within the Trump administration is US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

During his January confirmation hearing, he stated, “I’m a Christian. I’m a Zionist. Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people deserve a homeland in the ancient Holy Land where they’ve lived since the dawn of history.”

In response to questions about his support for the Israeli regime and its so-called “right to defend itself” while wreaking havoc in the Gaza Strip, killing thousands of civilians, he said: “I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas.”

Other evangelical Christian supporters of Israel for key positions in the Trump administration include the televangelist Paula White-Cain as a senior adviser to the newly created White House Faith Office, who is vocal about her support for Israel on religious grounds.

In May, the Conference of Christian Presidents, a new organization comprised of pro-Israel faith groups, was launched in occupied al-Quds.

Aiming to advance pro-Israel policies at the executive, legislative, and state levels, the group intends to mobilize significant grassroots efforts to strengthen US-Israel relations.

The organizations and leaders of the various organizations associated with the newly-formed Conference of Christian Presidents represent tens of millions of evangelicals in America.

Mario Bramnick, a prominent American evangelical, president of the Latino Coalition for Israel, and co-chair of the Conference of Christian Presidents, emphasized the conference’s purpose: “We want Israelis and Jews in America to know that evangelical Christians are their closest friends and supporters.”

The conference enjoys close connections to numerous senior Trump administration officials and intends to promote policies directly benefiting Israel, such as the “annexation” of the West Bank.

“God has given Israel a blank check with the election of Trump … and Israel needs to stand boldly on Judea and Samaria, and the complete annihilation of Hamas,” Bramnick said, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.

Evangelical Christian leaders who delivered votes to Trump keep pressing him to declare that Israel can claim ownership of the West Bank, by making appearances in Israel-occupied territories, petitioning the White House, pushing their ideas at the key evangelical conference and building congressional backing.

Terri Copeland Pearsons is an influential pastor who produced the television program of her father, the televangelist Kenneth Copeland, and now serves as the president of his eponymous Bible college in Texas.

Earlier in March, at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Texas, she said: “We Christians are calling on our beloved President Trump and his team to aggressively remove all barriers to Israel’s sovereignty over all the land, including Judea and Samaria.”

And all these come as the Israeli regime is accelerating settlement expansion in the West Bank amid intense military raids in Palestinian cities there since January that have displaced tens of thousands of residents, with total impunity.

Jonathan Brenneman, a national leader with Christians for Palestine – an organization dedicated to raising awareness among US churches about Palestine and the risks associated with Zionism – characterized Christian Zionism as “the most overlooked influence” on US West Asia policy.

“It is both a pillar of the far-right white Christian nationalist agenda and also its adherents can be found in almost every congregation in America, even in progressive denominations.”

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