Secular Zionism deliberately fused itself with religious claims to build legitimacy.
Evidence
The secular Zionists’ continual reference to the Bible as history was designed to achieve two goals: inventing modern Jewish nationalism internally for the Jewish public and making a case for taking over Palestine. In the process, however, Jewish nationalism became profoundly and inexplicably intertwined with religious claims. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 511
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Secular Zionist leaders invoke religious claims to obscure settler colonialism. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 442; Zionism fuses religious and national identity so completely they are indistinguishable. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 483; Israel’s putatively secular founding period was suffused with religious justifications at its core. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 498 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Religion and nationalism are fused throughout secular Zionism, not only in religious nationalism.
#corroborates(0.95) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 523 - Secular Zionism reinterpreted theology rather than departing from it
#expands(0.85) - Religious claims adopted for instrumental legitimacy can come to genuinely saturate the adopting movement.
#expands(0.78) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 512