American Christians Don't Threaten Jews

WSJ.com ^ | April 5, 2004 | ARYEH SPERO

[swilhelm73]

Record-breaking multitudes over a span of many weeks have now viewed Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" in every major and far-flung U.S. locale, and not one American synagogue has been torched or Jewish cemetery vandalized by the Christian faithful who have seen the movie. Having been forewarned that in medieval Europe, passion plays and Easter sermons roused the public to immediate pillaging of Jews and their property, Americans should be proud that the warnings by Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League of anti-Semitic outbreaks did not materialize here.

[Restorer]

The whole Jewish attitude towards conservative Christians I find very odd. You would think that American Christians had almost exterminated Jews in the 20th century, rather than being the main group that saved them.

[Support Free Republic]

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg		Freepers/Avg		Monthlies
7	Florida	725.00	16	45.31			503.00	34

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

[swilhelm73]

Why do you think the Left is so eager to paint Hitler as some right wing Christian?

[GOP_Proud]

I've never quite understood why Jews don't "get" this either. I am almost 53 and I was raised and still am of the Protestant faith (Baptist). I was always taught that the Jews are God's Chosen People and to respect, love and support them even with their denial of Jesus being the Messiah. I was always taught and still believe that we are brothers.

[HostileTerritory]

Are you a Southern Baptist?

[Paul Atreides]

As many times as I have come across documentaries of The Holocaust, and have seen photos/footage of the emaciated Jews, and think of all of that happening to six million people, it is difficult for me to fathom how anyone could have been so evil and cruel, as was Hitler and his minions. There may be some who try to attach "Christian" to Hitler, but he was NO Christian. Even if he had claimed to be a Christian, he was NO Christian.

[madprof98]

Thus the New York Times' Frank Rich characterization of the film's crucifixion episode as "homo-erotic," "sado-masochistic," "culminating in a bloody, sexual orgy" is not only vulgar and twisted but a reflection of deep-rooted anti-Christian bias. Mr. Rich's description of Christianity's most sacred moment as akin to a homosexual orgy is reminiscent of the left's description of Israeli soldiers and leaders as Nazis. In other words, label your enemy as his opposite, that which is most detestable and hurtful to him.

Perfect.

[BipolarBob]

Now that the evidence is in, will they apologize?

Abe Foxman - they're calling your name. How say ye? Where's the apology?

[GOP_Proud]

I was raised in a church that had a woman pastor. Does that give you a clue? (LOL) No. I'm Missionary Baptist. A lot of people don't realize the distinction, but we are certainly less organized than the Sounthern Baptist Convention. I can't condone such a restrictive belief system. However, to each his own.

[GOP_Proud]

< I can't condone such a restrictive belief system. >

That should have been "abide" not "condone".

[moneyrunner]

I e-mailed this article to a local radio talk show host, Tony Macrini, who had a rabbi on his show about a month ago. To hear the rabbi, mobs of Presbyterians were going to roam the streets hanging Jews from lampposts after seeing The Passion.

Here’s something else I am now beginning to put into the Urban Myth category: the assertion of many Jewish people that they were commonly accused of being “Christ killers” in school.

I of over 60 and I know that kids are brutal to each other. As an immigrant and attended my first school in the US in Chicago. I was called a D.P. At first I did not know what this meant, but in the early 1950s WWII was still a vivid memory and refugees were still arriving. A “D.P.” was short for “displaced person” but for grade school boys in Chicago it meant (in those more innocent days) “dinkless person.” With the kind of language kids are using today, that is so mild, so “white bread,” that I wonder that it bothered me at the time.

I mention this because while I have heard many racially and ethnically disparaging remarks, from the “N” word to a whole dictionary of ethnic slurs, I can honestly say that I never heard anyone called a “Christ killer.”

Here is a question: who has heard actually the term used (as opposed to having read about it) by people who really meant to disparage Jews?

[TopQuark]

The whole Jewish attitude towards conservative Christians I find very odd.

The attitude is indeed odd, to put it mildly, but it is not Jewish. What you hear mostly is the voice of Leftists that are no longer Jews in terms of basic values. You do not hear religious Jews, just like you do not hear religious Christians on NBC.

The leftists are anti-religious. They are afraid of any organized religion.

[TopQuark]

I was always taught and still believe that we are brothers.

And we are. But religious people, both Jewish and Christian, are not brothers with the Leftists. And it is Leftists with Jewish roots that unjustly attacked Gibson.

This Jew wishes you a very happy Easter. G-d willing, we'll survive the attacks on religion from the leftists.

[TopQuark]

There may be some who try to attach "Christian" to Hitler, but he was NO Christian.

He was not: he was pagan, just like the rest of the socialists. And, after Jews and Roma (Gypsies), the next in line for his persecution were Christian leaders. Consscience stands in the way of the socialists -- how can they possibly live in peace with religion?

Some American Jews inherited apprehension from pre-Holocause times. It was indeed the position of the Church that the living Jews were collectively responsible for the death of Christ, and it was common for church-goers returning from an Easter Mass to attack the Jewish neighbors.

What upsets me -- and I am Jewish -- that so many American Jews do not differentiate European and American experiences. Mobs have never attacked Jewish homes; we never had pogroms in this country. Surely, there was and is anti-Semitism --- prejudice is an enduring vice among people of all religions and ethnic groups. But we never had anything remotely resembling the European experiences of the Jews.

Not to see the difference is very unfair and insulting to our Christian friends and neighbors. For whatever it is worth, I am very sorry to see that the leftist Jews got so much publicity attacking Gibson's movie. The religious Jews voiced their opposition to this slander, but did not have nearly as much presence.

[TopQuark]

How say ye? Where's the apology?

He will not, and you know it.

As a Jew, I can only tell you that he does owe you and the rest of the American Christian community a big apology. I am not holding my breath, however: I am still waiting for the NYTime to repudiate Mussolini whom they adored in the 1930s. The leftists don't apologize.

[TopQuark]

Rabbi Spero is president of Caucus for America and a radio talk-show host. swilhelm73: you should not have removed this line from the post --- it is in the original.

I think it is important -- especially for our Christian friends --- to see that it is a Jew, a rabbi, that denounces in most strong terms, the insulting actions of the leftists.

[TopQuark]

Please see #17.

[McGavin999]

I have to admit that I was a little hurt that the Jewish people had so little faith in us. I tend to be fiercely loyal and those who are my friends I will defend to the death. I did not expect the lack of faith but fortunately, we have a pretty large Jewish contingent here on FR who quickly put this whole thing in perspective.

[TopQuark]

Here is a question: who has heard actually the term used (as opposed to having read about it) by people who really meant to disparage Jews?

You don't have to go too far: on this forum, Presidio9 in thread after thread claims that Jews are responsible for the death of Christ. Yes, he says "the Jews." When I engaged him in discussion he more than confirmed what he meant. He also said he was disappointed to see that Gibson's film did not implicate the Jews enough: the Bible (according to him) says that THEY killed Christ.

A few days ago, I posted, in bold letters a note "to all Christian friends..." pointing to Presidio9's posts and saying that this may be an example of why Jews are apprehensive. Not a single response criticising the bigot --- to the point that he followed up mocking me: "I am still waiting... everyone agrees with me."

Well, I did receive one response. It said that Presidio9 is corect, the Jews are all responsible. And I should either shut up or be at war with all of the Christian world --- no middle ground, such as mutual respect, you see.

You make a mistake of many good-hearted people: just because this type of prejudice is so foreign to you, it is so absurd, you cannot imagine it being widespread. This particular libel is very deeply rooted --- it started really long ago, in the first couple of centuries of the first millenium. Want to hear its most ironic form: people in communist Russia, those who had never put a foot in a church and did not even know where one was located, accused their Jewish fellow citizens of deicide. In Russia, where for generations they were proudly anti-Christian! Believe it or not. But this is more durable than you think.