October 2002 Newsletter

ANTI-SEMITISM, AGAIN

     First, an apology.

     I am sorry to bring up, once again, the topic of anti-Semitism.  However, I am compelled to do so.  During the 1930s and the 1940s, the American churches were, to the greatest extent, silent as the Jews of Europe suffered and died for being Jews.  Christian silence before anti-Semitism should not and cannot happen again.  So this pastor should not and cannot remain silent before a rising hatred of the Jews in the United States and around the world.  Therefore, thank you for bearing with this newsletter article. 

     On Pentecost XIX, September 29th, the St. Peter’s and Broad Creek United Methodist Churches were, by the grace of God, renewed in the baptismal covenant.  During their Services of Worship, some were baptized, others remembered their baptisms, and all were confirmed in the Church’s faith and were received into the memberships of the two congregations.

     Early in the services, the confirmation candidates were asked by the pastor: “Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?”  Then the candidates were asked: “Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?”  Minutes later, the pastor asked the assembled congregations: “Do you, as Christ’s body, the Church, reaffirm both your rejection of sin and your commitment to Christ?”  Of course, after each question, the candidates and the congregations answered in the affirmative.

     What does this mean?  It means that, as Christians in Christ’s Church, as Christian of the baptismal covenant, we will renounce, reject, and resist sin -- including sins that tempt us, sins in our families, sins in our communities, sins in our nation, and sins in the world.  Without self-righteousness, without arrogance, relying on God’s grace and guidance, we will stand against sin.

     One of the most serious and damaging sins in this world is the sin of anti-Semitism.  Anti-Semitism is prejudice against Jews, which can lead to discrimination against Jews, which can result in persecution of Jews.  As our denomination’s Book of Resolutions (2000) notes, United Methodists “recognize the horror of the Holocaust as the catastrophic culmination of a long history of anti-Jewish attitudes and actions in which Christians, and sometimes the Church itself, have been deeply implicated.” (p. 213)  The same resolution recognizes that “we...share 2,000 painful years of anti-Semitism and the persecution of Jews by Christians.” (p. 217)

     Anti-Semitism is especially powerful in our time.  In 1991, Ruth R. Wisse, in an essay in Commentary magazine, argued that anti-Semitism is “the most durable and successful” ideology of the 20th century.  According to Wisse, anti-Semitism has proven to be more durable and successful than Communism and National Socialism.  Therefore, anti-Semitism is something that the Church should always oppose.

     A recent, glaring example of anti-Semitism appeared in a letter Saddam Hussein of Iraq wrote to the United Nations.  The letter contained this passage: “In targeting Iraq, the United States administration is acting on behalf of Zionism, which has been killing the heroic people of Palestine, destroying their property, murdering their children and seeking to impose their domination on the whole world, not only militarily, but also economically and politically.”  In response to this passage, commentator Andrew Sullivan stated: “Saddam is claiming that the United States is a tool of Zionist forces that are trying to take over the whole world!  This isn’t like Hitler.  It is Hitler.  When a figure like this simply echoes Nazi language, where is the universal shock and derision?  Why isn’t this the headline?  Or have we become completely inured by the fact that the 1930s are alive and well and centered in Baghdad and the West Bank?” (andrewsullivan.com, 9/20/02)

     On September 17th, Dr. Lawrence H. Summers, the president of Harvard University, addressing a prayer service for the Harvard community at Memorial Church of Cambridge, asserted: “Where anti-Semitism and views that are profoundly anti-Israeli have traditionally been the primary preserve of poorly educated right-wing populists, profoundly anti-Israel views are increasingly finding support in progressive intellectual communities.  Serious and thoughtful people are advocating and taking actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect if not their intent.”

     “But pastor, this is all so far away from us,” one might respond.  “Why worry about this stuff?”

     Maybe so.  But then arrives a letter from a brother pastor, who wrote: “I simply believe that Israel is a colony of the USA and no democracy, and that it is a racist and violent state dating back to it’s very inception in the 19teens, 20s, and 30s.  I believe Zionist ideology is evil.  The reality is that the poorly organized Arabs didn’t stand a chance against the fierce and organized warriors of European Jewry...”