A BURDEN I NEED TO SHARE
I’ve apparently upset some people with my blogs on antisemitism (Sep 2025-Jan 2026). Let me explain why I wrote those blogs.
I regularly receive newsletters from pro-family and pro-life pastors’ groups and last year there was a growing alarm among conservative pastors about the rise of antisemitism in our churches. I thought they had to be overreacting. Conservative American evangelicals were the last people I would have suspected of buying into ideas promoted by the antisemitism of the last two centuries. I was wrong.
Just as these articles appeared, Christian parents started coming to me asking for help because their children were getting caught up in antisemitic propaganda online. While researching the matter I encountered more Christians who were being drawn to these antisemitic ideas. The ideas weren’t new; they were recycled from 20th century antisemitism. I hope you can understand why I found this alarming. I felt it was important to address the matter and felt the blog was a better place than the pulpit. I hoped that an understanding of the history of antisemitism would clarify some things that might open doors for a more profitable discussion.
It didn’t. It upset people. I was sad to discover recently that a few quietly left the church because of what I wrote.
I am very concerned about what this issue is doing in the hearts and lives of believers. I believe there is a lot of confusion and that what is happening at the grassroots is being amplified and complicated by an array of voices in conservative media and conservative politics that claim to be “anti-Israel but not antisemitic”.
I believe a group of policy-driven non-interventionist politicians (e.g., J. D. Vance, Rand Paul, Thomas Massie) are successfully maintaining the line between legitimate criticism of foreign policy and antisemitism. They believe putting America first means the U.S. should avoid funding or fighting for foreign countries. Israel is not singled out; as a foreign nation, it is one of many with which the U.S. should avoid entanglement on principle.
Others, like journalist Tucker Carlson, claim to be in the “anti-Israel but not antisemitic” camp—and most often he is. But at times Tucker flirts with the line between the two positions, and that can be confusing. For example, he sometimes uses language echoing familiar antisemitic tropes, suggesting hidden Israeli influence or disproportionate Israeli sway over the American government. Taken together, these statements can make him sound more antisemitic than anti-Israel.
In a recent interview with Mike Huckabee, Ambassador to Israel, Carlson kept trying to get Huckabee to identify what it means to be a Jew. What are the identifying marks of the Jewish people? When Huckabee offered genetic, ethnic, religious, and covenantal grounds for Jewish peoplehood, Carlson rejected each in turn. The cumulative effect is denial that a Jewish people exists at all. That’s antisemitism.
I’ve noted in the past Carlson’s habit of giving his platform to extremists like Nick Fuentes and Daryl Cooper without challenging their antisemitism.
These practices make it harder for people—especially young Christians—to distinguish between legitimate policy criticism and antisemitism. It makes it easy for the minds of audiences to conflate the politicians, the line-blurring journalists, and the radical extremists. If they all seem to be saying the same thing, supporting the extremist is the same as supporting the politician.
I see this kind of confusion happening. Having a biblical framework in which to sort these difficult matters out is vital to a proper understanding of the Christian faith. I continue to get questions about whether the modern state of Israel fits into the biblical story, and if so how, and if not, why not? What I hope to present in upcoming blogs should help us all understand these difficult issues from a sound biblical perspective.
I wanted to be transparent about the pastoral concerns driving my choice of topic, laying to rest any distress before it arises. We can have political disagreements among us, but we can’t espouse hating people merely for being Jewish. History should have taught us that. I am alarmed that it hasn’t.
I regularly receive newsletters from pro-family and pro-life pastors’ groups and last year there was a growing alarm among conservative pastors about the rise of antisemitism in our churches. I thought they had to be overreacting. Conservative American evangelicals were the last people I would have suspected of buying into ideas promoted by the antisemitism of the last two centuries. I was wrong.
Just as these articles appeared, Christian parents started coming to me asking for help because their children were getting caught up in antisemitic propaganda online. While researching the matter I encountered more Christians who were being drawn to these antisemitic ideas. The ideas weren’t new; they were recycled from 20th century antisemitism. I hope you can understand why I found this alarming. I felt it was important to address the matter and felt the blog was a better place than the pulpit. I hoped that an understanding of the history of antisemitism would clarify some things that might open doors for a more profitable discussion.
It didn’t. It upset people. I was sad to discover recently that a few quietly left the church because of what I wrote.
I am very concerned about what this issue is doing in the hearts and lives of believers. I believe there is a lot of confusion and that what is happening at the grassroots is being amplified and complicated by an array of voices in conservative media and conservative politics that claim to be “anti-Israel but not antisemitic”.
I believe a group of policy-driven non-interventionist politicians (e.g., J. D. Vance, Rand Paul, Thomas Massie) are successfully maintaining the line between legitimate criticism of foreign policy and antisemitism. They believe putting America first means the U.S. should avoid funding or fighting for foreign countries. Israel is not singled out; as a foreign nation, it is one of many with which the U.S. should avoid entanglement on principle.
Others, like journalist Tucker Carlson, claim to be in the “anti-Israel but not antisemitic” camp—and most often he is. But at times Tucker flirts with the line between the two positions, and that can be confusing. For example, he sometimes uses language echoing familiar antisemitic tropes, suggesting hidden Israeli influence or disproportionate Israeli sway over the American government. Taken together, these statements can make him sound more antisemitic than anti-Israel.
In a recent interview with Mike Huckabee, Ambassador to Israel, Carlson kept trying to get Huckabee to identify what it means to be a Jew. What are the identifying marks of the Jewish people? When Huckabee offered genetic, ethnic, religious, and covenantal grounds for Jewish peoplehood, Carlson rejected each in turn. The cumulative effect is denial that a Jewish people exists at all. That’s antisemitism.
I’ve noted in the past Carlson’s habit of giving his platform to extremists like Nick Fuentes and Daryl Cooper without challenging their antisemitism.
These practices make it harder for people—especially young Christians—to distinguish between legitimate policy criticism and antisemitism. It makes it easy for the minds of audiences to conflate the politicians, the line-blurring journalists, and the radical extremists. If they all seem to be saying the same thing, supporting the extremist is the same as supporting the politician.
I see this kind of confusion happening. Having a biblical framework in which to sort these difficult matters out is vital to a proper understanding of the Christian faith. I continue to get questions about whether the modern state of Israel fits into the biblical story, and if so how, and if not, why not? What I hope to present in upcoming blogs should help us all understand these difficult issues from a sound biblical perspective.
I wanted to be transparent about the pastoral concerns driving my choice of topic, laying to rest any distress before it arises. We can have political disagreements among us, but we can’t espouse hating people merely for being Jewish. History should have taught us that. I am alarmed that it hasn’t.