Fateful First Steps
This series of blogs is not about opinions on Israeli politics. Like citizens of any free nation, Israelis differ on Israeli politics, so it is no surprise if American opinions on the topic differ. Nor is it about American foreign policy toward Israel or the wars in Gaza or Iran. Political opinions are not antisemitism and not my concern.
Intimations of hatred toward the Jewish people are my concern.
We all know about the mass shootings and death camps conducted by the Nazis. A decisive step on the road to that catastrophe was the publication of Hitler’s Mein Kampf (1925). The propaganda developed from Hitler’s book generated suggestions that shaped how people thought about their Jewish neighbors—repeated themes left just ambiguous enough to grant plausible deniability. In its early stages antisemitism operated more through implication than through verifiable declaration.
Because some Jews were bankers, it was insinuated that Jews secretly manipulated markets for their own gain. Because some Jews owned newspapers, it was insinuated that Jews were secretly shaping public opinion to their own liking. The Nazis falsely alleged that through these means the Jews were spreading cultural corruption: sloth, greed, and perverse sexual lusts (e.g. homosexuality, pedophilia, and prostitution).
Nazis claimed the Jews were a hidden force behind everything. German culture was being degraded and corrupted through the influence of the Jews. The poisoning was so subtle, they said, as to be unnoticeable – until it was too late.
How could the German people have been so easily fooled? Couldn’t they just look at their poorer Jewish neighbors and see that they weren’t bankers or journalists wielding destructive influence? This is where 19th century racial theory came into play.
Religious antagonism toward Jews had existed for centuries. The 1800s saw the emergence of racial theories defining Jews as a biological race, and Jewish evils, the Nazis insisted, were biologically inherited race-wide. Their subtle, cunning ways of corrupting the German-speaking peoples were not merely troublesome behaviors or individual personality traits, but the fixed racial heritage of all Jews.
Why am I saying this? Because these Nazi-era tropes—intimations that demean and devalue Jews as individuals and as a people—the first steps on the road of antisemitism, are re-appearing today. Of more concern to me as a pastor is that over the past year I’ve encountered Nazi-era tropes in our conservative Christian circles. (Why that is the case may be a topic for a future blog.)
History has already gone down that road once to a repulsive destination. Do we conservative Christians really want to take those first steps again? Aren’t those first steps the best place for a pastor to issue the challenge of change? C. S. Lewis said, “If you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road.” The sooner the change of heart, the shorter journey back to what is right.
This was not the essay I had planned to present this week. But it’s an important clarification of the situation I am seeking to address. I don’t personally know anyone advocating physical attacks against Jews, but I regularly encounter intimations that demean and devalue them as individuals and as a people.
One such intimation claims the Jews no longer truly exist as a people and, by extension, that the nation of Israel doesn’t need to exist. I hope to begin explaining what I believe the Bible says about that in my next blog.
Intimations of hatred toward the Jewish people are my concern.
We all know about the mass shootings and death camps conducted by the Nazis. A decisive step on the road to that catastrophe was the publication of Hitler’s Mein Kampf (1925). The propaganda developed from Hitler’s book generated suggestions that shaped how people thought about their Jewish neighbors—repeated themes left just ambiguous enough to grant plausible deniability. In its early stages antisemitism operated more through implication than through verifiable declaration.
Because some Jews were bankers, it was insinuated that Jews secretly manipulated markets for their own gain. Because some Jews owned newspapers, it was insinuated that Jews were secretly shaping public opinion to their own liking. The Nazis falsely alleged that through these means the Jews were spreading cultural corruption: sloth, greed, and perverse sexual lusts (e.g. homosexuality, pedophilia, and prostitution).
Nazis claimed the Jews were a hidden force behind everything. German culture was being degraded and corrupted through the influence of the Jews. The poisoning was so subtle, they said, as to be unnoticeable – until it was too late.
How could the German people have been so easily fooled? Couldn’t they just look at their poorer Jewish neighbors and see that they weren’t bankers or journalists wielding destructive influence? This is where 19th century racial theory came into play.
Religious antagonism toward Jews had existed for centuries. The 1800s saw the emergence of racial theories defining Jews as a biological race, and Jewish evils, the Nazis insisted, were biologically inherited race-wide. Their subtle, cunning ways of corrupting the German-speaking peoples were not merely troublesome behaviors or individual personality traits, but the fixed racial heritage of all Jews.
Why am I saying this? Because these Nazi-era tropes—intimations that demean and devalue Jews as individuals and as a people—the first steps on the road of antisemitism, are re-appearing today. Of more concern to me as a pastor is that over the past year I’ve encountered Nazi-era tropes in our conservative Christian circles. (Why that is the case may be a topic for a future blog.)
History has already gone down that road once to a repulsive destination. Do we conservative Christians really want to take those first steps again? Aren’t those first steps the best place for a pastor to issue the challenge of change? C. S. Lewis said, “If you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road.” The sooner the change of heart, the shorter journey back to what is right.
This was not the essay I had planned to present this week. But it’s an important clarification of the situation I am seeking to address. I don’t personally know anyone advocating physical attacks against Jews, but I regularly encounter intimations that demean and devalue them as individuals and as a people.
One such intimation claims the Jews no longer truly exist as a people and, by extension, that the nation of Israel doesn’t need to exist. I hope to begin explaining what I believe the Bible says about that in my next blog.