{"id":192,"date":"2011-08-11T20:39:03","date_gmt":"2011-08-12T00:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=192"},"modified":"2011-08-11T20:39:03","modified_gmt":"2011-08-12T00:39:03","slug":"thoughts-on-the-charge-of-anti-semitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/08\/thoughts-on-the-charge-of-anti-semitism.html","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on the Charge of “Anti-Semitism”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A while ago, I received an email from a Jewish reader charging me with \u201canti-Semitism.\u201d\u00a0 Since, being a mere <\/em>Christian, I lack those unique insights into the dark recesses of the Gentile psyche with which Jews are apparently gifted, I can only speculate as to what it was I said that compelled my critic to arrive at his verdict concerning my feelings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since my article had nothing at all to do with Judaism, I suspect that it was my proclivity for the name \u201cOld Testament\u201d to describe the better part of the Christian Bible that revealed my \u201canti-Semitism.\u201d\u00a0 The reader was clear and to the point: \u201cThe correct <\/em>term,\u201d he insisted, \u201cis the Hebrew Bible.\u201d\u00a0 To make sure that his diagnosis of my \u201canti-Semitism\u201d wasn\u2019t lost upon me, he concluded his perceptive analysis by telling me to send my regards to \u201cyour good friend, Mel Gibson.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This episode got me to thinking about \u201canti-Semitism.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

First of all, like \u201cracism,\u201d \u201csexism,\u201d \u201chomophobia,\u201d and every other transgression in the catalogue of \u201cPolitically Correct\u201d sins, \u201canti-Semitism\u201d is a term mired in ambiguity.\u00a0 In fact, it may very well even be meaningless.\u00a0 <\/em>After all, when someone like myself, a Christian with the audacity to actually refer to the first part of my tradition\u2019s Sacred Scriptures as the \u201cOld Testament,\u201d is branded with the same pejorative term as are the architects of the Holocaust, it should be obvious to anyone with the slightest familiarity with either rudimentary logic or moral sensibility that this is a term that, at a minimum, warrants inspection.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Second, if, for argument\u2019s sake, we are just going to accept that the \u201canti-Semite\u201d is one who dislikes Jews, what is supposed to follow from this?\u00a0 Three observations are here in order.<\/p>\n

(1) Feelings are not <\/em>action-specifying.\u00a0 Hatred and love, indifference and partiality, anger and calm, belief in a group\u2019s superiority and belief in that group\u2019s inferiority can all lead to one and the same kinds of action.\u00a0 The Humanitarian no less (and usually more often) than the misanthrope has resorted to murder and genocide.<\/p>\n

(2) Feelings are irrelevant to whether the propositions from which they arise are true or not.\u00a0 For example, for as ridiculous as I believe it is, let us just assume for the moment that Mel Gibson hated with every fiber of his being every Jew who rejects Christ.\u00a0 Whether his depiction of the passion of Christ is historically or Biblically accurate, or whether it is an aesthetic masterpiece, or even whether it inspires or reinforces an animus toward Jews are questions that can and should be addressed independently of whether he personally dislikes Jews.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(3) The charge of \u201canti-Semitism,\u201d like the charge that one is \u201cracist,\u201d if it should be a part of a conversation at all, should be at its beginning.\u00a0 As it currently stands, it is a conversation-stopper.\u00a0 That one dislikes this person or group invites an inquiry into the reasons <\/em>behind <\/em>the feelings that one has.\u00a0 Outside of these Politically Correct thought crimes, we seem to instinctively know this.\u00a0 If you invite me to a party at so-and-so\u2019s house and I refuse on account that I dislike that person, chances are your curiosity will be piqued as to why I feel as I do.\u00a0 If we are close enough to one another, you may even indulge your curiosity by questioning me.\u00a0 And when it comes to the issue of the animus that members of non-white groups have toward whites, the search for \u201croot causes\u201d is given top priority.<\/p>\n

There is another thought that this allegation of \u201canti-Semitism\u201d provoked in me.\u00a0 While I would no more think to deny that Christians have committed violence against Jews than I would think to deny that Jews have committed violence against Christians, and while I am the first to admit that both Jews and Christians have been known to be all too forgetful of Christianity\u2019s origins, the fact of the matter is that the Christian is the last person to be confused with one who hates all things Jewish. The reason for this is obvious: it is the Christian alone who regards a Jew <\/em>as his God.\u00a0 <\/em>Far from deifying a Jew and accepting their Sacred Scriptures as one\u2019s own, one would think that a person who truly hated Jews and Judaism would, quite literally, demonize <\/em>them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, the ease and frequency with which Christians are branded as \u201canti-Semites\u201d leads me to conclude two things about the charge.\u00a0 First, given its proven capacity to ruin reputations and professional lives, it is a weapon wielded to intimidate and suppress.\u00a0 Second, it is for the most part a smokescreen intended to disguise what fundamentally amounts to the anti-Christian hostilities of the anti-\u201canti-Semite.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is my hope that in the future, those Christians who find themselves on the receiving end of this allegation bear in mind these considerations, and those Jews (and others) who are disposed to launch this smear think twice about them before doing so.<\/p>\n

Jack Kerwick, Ph.D.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A while ago, I received an email from a Jewish reader charging me with \u201canti-Semitism.\u201d\u00a0 Since, being a mere Christian, I lack those unique insights into the dark recesses of the Gentile psyche with which Jews are apparently gifted, I can only speculate as to what it was I said that compelled my critic to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThoughts on the Charge of "Anti-Semitism"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thoughts on the Charge of "Anti-Semitism"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A while ago, I received an email from a Jewish reader charging me with \u201canti-Semitism.\u201d\u00a0 Since, being a mere Christian, I lack those unique insights into the dark recesses of the Gentile psyche with which Jews are apparently gifted, I can only speculate as to what it was I said that compelled my critic to…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/08\/thoughts-on-the-charge-of-anti-semitism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-12T00:39:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jack Kerwick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thoughts on the Charge of \"Anti-Semitism\"","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thoughts on the Charge of \"Anti-Semitism\"","og_description":"A while ago, I received an email from a Jewish reader charging me with \u201canti-Semitism.\u201d\u00a0 Since, being a mere Christian, I lack those unique insights into the dark recesses of the Gentile psyche with which Jews are apparently gifted, I can only speculate as to what it was I said that compelled my critic to…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/08\/thoughts-on-the-charge-of-anti-semitism.html","og_site_name":"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture","article_published_time":"2011-08-12T00:39:03+00:00","author":"Jack Kerwick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/08\/thoughts-on-the-charge-of-anti-semitism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/08\/thoughts-on-the-charge-of-anti-semitism.html","name":"Thoughts on the Charge of \"Anti-Semitism\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-08-12T00:39:03+00:00","dateModified":"2011-08-12T00:39:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/6832222998cc14717ded1849531201c5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/08\/thoughts-on-the-charge-of-anti-semitism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/08\/thoughts-on-the-charge-of-anti-semitism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2011\/08\/thoughts-on-the-charge-of-anti-semitism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thoughts on the Charge of “Anti-Semitism”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/","name":"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - 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