Is Christian Anti-Semitism on the Rise?

It seems to be.

In order to understand that question, we first have to define and refine what we mean by antisemitism.

Realclearreligion.com ran an article by Chloe Sparwath on September 9th claiming that Medieval Antisemitism is creeping back into the church. By the church, she is speaking of all of professing Christianity—including Catholics and other groups that would not hold to the core fundamentals of the faith.

To make her point she quoted popular political conservative and professing Catholic, Candace Owens,

A ripe example of this phenomenon is Candace Owens’s latest rant in which she proclaimed she would “literally rather…saw off my own foot than support Israel ever again…Never supporting that demonic nation again” and “I am Catholic, I believe in real demons, and Netanyahu is very clearly a demon.”

The conservative political world is starting to produce antisemites who also are claiming to be Christians on one level or another. While speculation abounds about Tucker Carlson’s personal faith, he has also minimized the atrocities of October 7th and the Holocaust.

The Realclearreligion.com article gives another example of antisemitism in a quote from Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene repeated the same pattern in an X argument with Jewish podcast host Mark Levin. After calling him a psychopath and calling for his firing, she continued, “You can read about Jesus in Isaiah 53:5-12. Jesus will return one day and those that did not recognize him will mourn.” 

So, let’s unpack this a little.

All beliefs are on the table for debate and condemnation.

Criticizing the theology of various sects of Judaism is not antisemitic. The Bible does this. Jews do this among themselves. Baptists denounce the theology of Catholics, and vice versa. There is no freedom of religion without the freedom of theological debate. And theological positions will be held with great passion—after all theological positions have eternal consequences.

As Baptists and New Testament Christians, we will loudly declare that eternal peace with God is found by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We will condemn any works-based salvation theology as unbiblical and eternally damning to those who hold it. This would include various sects of Jewish theology. We would find secularism, whether Jewish or otherwise as also damning before God. Just because someone denies the existence of God does not mean he will avoid standing before His judgment someday.

However, in New Testament Christianity, our ultimate purpose is not to condemn, that condemnation has already occurred (John 3:16-21), but to offer the grace based remedy found in Christ alone.

It is antisemitic to use theology, even forms of Christian theology, as a foundation for calling for the destruction of the Jews or completely disregarding them as a people. Islamic theology, at its core, not only allows for this but encourages it.

It is not antisemitic to criticize a government’s actions.

The nation of Israel can make mistakes–even commit atrocities. Again, even the Jewish people have differences of opinion regarding what types of responses are appropriate in the present political climate. The prophets of old often condemned Jewish kings for making choices contrary to the will of the Jewish God.

However, that criticism must be based on sound judgment, and not a prejudice against the Jews as a people. And it must not minimize the evil that the Jews face in their own nation and world-wide.

It is antisemitic to deny the existential threat that terrorist organizations are to Jews.

The reason for this is that these organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Ayatollahs in Iran continually call for the world-wide murder of the Jews. “From the river to the sea” is a call to commit genocide and it cannot be tolerated. This is also being echoed on college campuses in the US. Calling for the murder of the Jews world-wide, or even in a particular area is the ultimate expression of antisemitism. It is this thinking that enabled the murder of 1 out of every 3 Jews on the earth during World War II. Yes, that statistic is correct. We conveniently forget that at the beginning of World War II, 16.6 million Jews lived on this planet. The Nazis murdered 6 million of them.

You have to willfully be ignorant to deny this call for genocide, and deliberate ignorance is the foundation of antisemitism.

Given this history, it is foolish to assume that a nation is not allowed to defend itself against its enemies, especially when purposefully provoked by them as in the October 7th attack. The Bible allows for self-defense (Exodus 22:2-3). The silliness of demanding no response was demonstrated not long ago when Canadians were instructed to “call 911” and not engage intruders in the face of a home invasion. When faced with an existential threat, reasonable people will take whatever action is necessary for the defense of their own lives and the ones they love.

It is antisemitic to propagate universal racial stereotypes, rumors and accusations.

These aren’t “just jokes” about money or other things. The conspiracy/salacious rumor mill has cost millions of lives through the centuries. Singling out the Jews as “Christ killers” is not only unbiblical, but also incendiary. Jesus laid down His life for us. Using Jews as a scapegoat for social ills is antisemitism. In her Realclearpolitics article, Sparwath got this right.

Throughout history, Jews are scapegoated into whatever society hates most. When Christianity was dominant in medieval Europe, Jews were accused of killing Christian children and using their blood to make matzo ball soup. This outrageous lie emboldened and encouraged Christians to hunt down, maim, and even kill Jewish community members. During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther encouraged Christians to burn down Synagogues, threaten rabbis with death, and drive the Jewish people out of their country.

It is not antisemitism to declare that the judgment of God will one day come on Jews who do not turn to Jesus Christ.

I do not know the full context of the Marjorie Taylor Greene quote, but at first glance, it seems to be in this category. The reason this is not antisemitic is because this basic tenet of biblical Christianity applies equally to all people, not just the Jews. Even among professing evangelicals there will be many who have falsely claimed faith in Christ but who He truly does not know as His children (Matthew 7:20-23).

However, this biblical truth is the offense of the gospel, and it is unsurprising that many Jews would see it as an expression of antisemitism.  Many non-Jews see what the Bible says their own eternal fate as offensive as well.  It is not antisemitism.

It is biblical to see Israel and the Jews as God’s chosen people.

For Bible believing Christians, the place of Israel, and the Jews is clearly laid out. They are God’s chosen people. They are not God’s perfect people. He judged them for their transgressions often.

They remain God’s chosen people. God made promises to Abram—unconditional and eternal promises—that have not yet been fulfilled. These promises were made to Abram not the Church as his substitute. The Church joyfully participates in those promises but not as the replacements for the Jews. Jesus is prophesied to reign one day as the Jewish Messiah. He will reign in Jerusalem. He will reign physically. All nations will follow Him. He will fulfill all the messianic prophecies of the Hebrew Bible, and the Jews on earth will eventually turn to Him in faith.

Wisdom demands we remember the promise that God gave to Abram when He called Abram from Ur to the land that He would show him.

I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 12:3)

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