The rise in antisemitism around the globe is accelerating, we must not ignore it as our ancestors did 100 years ago.

100 years ago antisemitism was commonplace in Europe, America, and many other parts of the world.  It was also nothing new, having been present and poisoning the heart and soul of Christendom since at least the first mass violence against Jews by Christians during the run-up to the Crusades.  It was a spiritual cancer growing there within the Church that successive generations failed to eradicate.  Spasms of violence, mass confiscations of property, and expulsions from various kingdoms and nations had sporadically occurred, but few could envision that the generation growing up in the gruesome shadow of WWI, who would soon begin enduring the Great Depression, would also be the generation to witness history's greatest effort at ethnic genocide.  When Hitler rose to power in Germany the warning signs began to sound, but they were not heeded, not by enough people and not by people who could have done something about it, until it was far too late.  Jewish refugees were not welcome anywhere, including in America.  {A well documented example: VOYAGE OF THE ST. LOUIS - The Holocaust Encyclopedia} They may have proven themselves to be the Greatest Generation in many ways, but in their response to antisemitism, they soundly and profoundly failed.  As the horrors of the Holocaust were revealed to the world in the rubble of WWII, the rallying cry was, "Never Again!"  Shame at having done too little too late had broken the fever of antisemitism, seemingly, it was hoped.

I fear that we're living in the generation that will begin to answer the question of whether or not "Never Again!" can last more than 100 years before it expires.  

ADL Records Dramatic Increase in U.S. Antisemitic Incidents Following Oct. 7 Hamas Massacre

Russia Airport Mob Hunting Jewish Passengers—What We Know Oct 30, 2023

As I have written and said many times in the past, the failure of the Church to not only protect the Jews of Europe and America from violence and discrimination, but also the failure to fully purge that evil from the hearts and minds of those who claim to follow Jesus (himself purposefully and proudly Jewish), is the greatest failure in Church history.  It is our darkest stain and our greatest shame.

God demands more of us, our generation will have the opportunity to demonstrate through word and deed that we have learned from our ancestors mistakes.

** It is entirely possible, and at times even morally responsible, to be critical of the policies of the nation-state of Israel AND at the same time condemn and oppose antisemitism in all of its forms.  Israel should be no more subject to a "Love it or leave it" mantra than America.  We can love America and be critical of her failure just as we can support Jews wherever they may live without having to agree 100% with what the nation of Israel does.  However, the insidious nature of antisemitism compels us to speak with measured wisdom if we feel we must be critical of the nation of Israel, so that criticism of governmental policies and actions does not give encouragement to the racists who are seeking to harm and kill Jews.

It is also entirely possible to condemn terrorism in all of its forms, even to agree that a government is justified in taking military action against terrorists, and at the same time feel compassion and pity for the innocent civilians that are left homeless, wounded, and killed in the process.**

Pray for the Peace of Israel, pray for the Holy Land, pray for the Jews and pray for the Palestinians. 

Below are links to my previous posts on the subject of antisemitism:

Scripture Abuse: 2 Chronicles 7:14, idolatry, nationalism, and antisemitism

Another Mass Murder inspired by the Evil of the "Great Replacement" theory

QAnon's kidnapping and “adrenochroming of children” is just repackaging the medieval antisemitic Blood Libel, the whole movement must be utterly rejected.

I'm not willing to ignore Antisemitism on Christmas Eve (or ever).

Sermon Video: The LORD dwells in Zion - Joel 3

Christian Antisemitism: An utterly absurd oxymoron

Moral Clarity: God help us if we can't see that Vladimir Putin and his war are Evil.

Commenting on the social media feeds of others is "like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."  I recently wrote in support of a post from a fellow minister (who lives outside PA) who had shared a story from The Gospel Coalition regarding a statement released by ten seminaries that were formerly behind the Iron Curtain against Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. {10 Seminaries from Post-Soviet States Issue a Joint Statement - The Gospel Coalition}.  The response to that posting from an individual that I don't know anything about (other than we have one mutual FB friend) was shocking, to me.  This individual called the Gospel Coalition's story propaganda, "TGC has a tendency to push the accepted narrative, and in this case they're apparently declaring which side God and the Church is on and/or routing for. It reads like propaganda."  After further discussion, with myself and the clergy member who posted the link, he wrote, "I don't believe Putin is trying to harm civilians—he certainly has more important locations in mind. There's going to be wars and rumors of wars until the Lord returns, and I don't plan on falling for the cookie cutter narrative pushed by the mainstream media and big tech any time soon."  In the end, I walked away from the conversation (and that of another commenter on the post who shared Russian posts and claimed it was a 'civil war'), as there seemed to be no common understanding of the facts that allow a fruitful discussion to take place, if the video of residential buildings on fire and refugees fleeing don't make an impact, neither will my words.

As the war in Ukraine unfolds, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, displacing millions of refugees, wrecking cities, destroying the Ukrainian economy, and of course maiming and killing countless innocents, it seems clear to most, myself and every clergy person I know included, that this war and the person primarily responsible for starting it is Evil.  Yes, the capital 'E' is on purpose.  It pains me to think that there are Americans, hard to say how many, who could look at the actions of Vladimir Putin over the last two decades, the litany of murdered dissidents, journalists, and exiles killed in the countries they had fled to, plus the cities leveled in Chechnya, Syria, and now Ukraine without being able to call this evil.  It should disturb us all if some claiming to follow Christ can only view this war through their own American Culture War glasses {the dig at the 'mainstream media' being my clue as to that motivation, I don't know the writer of those words at all, but he claimed to be a follower of Jesus}  If this litany of bloodshed, if this repetition of violence isn't evil, what is?

Isaiah 5:20 (NIV)

Woe to those who call evil good

    and good evil,

who put darkness for light

    and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

    and sweet for bitter.

This is indeed an ongoing danger to the Church, one that has reared its ugly head many times in Church history, when those who claim to follow Jesus at the same time embrace for themselves, or others, doing acts that are exceedingly immoral whether in service of 'the greater good' (The Crusades, Inquisition) or enslaved to their own sinful desires (such as Putin's dream of a new Russian Empire for which he is willing to kill many thousands).  

Should we pray for Vladimir Putin?  Certainly not for his success or the continuation of his autocratic rule, for his desires are evil, and actions causing suffering on an epic scale.  For the salvation of his soul?  Absolutely, the same as we pray for the Lost the world over, for by the fruit of his actions he has repeatedly declared himself to be in need of repentance.  God can forgive the vilest of sinners, but not until they turn from their wickedness, of that we have yet to see any sign.

The Holocaust was Evil, and so were the actions of everyone who aided it.  Anyone who cannot see that, who either denies that it took place, or attempts to minimize or justify it, is living in darkness of heart and mind.  There is no comparable action in human history to the Holocaust, it is the ultimate example of the depravity of humanity both singularly (Hitler) and collectively (his willing executioners).  I dislike both as a student of history and a minister, attempts to compare people to Hitler and events to the Holocaust.  To say that something is less egregious, or less evil, than the Holocaust is a given, but sadly there are still many others things that rightly deserve the label, they may not be the ultimate example of evil, but evil they are.  Unless Putin unleashes nuclear weaponry and threatens the existence of life on this planet, he will remain a notch below Hitler, but with every passing day that this war continues, he moves further down that path.

We may not always agree on what ought to be, on what the best path forward is (and that disagreement can be, to an extent, healthy for the Church), but God help us as a Church if we can't see evil for what it is and denounce it.  

QAnon's kidnapping and “adrenochroming of children” is just repackaging the medieval antisemitic Blood Libel, the whole movement must be utterly rejected.

 John 8:44 (NIV)  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

2 Corinthians 11:14 (NIV)  And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

The Truth matters, embracing lies, for whatever reason, is the path of self-destruction.  If the Chruch fails to exorcise this QAnon 'demon' now, it will reap the whirlwind later.

When QAnon first appeared on my radar I shared briefly some responses debunking its odd conspiracy theories, with one respondent telling me that I was wasting my time with such a fringe element.  That was a year ago.  Today, roughly 20% of Americans believe (to an extent) that there really is a global conspiracy of elites to kidnap children for pedophelia and/or 'adrenochroming'.  That this is not actually true has not slowed the ludicrous speed of the spread of these lies.  In addition to endangering our republic, and inspiring violence, the basis of QAnon's primary conspiracy is just a repackaged medieval Blood Libel, and if it grows strong enough, it will lead to mass violence against Jews; again, with so-called Christians cheering them on, again.

In April, "Passsion of the Christ" star Jim Caviezel gave an interview {‘Passion of the Christ’ Star Jim Caviezel Pushes False QAnon Conspiracy at Right-Wing Conference} to a COVID-19 conspiracy theory conference in which he claimed to have knowledge of secret riturals being performed by an international elite to harvest the adreneline from the bodies of children (who would be killed in the process) in order to obtain perpetual youth for those who drank this unholy elixir.  The "adrenochroming of children" is just one of the manifestations of the QAnon conspiracy theory about the kidnapping and abuse of children by a shadowy organization, comprised of elites from the political world and Hollywood; a group significantly more Jewish than the population as a whole.  To those who know the sordid history of the relationship between the Church and Jews, this revival of the medieval Blood Libel is not surprising, as evil ideas do not fully die when discredited, but it is ominous, as the last time the Blood Libel gained a wide audience it began the dark road of modern antisemitism that led to the Holocaust.

The History of the Blood Libel

The following section in bold is verbatim from the Anti-Defamation League website: adl.org

The “blood libel” refers to a centuries-old false allegation that Jews murder Christians – especially Christian children – to use their blood for ritual purposes, such as an ingredient in the baking of Passover matzah (unleavened bread). It is also sometimes called the “ritual murder charge.” The blood libel dates back to the Middle Ages and has persisted despite Jewish denials and official repudiations by the Catholic Church and many secular authorities. Blood libels have frequently led to mob violence and pogroms, and have occasionally led to the decimation of entire Jewish communities.

The blood libel is particularly appalling in light of the fact that Jews follow the Hebrew Bible’s law to not consume any blood, which is found in the book of Leviticus. In order for an animal to be considered kosher, all its blood must have been drained and discarded.

ORIGINS OF THE BLOOD LIBEL

The first ritual muder charge took place in Norwich, England, in the twelfth century. A boy named William was found dead in the woods outside of town, and a monk, Thomas of Monmouth, accused local Jews of torturing him and murdering him in mockery of the crucifixion of Jesus. Although many townspeople did not believe this claim, a cult venerating the boy eventually sprang up. At this time the myth began to circulate that each year, Jewish leaders around the world met to choose a country and a town from which a Christian would be apprehended and murdered.

The blood libel spread throughout the Christian world in the Middle Ages. When a Christian child went missing, it was not uncommon for local Jews to be blamed. Even when there was no evidence that any Jew had anything to do with the missing child, Jews were tortured until they confessed to heinous crimes. Some Christians believed that the four cups of wine that Jews drink at the Passover Seder celebrations were actually blood, or that Jews mixed blood into hamantaschen, sweet pastries eaten on the Jewish holiday of Purim. Others claimed that Jews used Christian blood as a medicine or even as an aphrodisiac. Scholars have documented about 100 blood libels that took place from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries. Many of them resulted in massacres of Jews.

THE BLOOD LIBEL IN MODERN TIMES

The blood libel persisted into modern times. In 1840, members of the Damascus Jewish community were charged with kidnapping and killing a Christian priest who had disappeared. Several notable Jews from Damascus were tortured to extract confessions, and an angry mob destroyed a synagogue and its Torah scrolls. Jews were massacred repeatedly in the Muslim world, partly as a result of this libel, which had been imported from Christian society.

Blood libels continued even into the twentieth century as well. In 1913 a Ukrainian Jew named Menahem Mendel Beilis was charged with ritually killing a Christian child whose body was discovered near a local brick factory in Kiev. During a sensational trial, numerous respected Russian intellectuals and scholars testified that Jews attacked Christians and used their blood in obscene rituals. Ultimately Beilis was acquitted of the charges, but not before horrific anti-Semitic claims were repeated and broadcast throughout Russia.

A blood libel even occurred in Massena, New York, in 1928. When a four-year-old girl went missing from her home, a rumor spread that local Jews had kidnapped and killed her. Crowds gathered outside Massena’s police station, where the town’s rabbi had been summoned. A state trooper questioned the rabbi, and asked him whether Jews offered human sacrifices or used blood in rituals. The girl was eventually found alive and unharmed.

And this discussion of origins from Diarmaid MacCulloch's amazing book: Christianity, the First Three Thousand Years, p. 400-401

One of the characteristics of Western Christianity between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries is its identification of various groups within the Western world as distinct, marginal and a constant potential threat to good order: principlal among such groups were Jews, heretics, lepers and (curiously belatedly) homosexuals.  In 1321 there was a panic all over France, ranging from poor folk to King Philip V himself, that lepers and Jews had combined together with the great external enemy, Islam, to overthrow all good order in Christendom by poisoning wells.  Lepers (as if they had not enough misfortune) were victimized, tortured into confessions and burned at the stake, and the pogroms against Jews were no less horrific.  Muslims were lucky enough to be out of reach on that occasion.  From the mid-twelth century, a particularly persistent and pernicious community response to the occasional abuse and murder of children was to deflect guilt from Christians by blaming Jews for abducting the children for use in rituals.  This so-called 'blood libel' frequently resulted in vicious attacks on Jewish communities.  Sometimes higher clergy did their best to calm the community hysteria in such cases; sometimes they allowed shrine-cults of the murdered victims to develop.  Recurrences of the blood libel persisted into the twentieth century as a blemish on Christian attitudes to Jews, spreading from the West into Orthodoxy in later centuries.

And this chilling conclusion about the path that led to the Holocaust from MacCulloch, p. 948

It will not do to point out the undoubted fact that most Nazis hated Christianity and would have done their best to destroy its insitutional power if they had been victorious.  As the Nazi extermination machine enrolled countless thousands of European Christians as facilitators or uncomplaining bystanders of its industrialized killing of Jews, it could succeed in co-opting them in the work of dehumanizing the victims because the collaborators had absorbed eighteen centuries of Chrstian negative stereotypes of Judaism..the most mendacious and marginalizing such as the 'blood libel'

Lastly, below are quotes from the articles linked at the bottom.

But historians offer another thesis for the purpose QAnon serves. The “nocturnal ritual fantasy”—a term coined by the historian Norman Cohn in his landmark study of European witch trials, Europe’s Inner Demons—is a recurring trope in Western history. And it is often a politically useful one. Deployed by the Romans against early Christians, by Christians against Jews, by Christians against witches, by Catholics against “heretics,” it is a malleable set of accusations that posit that a social out-group is engaged in perverse, ritualistic behaviors that target innocents—and that the out-group and all its enablers must be crushed. - Talia Lavin

It is easier to imagine violent predation by political opponents—and perhaps unleash vengeance against them—when you already believe they consort with demons and drink the blood of children for amusement. - Talia Lavin

“This whole blood libel is very prominent there, the idea of kidnapping children for blood,” said Magda Teter, a Jewish studies professor and author of “Blood Libel: On the Trail of an Antisemitic Myth.” “People are going to start googling ‘killing children for blood.’ That will lead them to anti-Semitism even if they may not be initially inclined.”- Ben Sales

Some of QAnon’s supporters are surely aware that they are targeting Jews. But the ideas of harvesting children’s blood and controlling the world through a secret cabal are anti-Semitic even if the growing numbers of QAnon adherents don’t realize it, or don’t directly refer to Jews, Teter said. These ideas are so old and established, she said, that they function as codes for anti-Semitism and obviate the need to mention Jews directly. - Ben Sales

QAnon, Blood Libel, and the Satanic Panic How the ancient, antisemitic nocturnal ritual fantasy expresses itself through the ages—and explains the right’s fascination with fringe conspiracy theories - by Talia Lavin, The New Republic

Fear and adrenochrome: The conspiracy theory right is addicted to crazy ideas about a drug - by Ben Sixsmith, The Spectator World

QAnon an old form of anti-Semitism in a new package, say experts Some of those tracking conspiracy theory note its use of tropes, vocabulary of anti-Semitic propaganda and blood libels throughout history By Ben Sales, The Times of Israel

** An added connection to antisemitic tropes: QAnon's foe is a shadowy group of elites, not much different from the nonsense that "Jews run the world", that lie was used to devestating effect against Jews.  In addition, two of the biggest villains of Q are the Rothschild family and George Soros, in other words, rich Jews. **

There is NO place in the Church of Jesus for QAnon; period, end of story.  Just as there is not place in the Church of Jesus for antisemitism.  A rational analysis of QAnon's beliefs will demonstrate that at its heart, in addition to being a lie, it is full of antisemitism.  The Church must firmly, fully, and forcefully reject this belief system, even if it causes those who adhere to it to leave the church (showing their true loyalty) and even if it costs some ministers their jobs.  This issue is that serious.

The Absurdity and Danger of analogies to the Holocaust

The proliferation of memes suggesting a connection to current events with the Holocaust ought to give us pause as citizens of a Republic who have the right to Free Speech, and it ought to trouble us further as Christians called to be light in a world of darkness.

1. Every analogy is by definition a minimization of the true horror of the Holocaust.
In theology it is difficult to convey accurate analogies about God because God is unique, nothing truly compares.  Fortunately, the Scriptures contain a number of analogies offered by God, such as that of Father or Shepherd, which we can use without fear that we're straying too far from reality.
When the Holocaust is used as part of an analogy, whichever thing is being compared to it must be of a lesser degree because no event in history can match the Holocaust in terms of the totality of the evil involved, its depth and breadth, its purposefulness {See: The Final Solution}, how many people willingly assisted it {See: Hitler's Willing Executioners}, as well as the danger of those working to deny its reality {See: Holocaust Denial}.  There may be no minimization intended by the creator or the one sharing a meme that uses the Holocaust as its point of comparison, but by drawing a connection between two unequal things, minimization will often be the result.  In the end, the Nazis and their willing accomplices purposefully and systematically murdered six million Jews, eight million Soviet citizens (including civilians and POW's), nearly two million Poles, hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Roma, and the disabled.  Nothing of this magnitude has every happened in human history, whatever thing is upsetting you, it is no Holocaust.

* Exceptions to the rule: Other acts of genocide like that which took place in Rwanda in 1994, against the Armenians during WWI, or those perpetuated against American Indians after 1492.  A sober minded and fact conscious comparison of acts of genocide to each other (sadly, the three examples only scratch the surface in human history) can help us understand how and why this inhumanity has occurred and perhaps even work to stop (or mitigate) such evil in the future.  Let's be honest, comparisons between the Holocaust and the Cultural Revolution seeking to understand their similarities and differences are not what are flooding social media.

2. No American political leader (past or present) has anything like the vision or will of Hitler's embrace of pure evil.
I get it, you don't like (fill in the blank) politician and you're convinced he/she is plotting to destroy our Republic.  Even if that were true (and it isn't) he/she would be a far cry from the next Hitler/Stalin/Mao.  Along the same lines, you may despise this or that creator of news/propaganda, but he/she/they are not remotely in the same league as Joseph Goebbels.  The truth is, for all our failures as a nation, America has rarely produced people as vile as those who propelled the Third Reich, and even more rarely have such evil would-be villains gained true power here.  For example, while there is little positive to say about Senator Joseph McCarthy today, in the end his obsession with finding Communist subversives was defeated through the normal political process and the application of public opinion.  For the most part, America has rejected demagogues, leaving men like KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest as a cautionary tale, not a hero.  When we jump to the comparison of the person(s) we don't like as Hitler or Nazis, we once again minimize how truly evil they were, and we wrongly associate that evil with fellow Americans with whom we disagree.

3. America is not a few steps away from Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia.
One of the things that these memes and analogies assume is that we are but a few steps away from either a fascist dictatorship or a communist totalitarian state.  In other words, they view our Republic as an extremely fragile thing, discount those who would refuse to be led in that direction, and assume that millions of brave men and women that wear the uniform as soldiers, police, and other government agents would go along with the nefarious plans of the liberal or conservative threat that you're afraid of.  Those two countries, and others who have fallen prey to authoritarianism, had significant historical and societal differences from the United States, differences that matter.
In addition, if the analogies to Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia were anything close to the truth, the Church in America would need to be an entirely ineffective force, brittle and ripe for takeover.  These comparisons are not only a sign of a deep pessimism about our country, but about the Church here as well.  Thankfully, pessimism about both America and the Church here is overblown.

4. Holocaust, Hitler, and Nazi memes/analogies shut down dialogue, deepen already existing divisions, and make violence and civil disorder more likely.
Self-fulfilling prophecy is a dangerous thing.  The more we declare that our political adversaries in America are evil enemies who must be stopped at all cost before they enslave and murder us all, the more likely it is that somebody will hear that rhetoric and follow through with violence.  After all, what is the point of attempting to peacefully coexist with genocidal maniacs?  In addition, it is now well known that foreign countries, those who consider themselves to be our geopolitical rivals, are actively using social media to inflame the passions of Americans against each other utilizing fake stories.  The sad thing is, they hardly need bother at times as Americans themselves seem all too eager to proclaim that fellow citizens of this nation are so evil they should be incarcerated, if not lynched.

This trajectory is unsustainable.  Either we will, as a nation, pull back from this destructive path as we have in the past or we will continue to lurch forward toward making our own fears a reality.

I'm not willing to ignore Antisemitism on Christmas Eve (or ever).

Unless the name of Jesus is entirely unknown to you, you probably know that Jesus was a Jew.  He was born of Mary, and raised by Joseph as his earthly father, both of whom were of the tribe of Judah, one of Jacob's sons, who was himself Abraham's grandson.  He was raised in an observant household, circumcised on the eighth day, and went with his family every year to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.  It is for this reason, among others, that Antisemitism by Christians is a slap in the face of God, it is a stain upon the Bride of Christ, and the greatest shame of the people called by God to form the New Covenant.  That being said, it is particularly galling to hear of antisemitism, and from an extremely famous and well connected American, at Christmas.  In this case, the person wallowing in the old racist trope that Jews control the world, is the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani.  The target?  The favorite punching bag of white nationalists and neo-nazis: Jewish billionaire George Soros.  I have no interest in engaging in a debate about the politics of George Soros.  It is well documented that he funds causes that he believes in, much like millions of people all over the globe.  It is his right to support and fund these causes, and it is the right of others to oppose those same causes.  One can disagree with the politics of George Soros, and express that disagreement, without painting him as a nefarious puppet master, and without denigrating his Jewish heritage.  Rudy Giuliani has chosen, and not for the first time, to engage in the latter.  In an interview with New York magazine {A Conversation With Rudy Giuliani Over Bloody Marys at the Mark Hotel By Olivia Nuzzi}{Rudy Giuliani says he's "more of a Jew" than Holocaust survivor George Soros BY SOPHIE LEWIS} he said the following,

“Don’t tell me I’m anti-Semitic if I oppose him,” he said. “Soros is hardly a Jew. I’m more of a Jew than Soros is. I probably know more about — he doesn’t go to church, he doesn’t go to religion — synagogue. He doesn’t belong to a synagogue, he doesn’t support Israel, he’s an enemy of Israel. He’s elected eight anarchist DA’s in the United States. He’s a horrible human being.”

It is perfectly possible to oppose the politics of George Soros without being anti-Semitic, just as it is possible to oppose the politics of Benjamin Netanyahu without being anti-Israel.  What is not possible, is to declare a HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR to be a non-Jew, or to declare yourself (as for example, a person of Italian descent raised as a Roman Catholic) as 'more of a Jew' than any person of Jewish descent, no matter their politics, or lack thereof.  When the Nazis murdered more than 6 million Jews, they didn't ask them what their politics were, and they didn't spare those families who had served the Reich faithfully during WWI, nor even those who were not practicing the faith of Abraham.  Jewish blood, even if only two grandparents were Jewish, was enough for a death sentence (and sometimes not even that, suspicion alone could prove fatal).  {The Nuremberg Laws: Holocaust and Human Behavior}

The family of George Soros faced extermination during the Nazi reign of terror, that of Rudy Giuliani did not.  How did Soros' family in Hungary survive?  By faking documents and pretending to be Christians until the war ended.  It doesn't matter to me, at all, what political party Rudy Giuliani supports, or if he wasn't involved in politics at all.  Antisemitism is a cancer, a despicable stain on the human condition, and an example par excellence of fallen human nature.  It must be condemned, it must be opposed, or in future generations they will wonder how anyone could have forgotten the Holocaust and let it happen again.

Christian Antisemitism: An utterly absurd oxymoron

Tension between Judaism and Christianity goes back to the generation of Jesus and the Apostles.  John the Baptist was accepted as a prophet by the followers of Christ, but rejected by the official leadership of Judaism in Jerusalem.  Likewise, Jesus himself, although like John receiving support from the masses, was rejected by all but a few in the hierarchy of Judaism, a group that was the focus of much of Jesus' ire in his preaching.  In the Early Church, first centered in Jerusalem under the leadership of Jesus' half-brother James, and peopled almost entirely by converts from Judaism (who considered themselves to be reformers of Judaism, not founders of a new religion), there was also tension with the leadership of Judaism which led to the first Christian martyr after Jesus: Stephen. 
The Early Church might have retained a strong connection to Judaism if not for two later developments: the massive success of the Apostle Paul among Gentiles (and concurrent failure among his own people, leading to the anguished thoughts of Romans 9-11, excerpted below), and the destruction of Jerusalem leading to the end of 2nd Temple Judaism and the Diaspora.  As the first generation of the Church came to a close, the organization took on a distinctly Gentile character, and its Jewish origins faded into the background.
Animosity and hostility toward the Jewish minority in what was to become Christendom was not non-existent, but it was never widespread on the level that would become the later pogroms, forced conversions by the Inquisition, and then ultimately genocide at the hands of the Nazis until the Late Middle Ages.  In 1096, in response to Pope Urban II's call for a Crusade to recapture the Holy Land, Peter the Hermit, who raised an army in the Rhineland, perpetuated there the first large scale massacre of Jews by Christians.  To the shame of the Church, this trend has continued to this day, and while few are alive who witnessed the Holocaust, the scourge of Antisemitism residing within those claiming to be a part of the Church remains.

This is, of course, a patent absurdity.  There is no such thing as Christian Antisemitism.  There are those who claim to be Christian who espouse Antisemitism, and there may be those who are indeed Christians whose minds are still infected with Antisemitism, but the two mindsets are diametrically opposed to each other.  In the end, the mind of Christ will prevail, and hate will be banished, or the true un-regenerated nature of those claiming to follow Christ will be revealed and their ongoing hatred will refute any pretense of being a Christ-follower.

There is, and must be, a gap between Christianity and Judaism (as long as one accepts and the other rejects Jesus as the Messiah), but that gap ought to elicit sorrow and compassion on the part of Christians, as it did for the Apostle Paul, and not prejudice or hatred.  We have, as Christians, an undeniable debt toward Judaism, for our New Covenant and New Testament are built upon the Abrahamic/Mosaic Covenant and the Hebrew Scriptures.

It is incumbent upon Christians, always and everywhere, not as an option but an obligation, to reject Antisemitism in both its violent forms and its more subtle conspiracy theories and racial stereotypes, those who fail to do so are doing a disservice to the Gospel, and those who instead embrace them by their attitudes/words/actions are declaring themselves to be fighting against the Word of God, and calling into question their own salvation.

That the Church has failed to live up to the demands of Scripture by allowing Antisemitism to fester and even thrive in its midst, and that the people associated with the Church have been either bystanders to, or complicit in, the brutalization of the Jewish people and eventually their genocide, is the greatest shame and most enduring stain upon the Bride of Christ.  We, collectively, over the past 2,000 years, have failed in this, we will answer to God for that failure, for Christian Antisemitism is an abomination.

Romans 9:3-5 New International Version (NIV)
3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Romans 11:1-6 New International Version (NIV)

11 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Romans 11:11-24 New International Version (NIV)
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

The ungodly growth of Holocaust Denial

The Holocaust which occurred during World War II is the most attested event in the history of mankind.  It is more readily demonstrated than the Moon Landing and the tragedy of 9/11, two of history's other most documented events.  It can be proven to be a FACT by countless documents, photographs, videos, eye witness testimonies, forensic evidence, and of course the grisly structures left behind, including the 110 Concentration Camps (most of which would go on to become Death Camps whose sole purpose was the elimination of undesirable human beings). 

The primary advocates and executioners of Hitler's Final Solution were German Nazis who were assisted by millions of average German civilians, but they also had easily proven assistance from collaborators in every country occupied by the Reich during its short reign of terror.  There were French collaborators, Dutch, Belgian, Czech, Austrian, Bulgarian, Italian, Norwegian, Greek, Hungarian, Romanian, Russian, and yes Polish collaborators too.  This is not an insult to the pride of those nations, just a simple fact, had the United States been under the Nazi jackboot, there would have been plenty of willing Americans helping the Nazi murder American Jews.  There were resistance fighters, brave men and women who stood up against the Nazi war machine in each of those countries, many of whom were ruthlessly hunted down and killed by the Gestapo, but we are lying to ourselves and rewriting history to deny that there were also people throughout Europe, of every nationality, ethnicity, and religious group, who were willing to help the Nazis exterminate the Jews.

Why is this already proven FACT of history relevant today?  The government of Poland has just made it illegal, punishable by up to three years in jail, to state that Poland was anything other than a victim of the Germans by noting the sad fact that some Poles were happy to help the Germans kill their Jewish neighbors.  (Poland's Holocaust Innocence Law)  The world will be shocked by this obvious xenophobic appeal to nationalism by a government that is turning its back on its hard won democracy and embracing authoritarianism, but that shock will wane over time, and the rising tide of Holocaust Denial, particularly in Europe, will continue.

Time will tell if the truth and facts will win out over self-serving lies in the modern world.  The internet has made it possible to verify virtually any fact, but also possible to deny any fact that one doesn't like the implications of. 

What impact does this have upon the Church?  We ought to be able to see the danger.  The Church proclaims the Gospel, a message built upon historical facts, relying upon belief in absolute Truth, and antithetical to the notion that as human beings we have the right to create our own truth/facts.  A world in which the Holocaust is denied is a world hostile to the Gospel, for that reason alone the Church must oppose Holocaust Denial.  Beyond self-interest, however, lies a moral obligation to defend the Truth, to speak on behalf of those murdered by hate, and to continue to accurately and fully proclaim the evil in the heart of man that enabled this darkest moment in human history, lest it arise once more to murder again in the name of Antisemitism.

Sinking to a new low

There are certain things that some "Christian pastors" teach, and I don't use those quotation marks lightly, for it is no small thing to doubt the faith of someone who claims to be a Christian, especially when you don't personally know him/her, but there are some beliefs that go so far beyond the boundaries of a Christian-worldview that they call into question anything else that person might say about faith, Jesus, and the Gospel.  Social media and Youtube have given such people a voice, and during the past twenty years we've seen the chaos and hate spawned by the people of Westboro Baptist Church as they protest at the funerals of American service members.  The utter bankruptcy of their willingness to cause pain to the families of those who have given the 'last full measure of devotion" to their country is obvious to all who don't share their fanaticism.  Alongside the people of Westboro belongs the "pastor" of the Faithful Word Baptist Church, Steven Anderson.  I've known of Steven Anderson for some time, his shrill KJV only claims are well known on the Internet, as was his much publicized public prayer that President Obama would die of a brain tumor.  On top of this foolishness is also added the damning title: Holocaust denier.  There is no legitimate reason to deny the Holocaust that is not fueled by anti-semitism.  The documentation of the Holocaust is so massive and exhaustive that to deny it stretches rationalism beyond its breaking point.  There are few things that Islamic Jihadists and White Neo-Nazis agree upon, denial of the Holocaust is one of them, shouldn't that be a frightening group to join.
It pains me that both of these examples are from those calling themselves "baptists".  Please, those of you who don't know the difference between Christian denominations, or who don't know personally any baptists, please, don't think for a moment that the rest of us have anything at all in common with these who are profaning the names of pastor, baptist, and church.  Sad, but true, this is a new low, lower than the last, that anyone calling himself a Christian would deny that millions upon millions of the descendants of Abraham were murdered in WWII, for shame.

What it takes to defeat evil.

I've been reading in the Bonhoeffer biography about some of the various attempts to kill Hitler throughout the war (there were far more attempts than most people realize beyond the famous Valkyrie plot).  Each attempt ended in failure, for a variety of often mundane reasons.  Bonhoeffer's advice to a Christian German staff lieutenant, Werner Von Haeften, (one of Stauffenberg's aides) who in his duties was close enough at times to Hitler to take out his revolver and shoot him, offers insight.  He cautioned this brave man that to simply kill Hitler was not enough.  Evil could not be so easily defeated; there were many of Hitler's henchmen (Himmler, Goring, Goebbels) who were as vile as he was and who would take up his cause if he were removed.  I think that we've identified Hitler so closely, and for good reason, with the Holocaust, that we've forgotten how very many individuals were a part of the evil he unleashed.  It was not hundreds, or even thousands, but tens of thousands of "ordinary" soldiers, functionaries, and citizens who actions helped the Nazis murder millions.  Beyond them, there were countless others who stood idly by, who failed to act, and whose inaction made them complicit in the crimes against the innocent.
What do we learn from such things?  That evil is not easily defeated.  It can be destroyed, but not in one fell swoop.  We would rather believe that easy solutions exist, that wars can be waged cleanly, that one politician is responsible for our troubles, etc. than come to grips with the reality that evil (on a grand scale) could never exist without many helpers.
We should also remember that the efforts of those who fail to defeat evil, even if they're martyred in the process, are never wasted.  Such honorable sacrifice will always ripple throughout our world and down through time as it inspires others to take action even when the prospects for victory seem slim.
In the end, our responsibility is to God.  We must answer when our time here is over for our efforts and contributions.  Did we stand by and let others suffer?  Did we take action for the sake of Christ?  Among the list of victims of the Nazis are a number of good Christian men and women who were martyred for their faith; they met God with a clean conscience.