The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Monday released the text of a letter it sent to cartoonist Garry Trudeau over his May 31, 2009 “Doonesbury” strip (at left, click on the image or here for full view). Several of the comic’s characters, including Sam and Rev. Sloan, are discussing Jesus Christ, and how the one time Christ “really only snaps once” in the Bible was “with the moneylenders.”

Which, apparently, was enough to spur the ADL into action. Check out the full text of the letter, here.  Not all will agree with the assessment.

On Tuesday, the Rabbi David Saperstein of the Union for Reform Judaism weighed in on the comments section of Trudeau’s site. “To be clear, I write as a fan,” he states. “The strip, we hope and assume unwittingly, perpetuated centuries of anti-Semitic canards about Biblical-era moneylenders -- who were almost uniformly Jewish -- as the enemies of Jesus and the villains of the New Testament. As you know, similar caricatures have been used throughout the years to incite hate against the Jewish community and have cultivated and perpetuated offensive stereotypes.” -- Shawn Moynihan