ADL'S FOXMAN: NEW TESTAMENT IS ANTI-SEMITIC By Rev. Ted Pike
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, believes anti-Semitism will last as long as Christians accept the New Testament's "lie" that the ancient Pharisees were responsible for the death of Christ. 1
In his recent book, Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism, 2 Foxman claims this "deadly" 3 deception has caused untold Jewish suffering through the millennia. Such New Testament-generated hate culminated in the Holocaust, he claims - but it breaks out afresh as the "Christ-killers" charge is inferred in Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ and readings from the "anti-Semitic" Christian story at Easter.
Foxman says another wave of global anti-Semitism and persecution of Jews could be on the way unless Christians agree to ignore large sections of the New Testament.
What sections will probably be on his "must censor" list? Certainly, it would include Christ's incendiary attacks on the Pharisees, whom He called "whitewashed tombs, full of dead men's bones." 4 Foxman would also censor the Apostle John: "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son does not have the life... Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son." 5 In the book of Revelation, recorded by John, Jesus says those Jews who reject Him are "the synagogue of Satan," 6 another passage Foxman would certainly cut out.
But most importantly, Foxman would censor the multitude of passages in all the Gospels that reveal a pharisaic conspiracy to entrap and finally murder Christ. 7 The book of Acts squarely lays blame for the crucifixion upon the Pharisees and the nation of the Jews. 8 To please Foxman, St. Paul's clear indictment must also be omitted: "The Jews...killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God but hostile to all men." 9
Foxman claims Jews were not responsible for the crucifixion and that Roman officials masterminded Jesus' death. But only one "Roman official" is mentioned in the New Testament as authorizing the crucifixion; Pontius Pilate was a weak-willed political opportunist, reluctant to condemn Christ. He was coerced by an entire Jewish Sanhedrin and a mob of Jewish citizens who screamed, "Crucify him! His blood be upon us and on our children." 10
Foxman's Case Against the New Testament
Foxman summarizes his case against the New Testament:
"Over the last century a growing preponderance of evidence and scholarly study has demonstrated that the execution of Jesus was instigated primarily by the Roman authorities who ruled Palestine in the first century C.E., not by the Jewish people. And the anti-Jewish rhetoric that mars several books of the Christian New Testament has been shown to reflect not historical fact but the rivalry at the time the books were written between Jews who followed Jesus and those who did not.
"Nonetheless, versions of the Gospel narratives that emphasize Jewish guilt (rather than the responsibility of the Roman imperial authorities who actually imposed and carried out the death sentence) were included in the Christian canon. As a result, with every annual reading or reenactment of the story of the death of Jesus in Christian churches, millions of Christians imbibed the notion that the Jews had been guilty of the worst crime in history. Into our own time, the deicide libel has been used to justify hatred of Jews and violence against them, including from Christian pulpits. Through the centuries these denunciations have led to countless outbreaks of violence against Jews, including murderous pogroms, a bitterly ironic betrayal of the legacy of the man Christians revere as the Prince of Peace.
"For almost two thousand years Christian teachings drove the spread of anti-Semitism throughout Europe and beyond. (As we'll see, the current explosion of anti-Semitism in the Moslem Middle East is fueled largely by myths and doctrines that originated in Europe.) The story of Christian anti-Semitism is a long, complicated and tragic one. Scholars such as the late Dr. James Parks have traced a direct line from ancient Christian teachings on Jews and Judaism to the death camps of Hitler." 11
Christians Still Guilty
According to Foxman, Christians in modern times are also very largely responsible for the Holocaust.
"...many Germans and Austrians who spent the week murdering Jews then went to church on Sunday, apparently seeing no inconsistency in their actions and it's also true that the political and social atmosphere in which the persecution and killing of millions of Jews could be seen as broadly acceptable could not have existed without the tacit acceptance of the Christian churches - as well as the ingrained anti-Semitism of twenty centuries of dogma, doctrine and preaching that demonized Jews...because Christians and the Christian churches had spread hatred of Jews for so long, it's impossible for Christians - and in particular the Catholic Church - to regard themselves as passive or innocent bystanders during the Holocaust. The killings could not have happened without the sins of millions Christians - sins of commission as well as sins of omission." 12
Modern Christianity, Foxman asserts, is thus based on hateful, vengeful lies spread by the New Testament. He says the evangelism practiced by devout Christians is also anti-Semitic. "Although it is supposedly motivated by love for the Jews, this idea [that Jews should be converted] is inherently anti-Semitic in that it implicitly denigrates the value of Jewish belief." 13
Threat of Religious Right
But Foxman's allegations go farther still. He says we should fear Christians because they want to take over America! They are "part of a broader strategy to transform American government into a wholly owned subsidiary of the evangelical movement... They seek the power to impose that faith on everyone in America, replacing pluralism and tolerance with theocracy." 14 Ironically, Foxman thus becomes one of the "conspiracy theorists" he usually rails against.
Foxman's ADL exerts enormous influence over at least half million Jewish members of B'nai B'rith worldwide. His dark warnings about the Christian threat helps explain the eagerness of many Jews to oppose Christian symbols, ceremonies, holidays, and values.
Foxman is trying to instill a guilt complex in Christians and a desire in the Jewish people to resist, restrict, and ultimately persecute Christians; 15 ADL/B'nai B'rith hate laws were created for this purpose.
To stimulate Jewish anger at Christians, evil Jewish leaders are creating a truly Big Lie: that the New Testament is inherently evil, anti-Semitic and violence-generating - a book which, like Mein Kampf, should not be read.
How Should Christians Respond to Foxman?
Bible-believing Christians remain extremely reluctant to identify evil Jewish leaders for what they are (Jewish). Such truthtelling, however, would be very constructive. It would embarrass the Jewish community into restraining their brethren in Jewish "civil liberties" groups and the media. Tragically, lack of specificity from evangelicals only gives a green light to evil Jewish leadership, hidden behind a media they control. Eventually, they will convince not only the Jewish people but the world that Christianity is the most hateful and hurtful of the world's religions. A generation from now, our media-reared children may regard Christianity as deserving outright persecution.
The power of Foxman's blame-throwing against Christians inheres in his presumption that all who have ever called themselves Christians are indeed Christians. This allows him to lump together in "collective guilt" those who, throughout history, were Christian in name only with those who do in fact epitomize the words of the gentle Jesus. Christ commanded us to love our neighbors and bless our enemies.
Anyone who behaves in a malicious persecutive manner toward Jews, especially to the extent of the medieval barbarities and pogroms, is not a Christian. A true Christian is simply not responsible for the misdeeds of counterfeit Christians, nor is the New Testament.
Nowhere does the New Testament remotely hint that Christians should persecute Jews, nor does it provide even one example of such persecution. On the contrary, the book of Acts contains at least 20 instances of Christians being persecuted at the urging of Jewish leaders. 16 This is the kind of persecution that ADL's national executive board member, Philadelphia district attorney Lynne Abraham, brought down upon 11 Christians in Philadelphia in 2004. They were jailed and threatened with 47 years in prison and $80,000 fines each, for the "hate crime" of witnessing to homosexuals on a public sidewalk.
Should Christians Change the New Testament?
Can Christians accommodate Foxman and disregard the New Testament? Not without destroying Christianity - the New Testament defines Christianity.
No Christian can omit or de-emphasize any part of the New Testament. To do so is to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, an act for which Christ will be ashamed of that person on the Day of Judgment. 17
After 300 years of blessing 18 from Christian America, a nation established on New Testament values, it is time for Foxman to face reality. Jews, far from being harried victims, have been the coddled darlings of evangelical New Testament-believing Christians since at least the 17th century.
Foxman and Jewish leaders should stop raking up the past and count their present blessings - blessings which would never have come upon them except within a civilization upholding Christ's New Testament message of love and forbearance.
The church must stand resolute against Foxman's demands that it deny the New Testament.
It is Foxman's persecution complex which must end.
End Notes:
1 Most Christians already accommodate Foxman by saying we "all" have crucified Christ by sinning. This doctrine was virtually unheard of before the 1970s when Billy Graham first promoted it; it is neither Biblical nor logical. The Bible does teach that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). It also states those who have once believed and yet apostasized "again crucify…the Son of God" (Heb. 6:6). Yet Scripture does not teach that through some metaphysical alchemy we all participated in the crucifixion. The crucifixion was a unique historical event nearly 2000 years ago when Christ was rejected by His own, the Jewish people. Though Pilate was badgered into authorizing it and a handful of Roman soldiers drove the nails, the force behind the crucifixion was entirely Jewish. The New Testament assertion of the Jewishness of the crucifixion is central to the historic prophecies and claims which ground the Scripture. Without such a reference point there is little significance in Christ's return someday to rescue and absolve a repentant Jewish remnant from the stigma of so heinous a national sin. This may explain why the New Testament repeats its charge of Jewish guilt in about forty different passages. 2 Harper, San Francisco, 2004. 3 "...Christianity developed a set of doctrines that proved to be deadly," p.97. 4 Matt. 23:27. 5 I John 5:12; 2:22. 6 Rev. 3:9. 7 Christ's revelation that He would suffer under the Jews and be killed. Mt. 16:21, Mk. 8:31, Lk. 9:22; "One man should die for the people." "...planned together to kill Him." Jn. 11: 47-53, Jn. 18:14; "Delivered to the chief priests and condemned to death." Mt. 20: 18-19, Mk. 10:33, Lk. 18: 31-33; "...and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and to kill Him." Mt. 26:4, Lk. 22:2, Jn. 7:1; "...to obtain false testimony against Jesus, in order that they might put Him to death." Mt. 26:59; "Why do you seek to kill me?" Jn. 7:19, Jn. 8:37,40; "Is not this the man they are seeking to kill?" Jn 7:25; "Chief priests and elders took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death." "...delivered Him to Pilate." Mt. 27:1-2, Mk. 15:1, Lk. 23:1; "Pilate knew that because of envy they had, delivered Him up." Mt. 27:18, Mk. 15:10; "What are you willing to give to me to deliver Him up to you?" "Chief priests and scribes seeking how they might put Him to death." Mt. 26:15, Mk. 14:10-11, Lk. 22:2-6; "...seeking how to destroy Him." Mk. 11:18, Lk. 19:47; "chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabas, and to put Jesus to death." Mt. 27:20, Mk. 15:11, Lk. 23:18, Jn. 18:40; "...and they shouted ‘crucify Him!" "He ought to die!" Mt. 27:22-23, Mk. 15:13-14, Lk. 23:21-23, Jn. 19:6-7,15; "Pilate delivered Jesus to their will." Mt. 27:26, Mk. 15:15, Lk. 23:24-25, Jn. 19:16; "His blood be upon us and our children!" Mt. 27:25; "...for this reason he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin." Jn 19:11; "...and how the chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to the sentence of death and crucified Him.Lk. 24:20; "...Jesus, whom ye have crucified..." Acts 2:36, Acts 3:14-15, Acts 4:10, Acts 5:30, Acts 13:28, Acts 21:11; "[Jews] who have both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets..." I Thess. 2: 14-16. 8 “...this man...you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” Acts 2:23; “God has made Him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified.” Acts 2:36; “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One...and put to death the Prince of Life...” Acts 3:13-15; “Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified...” Acts 4:10; “Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross,” Acts 5:30; “...the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become,” Acts 7:52; “...they asked Pilate that He be executed,” Acts 13:28. 9 I Thess 2:19, 15. 10 Matt. 27:22, 25. 11 P. 47 and 48. 12 P. 93 and 94. 13 P. 138. 14 P. 140 and 141. 15 To combat "a looming international emergency" of global anti-Semitism, Foxman urges his readers to "work for passage of hate crimes legislation on the national level and in states and localities where no such laws currently exist" (p. 178). ADL has been deeply frustrated over the five failures to pass its Orwellian federal hate bill, "The Local Law Enforcement and Enhancement Act." 16 Acts. 4:1-21; 5:17-18; 5:26-40; 6:9; 7:1-60; 8:1-4; 9:1-2; 11:19; 12:3; 13:50; 14:2-6, 19; 17:5-9; 18:12; 21:27; 22:22; 23:12; 24:1, 27; 25:7. 17 Mark 8:38. 18"Three and one-half million Jewish immigrants arrived on our shores around the turn of the century with an average of $9 per person in their pockets, less than almost any other immigrant group. Six decades later the mean family income of Jews was almost double the national average." (George Gilder, p. 11, Wealth and Poverty)