An interesting email from a reader:
Concerning your post ‘Interesting findings from the American Jewish Committee survey…’, specifically the question which asks about anti-semitism in the religious right: I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian home. My father and grandfather were Southern Baptists ministers, my uncle an Assembly of God minister. I was a fervent believer immersed in that world until the age of about 20, and though at 50 I’ve drifted far from fundamentalist dogma, I’m still in contact with friends and family who remain firmly entrenched.I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this perspective, but I haven’t seen much in the way of contradictory evidence. It’s true that anti-Semitism has traditionally had a decent foothold in the rural South (think Theodore Bilbo), but surveys show that anti-Semitism is highly correlated with low education, and until rather recently South was way behind the rest of the U.S. economically and educationally. If so, it would make sense that as the South has caught up with the rest of the country, anti-Semitism based on ignorance would decline, and the philo-Semitism of much evangelical teaching would start to have a more pronounced effect.
Those are my credentials for stating the following; THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT IS STAUNCHLY PRO-JEWISH AND PRO-ISRAEL.
American Bible-belt Christianity, like most religion, is exclusionary of disbelief and teaches that Judaism is an incomplete truth due to it’s rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. Jews, however, are recognized by them as the original chosen people of God and contemporary Israel is seen as the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. As such, fundamentalists feel it is America’s obligation to give Israel all necessary aid and support. If fundies are hostile to Jews, how to explain the widespread support given Israel throughout the Bible-belt states? Those good old boys cheering Israel on at every turn spent their formative years in Sunday School.
The first time I encountered the accusatory “The Jews killed Jesus” was in the media, possibly a movie. Though I don’t doubt it has been used to justify horrible actions against Jews, it wasn’t, and isn’t, a fundamentalist accusation. Of course we knew that Jews called for Jesus’ death, but Jesus, his disciples, Paul, etc. were Jews. These were the Biblical heroes (with Jesus beyond hero status). It was the chief priests, pharisaic types, that were singled out as the particular culprits, and though they were Jews, the chief priests modern counterparts were, in our minds, Catholics or perhaps Episcopalians. The fellows who worshiped outward form rather than the indwelling God. Ritual rather than commitment. As misguided as this might have been, it’s a far cry from the common misperception that Christians blame (and therefore hate) the Jews for the death of Jesus.
In your comments you state that surveys indicate that the religious right is no more anti-semitic than America in general, and though all my evidence is personal and anecdotal, I am sure that they are much less so. When my grandmother was 92 or so, one of her few remaining desires was to visit ‘The Holy Land’. My mother booked the two of them on a church sponsored tour. On returning, the focus of their enthusiasm wasn’t having walked where Jesus walked, or some mystical/religious connection of place. It was what the Jews had accomplished there. Their attitude was that only the chosen could make the desert bloom on such a scale. Who else could put together a nation like that in 50 years! They were buzzing with admiration. Other of my fundamentalist friends have returned feeling the same.
The Israelis have no better friends than these Christians. Nor the Jews in general.
UPDATE: Several readers who grew up in the South, both Jews and Gentiles, have written to agree with both my correspondent and myself, with various minor caveats.
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