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On July 13, 2010 Glenn Beck, who hosts the second biggest show on the Fox News Channel, explained that if Jesus had been a victim instead of a Messiah He would have (quote, unquote) “come back from the dead and made the Jews pay for what they did.” Clearly, Beck believes the deep-rooted Christian lie that the Jews killed Jesus—a vicious lie that has been used to justify the persecution and killing of Jews for many centuries, and that is still used by anti-Semites to this day.
Recently, on October 21, Barbara Walters, of the morning talk show, The View, addressed the topic of people fearing groups of other people, saying that (quote, unquote) “At its extreme, we went for thousands of years saying the Jews killed Christ and it took a long time for people to understand what portion of it, what the history was… what the whole argument was about.” Why does Barbara Walters, a world-famous reporter, explain away the Jews killing Jesus as having something do to with the history and whole argument of the matter? If she is going to bring up this subject why doesn’t she or any of her co-hosts make it clear that the Jews did not kill Jesus? All the ladies of The View have received multiple copies of my last 2 books so, from my perspective, they have no excuse for their ignorance.
Back in 2004, Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ taught the world, once again, that (quote, unquote) “the Jews killed the Lord Jesus.” Consequently, the controversy over the Jews killing Jesus was reignited internationally and not one media mouthpiece ever put this issue to rest by showing how the Jews did not kill Jesus.
Before I show how the Jews did not kill Jesus, understand that Christianity used that vile lie to justify persecuting and killing Jews for the greater part of its history, building anti-Semitism throughout the world, especially in Europe. Here is just a partial list of the long, brutal, bloody history of Christian anti-Semitism (from Bernard Grun’s The Timetables of History and from websites http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/mine/timeline.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Jews_and_Their_Lies).
In the year 325, the First Council of Nicaea met in order to institutionalize the Catholic creed, that it should be the true representation of Christendom. It was agreed that Catholic clergy were forbidden to even talk to Jews. Later, it was decreed that Jews could not marry Catholics or hold public office and that Catholics converting to Jews would be put to death. The Catholic Saint Gregory claimed Jews were “murderers of the Lord,” and Saint Ambrose defined a synagogue was a “refuge of insanity” and “damned by God.” Saint Augustine taught that the Jews killed Jesus and were cursed. In the year 413, Catholic monks invaded Palestine to destroy synagogues and kill Jews at the Western Wall. A year later, Jews in Alexandria, Egypt were expelled by Catholic Saint Cyril.
In the 7th century, Catholics in Toledo, Spain burned Jewish books. In the 8th century, Pope Stephen IV condemned Jews, saying they were “rebellious against God.” In the 9th century, the Archbishop of Lyons, France called Jews “sons of darkness.” In the 10th century, Pope Leo VII encouraged parts of Germany to expel Jews. In the 11th century, Jews were either converted by force or expelled or slaughtered in parts of Germany and France. Pope Urban II sanctified religious terrorism when he ordered the First Crusade to free Christendom of Jews and other “heretics” in Europe, Palestine and Egypt. Those who refused to leave or convert were massacred. In the 12th century, Jews were kicked out of France and their property confiscated. In the 13th century, Jews were kicked out of England and Southern Italy. In Spain, they were ordered to become Christians or leave. In the 14th century, thousands of Jews were killed, having been accused of spreading the Black Plague. Jews were expelled from Hungary and parts of Germany. In the 15th century, Jews were expelled from Austria and Portugal. The Spanish Inquisition began and Jews were ordered to leave Spain or become Christians. In the 16th century, the Portuguese Inquisition began, which was even worse than the Spanish Inquisition. In Germany, Protestantism was in its infancy and its beloved German founder and priest, Martin Luther, called Jews “a whoring people” that are “full of the devil’s feces.” In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Catholic nations of France, Portugal and Spain finally ended their Inquisitions. In the 20th century, anti-Semitism reared its ugly head again in Germany, a country that had once been the northernmost portion of the Holy Roman Reich or Empire for 844 years, until 1806. From 1933 to 1945, Germany became the Third Reich, a term indicating that the Nazi State was the successor of the Holy Roman Empire (German’s Second Empire extended from 1871-1918). The resurgence of anti-Semitism in Germany during this time led to the genocide of Jews that we know as the Holocaust.
For over 15 centuries, generations upon generations of Europeans were saturated with Christianity’s anti-Semitism. When the Inquisitions finally stopped there was still a seething undercurrent of anti-Semitism in Europe. Is it any wonder that only a century later the Nazi Third Reich was able to tap into this well of hatred to commit the Holocaust? To this day, European Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant, take no responsibility in the staggering extermination of the Jews by the Nazis. Do you think for one moment that Christian anti-Semitism bred into the minds of over 15 centuries of Europeans had absolutely nothing to do with the Holocaust? If Christianity had not justified anti-Semitism upon the horrible lie that the Jews killed Jesus, but had instead accepted and embraced Jews with Brotherly Love throughout all those centuries and denounced any notion of anti-Semitism, would the Holocaust have happened?
This is the end of Part 1. Thank You.
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