A merican (wish Periodical Center
April 7, 1944
CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, OHIO
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The 1.9.1 Chronicle
CHRISTIANITY FIGHTS ANTI-SEMITISM
By KENNETH LESLIE
Editor's Note—Kenneth Leslie, distinguished poet and lecturer, is
founder-editor of the non-sectarian monthly journal, "The
Protestant". Mr. Leslie is in the vanguard of those men of
good will—dedicated to the struggle against anti-Semitism.
Not so long ago I sat in on an Christian teacher had one solu-
informal panel held at a Chris- tion for the whole problem. That
thin seminary, devoted to the was to form committees of sub-
problem of anti-Semitism. During stantial citizens drawn from all
the course of the discussion which strata of society who could act
l asted several hourse, only once as a fire brigade to put out anti-
was Christian doctrine mentioned Semitic fires in their incipient
as a possible source of anti- stages.
Semitism. With this single excep-
This
speaker had considerable
tion the entire time was spent
.
or wasted first in giving evidence advice for the Jews and no criti-
ism whatever for Christians.
for the existence of anti-Semi- K.
One
hO
.
felt, too, in listening to
tism; in other words, indicating
im a regretful distaste for the
that the problem is not purely necessity of dealing with this
imaginary, but that anti-Semitism subject at all. The human tragedy
really exists; then pointing out of anti-Semitism had not gripped
sonic of the conditions- of the him .
. If fo re
Jews would do
growth of anti-Semitism, for in- a little more of this and a little
stance that it rises with eco-
Bionic hardship; and pointing out less of f that the whole unpleasant
that since we may expect a pe- mess would be cleared up. In a
riod of economic readjustment burst of self-commiseration he
and consequent hardship sooner revealed that he felt very upset
or later after the war, we may that his "Jewish friends" had got-
also expect a rise in anti-Semi- ten themselves into a "state of
tism; and lastly the panel agreed mind" over this matter.
in anticipating that this rise will
There were several Jewish peo-
be very great and that we shall ple present, mostly refugees with
therefore see conditions in Amer- distinguished records in Europe.
ica similar to what happened in These expressed themselves in
Germany during the rise of darkly pessimistic terms delving
deeply into the apparently inex-
Nazism.
A prominent figure in the haustible pit of their fearfulness.
Christian church made one of the One of them did dare to say that
main contributions to the panel. he sometimes thought the prob-
The burden of his thought was as lem was a problem for non-Jews,
follows: the Jews should not in- but this observation brought no
dulge in a persecution complex response.
which only makes the persecutors
I cite this experience because
more anxious to persecute. The if represents an average ap-
Jews should not demand a na- proach to this problem on the
tional home, especially in full- part of most liberal groups. One
page advertisements in the daily thing they never mention and
newspapers which only exacerbate that is this: The basic anti-Semi-
Americans. Apart from advising tism which is an element in the
the Jews what they should do Christian tradition itself. Now I
or rather what they should re- must digress, briefly, on these
frain from doing, this eminent fundamental attitudes towards
life which we call religions.
Orientations to life (religious)
may exclude one another with-
out inevitably leading to conflict.
But if the exclusiveness of such
orientations have fruit in eco-
nomic conflict and hardship then
there will be civil or international
war. In other words, if the spiri-
tual difference has its material
For a Festive Passover
effect, if it matters, its credal
exclusiveness translates itself
and Sincere Good Wish-
into political-economic exclusive-
ness—then conflict ensues. A
es to the Entire Com-
creed is nothing more than a
belief, a fundamental belief, a
munity for a Happy and
belief men will die for.
Creeds may place men into
Joyous Holiday.
economic bondage but they may
release men from economic bond-
age. Before the Christian creed
had joined the Roman imperial
creed it had been a revolutionary
creed and practice. From Con-
stantine onward to the present
day the Christian creed has been
welded into the various creeds
of power : power of the emperor,
power of the feudal princes, pow-
er of the divine right of kinds.
The Christian creed became a
sinew in the arm of power and
any creed which warned against
the Christian creed must be put
down by that arm. The Jewish
Carpenter whose struggle in be-
half of his exploited people had
been obliterated by the uneasy
OPEN EVENINGS
combination of Roman military
and Jewish ecclesiastical power
11 DETROIT STORES
suffered the ironic fate of being
turned into a symbol of the very
power he had tried to destroy.
In a recent editorial in "The Prot-
_
PASSOVER
GREETINGS
•
ItriniuLA
•
estant" I have cited what I con-
sider to be the latest example of
credal support for political pow-
er: the demarche of the three
creeds, Protestant, Catholic and
Jewish in support of cartel world
hegemony.
Anti-Semitism as we know it
in the western world is an ele-
ment which has been for 2,000
years and more part and parcel
of the Christian tradition. It can
only be dealt with as such. Per-
haps the supreme example of
anti-Semitism in recent years be-
cause of its great influence among
thinking Protestant ministers,
was the remark made by the
editor of The Christian Century
to the effect that anti-Semitism
was due to what he called the
tragic unassimilability of the
Jews. The fact, as indicated by
this remark, that certain members
of a democracy calling them-
selves Christians can call other
members of that democracy aliens
shows how deeply anti-Semitism
has woven itself into the texture
of Christian ideology. We shall
have to reckon with this fact in
America before anything thor-
ough-going can be done about
anti-Semitism.
Evidence that the anti-Semitic
element in Christianity in Amer-
ica is not merely vestigial but is
an active part of its teaching in
parochial and Sunday schools can
be found on the shelves of the
Textbook Commission of "The
Protestant". Some of these books,
in present use in seminaries, are
characterized by the hypnotic
effect with which page on page
through hundreds of pages the
suggestible reader is whipped
into a frenzy of hatred. From
books for grown seminarians
down to "Verses for Tiny Tots"
for children barely to talk, there
is disseminated an attitude which
can only be described as hysteri-
cal or insane.
The
"religious"
advertising
pages of a city like Detroit tell
every Saturday night of the
hate-fests to follow on Sunday.
One, for instance, pictures in
lurid pose a cowboy evangelist
who on November 21 told his
audience, as reported by members
of Ford Local 600 who were
present, and I quote this cowboy
evangelist: "Christ was auburn-
haired, therefore not a Jew; but
the dark, dirty hook-nosed people
you see running around the
streets of Detroit are Jews. They
are the tares in the wheat."
In a period of quiet economic
expansion such exhibitions might
be overlooked. Focal infections
can be absorbed and carried off in
a healthy bloodstream. But when
the organism, be it individual or
social, comes under the heavy
strain of economic dislocation
and adaptation, these focal infec-
tions assume much greater im-
portance. The infection in this
case amounts to a mass insanity
involving millions of individuals
conditioned by a deep-rooted fixed
idea to the effect that the troubles
of the world can be debited di-
rectly to the account of the Jew-
ish people against whom the Cre-
ator of the world has declared
war. Any dutiful citizen of this
democracy must take account of
such mass insanity, come to grips
with it at once and deal with it
in such a way that it will not
wreck our society. Nothing can
be gained by further delay in this
matter. It must be handled with
as much tact as firmness, but it
must be handled with the utmost
firmness. This-is a No. 1 priority
in American education and can-
-
3.,
not be further postponed.
The question is asked: What
can Christianity do to combat
anti-Semitism? The answer is,
Christianity can do practically
all there is to be done to combat
anti-Semitism. It is a job which
democracy must assign to Chris-
tianity: Clean house of this anti-
cratic thought and action.
Sol e Christians are awakening
to the necessity of a revolution
in Christian thought with regard
to its attitude toward the Jews.
Those who have become aware
of this necessity belong to those
groups within the Christian tradi-
tion which have learned to prac-
tice self-criticism. These groups
will not hesitate to cut out the
last fiber of the cancer of anti-
Semitism which may be left in
the body of their teaching and
furthermore will preach the doc-
trine of this excision to their
fellow Christians and will even
go so far as to place their bodies
between the Jewish victim and his
aggressor. This is what Christians
can do about anti-Semitism acting
through the Textbook Commission
of "The Protestant". This is what
they will do.
Our national organization of
over 3,000 Christian ministers
"The Protestant" Textbook Com-
mission) is forming special re-
gional action groups in each me-
tropolitan area. This has already
been done in the Greater Boston
and New York areas with heart-
ening initial success. Organization
in Philadelphia and Chicago is
going forward rapidly under the
direction of Rev. W. Ellis Davies
of the staff of "The Protestant"
who is executive vice chairman
of its textbook commission. Both
"The Protestant" and its text-
book commission are non-sectar-
ian based on the Jewish-Christian
tradition and pray for the col-
laboration of all men of good
will.
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Garments
A gentle airing of woolen gar
ments will blow away stale odors
and lift the nap. Sun baths will
rout moths. Care should be taken
lest colors fade in bright sunlight.
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