Bill to Combat Antisemitism on Campuses Prompts Backlash From the Right

[sl8]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/us/politics/antisemitism-jews-republicans-democrats-congress.html

Bill to Combat Antisemitism on Campuses Prompts Backlash From the Right

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, said the legislation could make it illegal to assert that Jews killed Jesus, punishing Christians for “believing the Gospel.”



Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, said she opposed the bill because it “could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.”Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

By Annie Karni
Reporting from Washington
May 2, 2024, 4:54 p.m. ET

A bipartisan push in Congress to enact a law cracking down on antisemitic speech on college campuses has prompted a backlash from far-right lawmakers and activists, who argue it could outlaw Christian biblical teachings.

The House passed the legislation, called the Antisemitism Awareness Act, overwhelmingly on Wednesday, and Senate leaders in both parties were working behind the scenes on Thursday to determine whether it would have enough backing to come to a vote in that chamber.
House Republicans rolled the bill out this week as part of their efforts to condemn the pro-Palestinian protests that have surged at university campuses across the country, and to put a political squeeze on Democrats, who they have accused of tolerating antisemitism to please their liberal base.

But in trying to use the issue as a political cudgel against the left, Republicans also called attention to a rift on the right. Some of their members said they firmly believe that Jews killed Jesus Christ, and argued that the bill — which includes such claims in its definition of antisemitism — would outlaw parts of the Bible.

[...]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. As distasteful as this is, her brand of hatred is Constitutionally protected. NT

[sarisataka]

2. "We are against antisemitism,

until it affects our antisemitism"

Jewish deicide is the notion that the Jews as a people are collectively responsible for the killing of Jesus, even through the successive generations following his death.[1][2] A Biblical justification for the charge of Jewish deicide is derived from Matthew 27:24–25.

The notion arose in early Christianity, the charge having been made by Justin Martyr and Melito of Sardis as early as the 2nd century.[3] The accusation that the Jews were Christ-killers fed Christian antisemitism[4] and spurred on acts of violence against Jews such as pogroms, massacres of Jews during the Crusades, expulsions of the Jews from England, France, Spain, Portugal and other places, and torture during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.

In the catechism that was produced by the Council of Trent in the mid-16th century, the Catholic Church taught the belief that the collectivity of sinful humanity was responsible for the death of Jesus, not only the Jews.[5] If one were to claim that only the Jews were responsible for Jesus' death, the logical corollary to this would be that Jesus' redemptive suffering, death and resurrection was for the sins of Jews alone and not all of humanity, as is taught by the Church. In the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI issued the declaration Nostra aetate that repudiated the idea of a collective, multigenerational Jewish guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus. It declared that the accusation could not be made "against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today".[1.

Most other churches do not have any binding position on the matter, but some Christian denominations[which?] have issued declarations against the accusation.[6][7][8]]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_deicide

[Cha]

6. TY 🕯️🕊️💙🇮🇱💙

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. She can't even get her Bible stories right. Herod died when Jesus was a child (or before, depending on the gospel)

The accusation (and it depends on which gospel you pay more attention to ,and what you read into it) is that the Jewish religious authorities handed Jesus over to the Romans to be crucified. Crucifixion was a specifically Roman method of painful execution. All 4 gospels have Jesus arrested by henchmen of the religious authorities - one (John) sends some Roman soldiers along too. Then they hand him over to Pontius Pilate, who was in charge of Jerusalem then.

[sl8]

5. Didn't Pilate supposedly turn him over to Herod Antipas (Herod's son)?

I just looked it up, but I had thought I remembered Herod (II) from "Jesus Christ Superstar".

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Just in Luke - I had forgotten (or never knew) this part

Herod Antipas ruled in Galilee, but not in Jerusalem. The Romans weren't satisfied with the standard of puppet rulers, so they split the region up, and took direct control of Jerusalem and the land around it. Luke has Pilate saying "he's from Galilee? Well then, he's Antipas's problem, not mine" (and I must admit, the KJV uses just "Herod" at that point - I guess I use the historical terms more). And conveniently for the story, Antipas just happens to be visiting Jerusalem at the time, so Pilate can hand him over without throwing the usual timeline of "arrested and executed within 24 hours" off. Antipas says derogatory things about Jesus, but just hands him back to Pilate, who then oversees the execution, the same way as the other 3 gospels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Antipas

So I guess "handed over to Herod" is in a sense OK, but not "to be crucified by the Jews" - the Romans did all the crucifying, and if you use the version where Herod Antipas is involved, he doesn't come out of it too badly (just another "not my problem" response), and it's not something you'd say "if I believe that, I'll get accused of antisemitism" about. Things like the crowd preferring the release of Barabbas, or the arrest by the religious authorities, are more problematic.

[sl8]

8. Thanks for the info.

I don't remember any of the details from my churchgoing days, 40+ years ago.

I do remember most of the lyrics from "Jesus Christ Superstar", though. Maybe hearing it put to music aids the memory? Anyhow, the play has Pilate sending Jesus to Herod, and Herod returning him to Pilate, as you mentioned. Apparently, the playwrights got that part from Luke.

Herod scene, from the movie version:

3:24 min

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) - King Herod's Song Scene

Movieclips

Jesus Christ Superstar - King Herod's Song: King Herod (Joshua Mostel) challenges Jesus (Ted Neeley).

[...]

[Cha]

4. Yeah Pissing Off

All the right people.

🕯️🕊️💙🇮🇱💙