D059 Addressing Antisemitism in the Church and the World
During its April 18-20 meeting in Raleigh, the Executive Council adopted a “Resolution on Gaza” (MB 013). Its seventh resolved states that Executive Council “continue[s] to unreservedly reject all forms of antisemitism and anti-Jewish hatred, and all forms of Islamophobia, including any conflation of the acts of national governments with the sentiments, beliefs, or actions of Jews and Muslims around the world.” The current resolution offers the 81st General Convention an opportunity to affirm such a commitment as both urgent and part of an ongoing witness with past General Conventions, including resolutions such as 2022-C030, 2018-A230, 2015-A062, and 1997-D055. It recognizes that The Episcopal Church has never explicitly condemned antisemitism as a prejudice that manifests as than just theological anti-Judaism, including racial bias and violence.
In a February 2024 speech, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, pointed out that antisemitism is “not a hatred that is limited to one particular place, orientation, or political outlook.” The Episcopal Church is guilty of perpetuating this hatred. In 2018, we made the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Top Ten Worst Global Anti-Semitic Incidents list for false claims about Israeli brutality towards Arabs that were made on the floor of the 79th General Convention.
The Pew Research Center documented a significant increase in antisemitic incidents since at least 2020, when Jewish people were among the groups scapegoated for the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. Current news from the United States, Europe, Latin America, and across the globe reveals this trend only worsening since October 7, 2023.
The Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations called for “A National Reckoning of the Soul” in December 2022. Our denomination has made varied attempts at such a reckoning for decades. When the 61st General Convention rejected the charge of deicide against the Jews in 1964, that resolution was greeted as “the strongest [statement] on the subject ever issued by a major Protestant body in this country” by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Yet it is only at the 80th General Convention that our denomination first considered authorizing use of alternative texts for the Good Friday liturgy (2024-A115) in light of historical links with anti-Jewish violence. “Establish a Task Force to Address Anti-Semitic Language in Common Texts” (2022-C030) passed at that same General Convention, but that task force was neither funded nor convened. A resolution explicitly rejecting supersessionism or the teaching of contempt has not been considered by any General Convention. There is more work to be done if The Episcopal Church truly wishes to amend our shared life and exorcise itself of antisemitic biases, and this resolution should be understood as only a starting point.
In our Baptismal Covenant, we commit ourselves to “striv[ing] for justice and peace among all people, […] respect[ing] the dignity of every human being.” We cannot allow our Jewish neighbors to be an exception, cannot strive any less for justice and peace for their communities. We respect Jewish dignity when theological and practical guidance becomes common, and we embark on sustained efforts to engage in dialogue with the glorious polyphony of Judaism.
Support Documents:
Christian-Jewish Relations Theological and Practical Guidance for Episcopalians
Relaciones judeo-cristianas Guía teológica y práctica para episcopales
Gods Unfailing Word Principles
La palabra inquebrantable principios
Explanation
During its April 18-20 meeting in Raleigh, the Executive Council adopted a “Resolution on Gaza” (MB 013). Its seventh resolved states that Executive Council “continue[s] to unreservedly reject all forms of antisemitism and anti-Jewish hatred, and all forms of Islamophobia, including any conflation of the acts of national governments with the sentiments, beliefs, or actions of Jews and Muslims around the world.” The current resolution offers the 81st General Convention an opportunity to affirm such a commitment as both urgent and part of an ongoing witness with past General Conventions, including resolutions such as 2022-C030, 2018-A230, 2015-A062, and 1997-D055. It recognizes that The Episcopal Church has never explicitly condemned antisemitism as a prejudice that manifests as than just theological anti-Judaism, including racial bias and violence.
In a February 2024 speech, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, pointed out that antisemitism is “not a hatred that is limited to one particular place, orientation, or political outlook.” The Episcopal Church is guilty of perpetuating this hatred. In 2018, we made the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Top Ten Worst Global Anti-Semitic Incidents list for false claims about Israeli brutality towards Arabs that were made on the floor of the 79th General Convention.
The Pew Research Center documented a significant increase in antisemitic incidents since at least 2020, when Jewish people were among the groups scapegoated for the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. Current news from the United States, Europe, Latin America, and across the globe reveals this trend only worsening since October 7, 2023.
The Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations called for “A National Reckoning of the Soul” in December 2022. Our denomination has made varied attempts at such a reckoning for decades. When the 61st General Convention rejected the charge of deicide against the Jews in 1964, that resolution was greeted as “the strongest [statement] on the subject ever issued by a major Protestant body in this country” by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Yet it is only at the 80th General Convention that our denomination first considered authorizing use of alternative texts for the Good Friday liturgy (2024-A115) in light of historical links with anti-Jewish violence. “Establish a Task Force to Address Anti-Semitic Language in Common Texts” (2022-C030) passed at that same General Convention, but that task force was neither funded nor convened. A resolution explicitly rejecting supersessionism or the teaching of contempt has not been considered by any General Convention. There is more work to be done if The Episcopal Church truly wishes to amend our shared life and exorcise itself of antisemitic biases, and this resolution should be understood as only a starting point.
In our Baptismal Covenant, we commit ourselves to “striv[ing] for justice and peace among all people, […] respect[ing] the dignity of every human being.” We cannot allow our Jewish neighbors to be an exception, cannot strive any less for justice and peace for their communities. We respect Jewish dignity when theological and practical guidance becomes common, and we embark on sustained efforts to engage in dialogue with the glorious polyphony of Judaism.
Support Documents:
Christian-Jewish Relations Theological and Practical Guidance for Episcopalians
Relaciones judeo-cristianas Guía teológica y práctica para episcopales