THE CATHOLIC THREAT

In the last decades, Jewish activists and leaders have worked to preserve Jewish identity with a plethora of writing, films, museums and art pieces about the Holocaust. Aggressively they warn that the Shoah can reoccur anytime because Gentiles are untrustworthy and irrationally hateful of Jews. This false lesson unites Jews and is also increasingly used to demonize Christianity. Countless Jewish opinion-makers falsely equate Hitler's malevolent desire to destroy Jews with Christians' benevolent desire to convert them.

The Vatican this month ordered continued use of an old Latin mass that asks God to mercifully convert the hearts of Jews. The powerful Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith denounced the order as "a body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations."

ADL head Abe Foxman announced "We are extremely disappointed and deeply offended that nearly 40 years after the Vatican rightly removed insulting anti-Jewish language from the Good Friday liturgy, that it would now permit Catholics to utter such hurtful and insulting words by praying for Jews to be converted."

The ADL press release suggests the Pope acted to "satisfy a right-wing faction in the Church that rejects change and reconciliation." Is it possible he acted to satisfy Christ? The mass says, "For the conversion of the Jews. Let us pray also for the Jews that the Lord our God may take the veil from their hearts and that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, You do not refuse Your mercy even to the Jews; hear the prayers which we offer for the blindness of that people so that they may acknowledge the light of Your truth, which is Christ, and be delivered from their darkness."

The mass expresses no more or less than basic Christianity. Our desperate need for the saving strength of Christ's atonement is Christianity. St Paul wrote, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.... If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." (1 Cor. 15)

Christianity is not a way to be a good person, not a comfort system, not an "opiate" of hope to numb life’s distress. Christianity is the stunning and demanding revelation that God bridged the abyss between His pure love and our rebellious state; Christ and Christ alone is that bridge. This one belief defines Christianity and separates it from all other religions and ethical systems. If we do not need the Jesus' blood to be saved, Christianity means nothing. It also offends no one.

Abe Foxman's outrage the Catholic prayer for his conversion candidly expresses his Jewish attitude toward the basic heart of Christianity. He is threatened and incensed that some believe (and dare to say) we all--Jew and Gentile, male and female, foolish and wise--must convert and become like small children, humbly trusting the mercy of our Maker to be saved from sin. In a word, he is outraged by Christ.

To unconverted Jews like Foxman, the gospels are every bit as abhorrent as the Catholic mass. In their minds, the apostle Paul is a traitor who deserved his persecution. In reality, Paul deeply and tenderly loved his Jewish brothers and sisters. Witness his heartbroken words, "I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh..." (Rom. 9:2,3)

I believe we all stand today at a crossroads. The time has come for all of us to choose. Will we open our eyes or bow to our selfish ego? Through hate crime laws many seek to excommunicate Christianity from public life. Catholics are the first target, because they are in some ways the easiest. They are often attacked and dismissed by evangelicals. The fight is easier of Christians attack Christians. This in turn serves to form an alliance with those who seek to reduce Christinaity to an outdated lifestyle. Catholics have been historically plagued with scandals and abuses of power. This is the prefered method of attack by the enemy on the Church. The assult comes from the inside out. Catholics hold some beliefs considered odd even by other Christian denominations.

But--most galling--Catholics have frequently been the only Christian source of real criticism of Zionism, the state of Israel, western Jewish activism, and the neocons' Mideast war agenda. As Catholics are targeted, evangelicals should not feel safe. The moment they awaken to the real nature of racist, Christ-persecuting Talmudic Judaism--and speak against it--they too will be called the enemy.

In fact, they don't even have to do that. Abe Foxman's book Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism describes the New Testament itself as a text of hatred. Even absurdly Zionist, war-mongering so-called Christians like John Hagee are suspect as a long as a Bible sits beside their bed.

The first followers of Jesus were Jews who recognized His fulfillment of the promises God gave their fathers. His first persecutors were also Jews, religious fanatics whose pride in legalism, self-righteousness, and sinful self-will drove them to crucify Him.

Today, the conflict continues. As a Christian, it breaks my heart that the gospels' message is now criminalized as "hate speech" in countries like Canada, Holland, and Israel. That is not yet true in America. Our unique freedom of speech should be precious to every American, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, or atheist. The battle against regulation of speech is a battle for the soul of America. It is a battle in which every American is obligated to fight.