By Lewis Loflin
In 2025, the old specter of Christian anti-Semitism’s been eclipsed—Muslim Jew-hatred and left-wing venom, tangled with anti-Israel obsession, now lead the charge. Since the Holocaust of the 1930s-40s, anti-Semitism’s a raw nerve. Some pinned it on Christianity; others blamed secular humanism. Truth is, it’s both—and more. It’s not just religion—social rot, political upheaval, and sheer irrationality fuel it. Jews get slammed with wild accusations, from medieval wafer-torturing nonsense to modern AIDS-inventing conspiracies. I’m a freethinker, not Christian or Jew, and I’ve spent years dismantling this garbage. Every Jew-bashing claim I’ve seen—well-poisoning, global cabals—collapses under scrutiny. Let’s cut through the myths and madness, tracing Christian anti-Semitism’s roots as its successors take the stage.
The core snag for Christians: if Judaism’s right, Christianity’s wrong. It’s not just “who killed Jesus”—it’s a deeper clash.
Here’s a Christian dodge I’ve seen floating around:
Antisemitism is racism—hatred of Jews as a race. Jews are both race and religion. Non-practicing Jews still claim descent, and Nazis targeted bloodlines, not faith. Converted or not, Jews died.
Fair, but it sidesteps history. If anti-Semitism’s just secular racism, how do you explain Christian anti-Judaism feeding Nazi fires? In Poland, three million Jews died—Catholics often helped converts but ditched the rest. Race wasn’t new in the 19th century either. Spain’s 15th-century “mala sangre” (bad blood) obsession—hereditary Jewishness baptism couldn’t fix—birthed their pure-blood fetish. The Nazis’ Nuremberg Laws (1935) echoed it, stripping Jews of citizenship and rights.
Wilhelm Marr coined “Antisemitismus” in 1873, swapping “Judenhass” (Jew-hate) for a slicker, racial vibe amid Germany’s pseudoscience craze. His 1879 rant, The Victory of Judaism over Germanicism, leaned on Arthur de Gobineau’s race garbage from 1853. Marr’s League of Anti-Semites pushed Jew-expulsion after the 1873 stock crash—conspiracy theories thrive in chaos. By 1881, his “Zwanglose Antisemitische Hefte” and Wilhelm Scherer’s “Antisemiten” in Neue Freie Presse cemented it. “Semitism” popped up around 1885, tied to Jews, not all Semitic peoples—Arabs never got the label despite the linguistics.
Wikipedia’s got it right: anti-Semitism’s always meant Jew-hate, not anti-Arab bias. Extending it’s a political ploy—rejected for good reason. My take, with Gerhard Falk: no Jewish race exists. It’s a religion and culture, not biology. Converts to “Jews for Jesus” or atheist ex-Jews? Not Jews in my book—faith defines it, not blood.
Today, some cry “anti-Semitism” at any Jew-criticism. How do we split religious beefs from racial hate? When does faith morph into “race”?
The Spanish Inquisition (1481)—Ferdinand and Isabella’s brainchild—forced Jews and Muslims to convert or flee. Four to eight thousand “marranos” (secret Jews) and “moriscos” (secret Muslims) got torched, alongside Christian heretics. Anti-Semitism? Not purely—conversion dodged the flames. It was bigotry with a cross, not a swastika.
Martin Luther (1483-1546), Protestantism’s spark, flipped from Jew-friendly to rabid hater when they wouldn’t convert. His screeds—Jews as “anti-Christ,” “poisoners,” “parasites”—urged synagogue-burning and expulsion. Brutal, but not racial—he raged at Anabaptists (tens of thousands dead in broader conflicts) and Unitarians too. John Calvin matched his venom. Luther’s bile, though, fed German Protestantism and, later, Nazi propaganda. Superstitious thug, sure, but “race” wasn’t his game.
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) pushes Jew-conversion—1996 resolution called it salvation for all, Jews included. Evangelicals see it as theology, not hate—Christ’s the only ticket. They target Muslims, Hindus, Mormons too, yet adore Israel. Contrast that: liberal Methodists, United Church of Canada, and Catholics ditched Jew-proselytizing, but some Jews still smell anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, Presbyterian Church (USA) divests from Israel-linked firms—leftist anti-Zionism dressed as piety. Messianic congregations? More “Jews for Jesus” bait—Jews hate it.
Bigotry’s not always anti-Semitism—Luther’s tantrums hit everyone. But when it sticks to Jews, it’s a slippery slope to “blood” talk.
Anti-Israel rants often cloak Jew-hate. Christian Identity—a racist fringe—pairs with leftists fetishizing “Palestinian rights” as a holy cause. Oddly, these “human rights” champs ignore Tibet, Islam’s abuses, Sudan’s Christian slaughter, or Iran’s tyranny—yet scream at Israel. Anti-American, anti-Christian vibes ooze from the same crowd. Liberal churches? Social clubs with a cross, often anti-Israel too.
Secularism swapped Christian dogma for pseudoscience post-Enlightenment. America got tolerance; France got guillotines; Germany got metaphysics and race myths. Anti-Semitism bloomed in the 19th century, but Christian anti-Judaism laid the tracks.
Jews resisting conversion sparked Luther-style meltdowns. Yet Christians spared Jews—unlike Arians or Gnostics, who got erased. Why? Evangelism’s their gig—everyone’s fair game. But a “loving” God sending His Son to die, only to spawn a faith justifying violence when persuasion fails? Hypocrisy stinks.
Post-Rome merger (4th century), Christianity morphed: Jesus faded, Church ruled. “Self-defense” of souls excused terror—heretics, apostates, rival faiths were “spiritual murderers.” No non-Christian displays, no proselytizing against the Church—thinking itself got caged. Books burned, Bible-reading banned at times. Salvation wasn’t Christ; it was Church loyalty.
Pauline Christianity (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox) and Rabbinic Judaism (Pharisee-descended) dominate today. By the 2nd century CE, both distanced themselves from each other—Jews dodging Christian “king” talk, Christians craving Rome’s nod after Bar Kokhba’s revolt (135 CE). Rome saw Christianity wasn’t Jewish, stripping its legal shield.
By the 4th century, Christianity’s statehood flipped the script—laws gutted Jewish rights: no high office, no missionary work, Hebrew Torah banned (553 CE), property seized (545 CE). Justinian’s Code (527-564) crushed Jewish civic life—no synagogues, no public gatherings, no Passover before Easter. Earlier councils—like Elvira (306)—banned intermarriage; Lateran (1215) forced Jew-badges. Islam and Nazis later cribbed these tricks.
Why the paranoia? Judaism’s openness threatened both Church and Rabbis. Hellenistic Jews—big in the diaspora—blended monotheism with ethics, ditching strict rites (Harnack, History of Dogma). Gentiles joined sans circumcision; messianic hype faded. This “second-order Judaism” primed Christianity’s Gentile boom—until Rabbinic crackdowns post-70 CE. Paul, a Hellenist, rode this wave.
Church and Rabbis both feared assimilation—laws isolated Jews, Christians pushed conversion. Reason? Out the window when power’s at stake.
How do you kill God? If Jesus’ death was God’s plan, weren’t the killers His tools? Pilate, a brutal Roman, caving to Jewish pressure smells fishy—he’d slaughter without blinking. Gospels—written post-70 CE—muddy it. Romans crucified Jesus (rebel punishment); stoning was Jewish. Sadducees ran the Temple, puppets to Rome, but Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots bickered too. Jesus’ spats? Jew-on-Jew debates, not “Christian vs. Jew.”
Post-Temple (70 CE), Pharisees won—Rabbinic Judaism. Christians, mostly Gentiles by 100 CE, misread these as anti-Jewish slams, not internal gripes. Pharisees became Gospel villains—some say a caricature to juice Christian claims. “Ioudaioi” might mean “Judeans,” not all Jews—context matters, but blind faith doesn’t care.
Augustine’s spin: Jews, cursed for “deicide,” till the soil of a dead faith. Marginalize, persecute, but let ’em limp on—proof of Christian triumph. Twisted logic.
US News (Nov 3, 2003) calls anti-Zionism the 20th-century anti-Semitism. Leftists—not the Religious Right—peddle Israel-conspiracy trash. Michael Rubin (National Review, May 19, 2004) nails it: The Nation (Sept 2, 2002) kicked off the spiral, smearing Bush’s diverse crew with anonymous “Likud controls all” drivel. Patrick Lang (ex-DIA) and Karen Kwiatkowski (Pentagon crank) fueled it—neocon “coups” and “greater Zion.” Farrakhan and Buchanan lapped it up.
Juan Cole (Salon, Apr 16, 2004) accuses Jewish officials of “Likud ties”—dual-loyalty slurs now haunt academia. Rush Limbaugh (Apr 22, 2003) calls “neocon” a media dog whistle for “Jew.” Bush’s 2004 win (25% Jewish vote) mocks the “Zionist puppet” myth. Cheney, Kirkpatrick—non-Jews—back Israel too, alongside Tibet and Taiwan. Leftist Jews often hate Israel more—faith’s not the driver, ideology is.
This neocon bogeyman’s antiwar left bunk. Business conservatives—China-coddling, Saudi-friendly—override any “Israel-first” fantasy. When society wobbles, Jews get the blame—West or Muslim world, same pattern.
Today, conservative Christians and most Americans back Israel—Jews find allies there, despite history’s scars. Christians butchered plenty, but so did secularists and Muslims. Some Christian schools court Jewish students while left-leaning colleges freeze them out with affirmative action. Leftist anti-Semitism and Arab racism fester in universities, press, and liberal churches like Presbyterian USA—matched by fringe-right Jew-hate.
“Neocon” whispers “Jew” to anti-Semites; “liberal” sometimes means “Jew” to fundies. Judaism’s a faith, not a race—Messianic “Jews” are Christians, atheist “Jews” just atheists. Will Jews face another irrational wave? Leftist “self-haters” wrestle their own side’s venom. I’ve laid out the mess—judge for yourself.
