New in The Free Press: "Trump's Religious Liberty Commission Was Hijacked by an Antisemite"

Professor Francis Beckwith (Baylor) and I both serve on the President’s Religious Liberty Comission. We felt compelled, as a Catholic and a Jew, to write an interfaith op-ed about the rising tide of antisemitism, that is dressed up in the garb of traditional faiths. The Free Press, one of my favorite publications (you should subscribe), published our piece titled
“Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission Was Hijacked by an Antisemite.”

Here is a key component:

[Carrie Prejean] Boller was way out of her depth and should not be taken seriously now that she has been dismissed. Unfortunately her conduct is indicative of a growing trend among many young Catholics. These young people seem to have become disaffected by modern changes in church liturgy and are drawn to many pre-Vatican II practices. This turn to liturgical traditionalism may have also reinvigorated the sort of antisemitism once embraced by figures like Father Charles Coughlin, a notorious Jew-hater and popular radio personality between the 1920s and 1940s. A Catholic priest told one of us that he was horrified during Good Friday prayers last year when several college-aged young men at the service refused to kneel during the congregation’s prayers for the Jewish people.

Boller and those who think like her are out of step with the teachings of the Catholic Church. In Nostra aetate, the 1965 Vatican II declaration about Catholicism’s relationship to non-Christian religions, the Church affirmed that “God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; he does not repent of the gifts he makes or of the calls he issues.”

This important document issued in the wake of the Holocaust “decries hatred, persecutions, [and] displays of antisemitism directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.” The Vatican II Council also rejected the teaching that Jews are collectively guilty of the killing of Jesus. Boller apparently didn’t get the memo. At the hearing, she read a biblical passage from 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 without the proper theological context: “The Jews who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets. . . ” On a recent podcast, she repeated the claim that “Jews killed Jesus.” Boller purports to speak as a devout Catholic, yet she cannot even be troubled to accurately state the Church’s teachings on Jews.

When, at the hearing, Boller said “I am a Catholic, and Catholics don’t embrace Zionism,” she is fundamentally wrong that Catholicism is inconsistent with Zionism. In 1993, the Holy See established full diplomatic relations with Israel, affirming the legitimacy of the Jewish state’s existence, and thus rejecting anti-Zionism. During his 2009 visit to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI, in affirming his support for a two-state solution, stated unequivocally, “Let it be universally recognized that the State of Israel has the right to exist, and to enjoy peace and security within internationally agreed borders.”

We conclude:

People of all faiths need to stand up now to prevent their doctrines from being hijacked, once again, by antisemitism. We must never forget what happens if faith is corrupted by the world’s oldest hatred.

The oldest form of hatred is on the rise. It must be stopped.

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