Staff Reports
A bill that is being pushed to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism is stirring up some concerns from religious groups. Quena Gonzalez, the senior director of government affairs at Family Research Council, expressed that the bill is raising worries about its potential impact on the gospel message. The bill includes “contemporary examples” and one of them involves the use of claims that Jews killed Jesus to characterize Israel or Israelis.
Gonzalez reassured that biblical Christians do not characterize Israelis or modern Israel as responsible for Jesus’s death simply because they are Jewish. Christians have historically denounced this notion, dating back to the church fathers of the first few centuries. The New Testament emphasizes that both ethnic Jews and Gentiles are considered sinners in God’s eyes and can only find salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Bible does not justify anti-semitism. Period.https://t.co/LRCHFC4rN1
— The Washington Stand (@WSHStand) May 6, 2024
The Bible does not assign sole responsibility for Jesus’s death to Jews or Gentiles, but rather emphasizes God’s sovereign involvement in the crucifixion. The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism does not criminalize the gospel, assures Travis Weber, the Family Research Council’s Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs.
The bill’s impact on the interpretation of the gospel message is key to these religious concerns. By emphasizing the biblical stance on Jesus’s death and its implications for both Jews and Gentiles, the conservative rewrite firmly stands against any laws that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic.
