Thread by @thephilosotroll

So, obviously this is silly and ridiculous, but it’s one of many cases illustrating a failure of American Christianity to address antisemitism and even offer Christians basic information about Judaism. Let’s talk about that problem a little bit. 🧵

https://twitter.com/drakebratton/status/1566091597816668161

It isn’t just about particular radtrad dingdongs online. Here’s @frmikeschmitz in the NYT insisting on a reading of the Jewish tradition which is false. He’s a priest with a significant internet presence, just being wrong and using “Judeo” as cover for Catholic sectarianism.

https://twitter.com/saltchuler/status/1566499397512445961

I don’t have time to get into why he’s wrong, or all of the levels on which he’s wrong. It’s not accurate on either the question of fetal personhood *or* autonomy, both of which are well discussed in Talmud and by modern #halakha scholars.

“Christians are ignorant of minority religions” will shock nobody outside of Christianity. A surprising number of Christians seem to think they know about other religions as much as religious minorities know about them; it ain’t so. Jews have to learn about Christianity…

In order to navigate ordinary life in America, and far more if (like me) they’re engaged in work with Christians. The converse is not true.

What’s jarring is the certainty and presumed authority with which Christians speak about minority religious movements, especially Judaism. “Well, the Torah says…” or “the Judeo-Christian tradition says…”

You can look at Christian educational materials and see this.

It’s also a part of right wing political strategy. Figures like @RepDonBacon and @RepCuellar started the “Caucus for the Advancement of Torah Values,” which is composed almost entirely of Republicans (except Cuellar) and has no Jewish members.

https://twitter.com/RepDonBacon/status/1483792623320064000

.@TheRaDR has an excellent thread discussing the weaponization of “Judeo-Christian” and its role in absolving Christianity of its history of anti-Judaism. That’s one dimension of this problem of Christian ignorance; a very important one. Not the only one.

https://twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1089589999920660484

Another dimension is simply that Christians superimpose their own values on *historical* Judaism, often insisting that “modern” Jewish identities and values are discontinuous with historical Judaism; and, again, this is parasitic on Christian ignorance of Judaism.

Frankly, I think Jewish groups should be clearer that if Christian denominations are not working to improve their membership’s understanding of Jewish history (and of other religious minorities), then they’re not genuinely engaged in interfaith work. It’s a bare minimum.

Some denominations do not even pretend to be interested in this. American Evangelicals are proud of their ignorance of Judaism. @SBCvoices/@SBCExecComm are a blossoming fountain of proud and wild, politically expedient ignorance about Jewishness, fertilizing antisemitism.

But even organizations that pay lip service to the interfaith project engage in this active Christian disinformation about Jewish history and identity; @USCCB does this at all levels of educational projects, from elementary schools to seminaries.

I’ve spent hundreds (conservatively; may be thousands) of hours with Catholic figures who talk about Judaism in America, and most of them barely understand different denominations and rudiments of Jewish practice. But want to teach “similarities of Jewish and Catholic prayer.”

They want to get into Heschel’s or Buber’s or even Maimonides’ theology of prayer to teach their students about “shared roots” and yet don’t even grasp the basics of the Shema or the Motzi, reciting them in wildly inappropriate (even offensive and blasphemous) ways.

But there’s a worse rub to this; because Jews are a religious minority and believe that interfaith work and building bridges with Christians is necessary for Jewish safety, a lot of Jews shrug these things off. They/we don’t want to correct, because we don’t want to antagonize.

I don’t want to address the merits of that choice; I understand and respect those who choose that approach to talking/educating, and acknowledge its value, even if I disagree and think we should (at least generally) do something different.

But it remains a problem Christians are ignorant of these things, ignorant of the scope of their ignorance, and assertive of falsehoods their ignorance engenders. That’s true not just of individuals, but Christian culture in America as a whole (white Christianity in particular).

Jews see this constantly with how the term “religion” is used in America, as interchangeable doxastic commitments. “Well, you’re a Jewish atheist; I’m talking about *religious* Jews.” I’ve probably heard that a hundred times, often in interfaith contexts…

Contexts where a shared goal was religious “understanding,” and the people in question were trying to learn. That was how bad the Christian education was; even the people who wanted to learn about religious minorities didn’t get the absolute fundamentals.

Judaism is profoundly complicated. Most religions are. I don’t expect Christians to have a deep, sophisticated understanding. There are also levels of understanding. Knowing mezuzahs or yads aren’t necessary; knowing the limits of one’s knowledge is. Christians generally don’t.

Not sure if the quoted tweet was deleted or if I was blocked, but here’s a screengrab.

https://twitter.com/andylevy/status/1566842987224698881