CHRISTIANITY (TREE) IS KNOWN BY ITS FRUITS

CHRISTIANITY (TREE) IS KNOWN BY ITS FRUITS

By Hugh Fogelman

“Ye shall know them by their fruits... Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” (Matthew 7:16-18)

What kind of fruit did Christianity bring forth for the Jews.

Studying anti-Jewish incidents in history clearly shows that the arguments, accusations and actions of the anti-Semites of our day are not new, but old and very dangerous. The historical incidents related here are examples taken from a variety of locations over time. Sometimes, Jews were protected by the church against the civil authorities. At other times these authorities protected them against a raging church. Then there were times when both the church and the civil authorities persecuted them, or would not stop mob attacks. Some of these attacks were incited by the lower clergy against the will of the bishops.

The following list of incidents is meant to create an interest in the study of the troubled Christian-Jewish relationship. It shows that the Nazi Holocaust was preceded by a long history of ill-treatment of Jews in so-called Christian countries, often by so-called Christians and that the Christian church through its "teaching of contempt" (Jules Isaac) contributed in great measure to Jewish suffering and deaths.

The categories of anti-Jewish behavior range from hateful words to mass murder:

Hateful words

in writings, sermons, plays (especially passion plays), tales, jokes and lies about conspiracies;

Accusations

of deicide (murder of God/Jesus), ritual murder, desecration of the host (of the Eucharist), conspiracies;

Threats or coercions

to extort ransom money, to drive from home, to convert;

Restrictions

on Jewish religious practice, social interaction, trade and professions, civil and political rights, residence (ghettoization), ownership;

Force

used to make Jews pay higher taxes, take away their children (to raise them as Christians), lootings, vandalism, expulsions;

Violence

in the attack of individual Jews and whole communities―in beatings and torture;

Murder and mass murder

in "judicial" hangings, burnings, slaughters in riots, mob attacks, Crusades and pogroms; and

The Nazi "Final Solution"

to the so-called "Jewish Problem" in the Holocaust.

It turns out to really have been a Christian problem throughout history.

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