Stay in Place

The comments to the post I flagged earlier this week are one of the clearest examples of what happens when Jews refuse to take a subservient position before their Christian fellows. For noting that the Catholic Church hardly has clean hands with regards to the Holocaust (particularly from its source as a wellspring of European anti-Semitism for literally millennia), I'm told that the Jews should apologize for communism and (obviously) for killing Christ. It's amazing just how shallow the old views lie buried.

Christians today respect Jews precisely as far as they have in the past: namely, they respect Jews who don't assert any Jewishness. In the past, we had to convert. Today, we simply have to shut up and not assert any theological or social autonomy. The minute Jews try and resist bogus "Judeo-Christian" claims made in our name, or imply that Christian practice might not actually be religion perfected (particularly in how it treats Jews), or note our own experiences being oppressed and persecuted by Christians, all that talk of fellowship flies out the window. There is never -- never -- any acknowledgment that there might a problem on their end. It's always Jewish something -- neurosis, obstinacy, stubbornness, bloodlust, avarice, whatever the slur d'jour -- that is to blame. Jews have no active role in this worldview.

As far as I can see it, the relationship the Christian community (left and right) wants with the Jews is completely hierarchical. They are the enlightened, and we are the damned; they are the teachers, and we are the pupils; they are master, and we are the servant. I'd say it has to change if there is to be any improvement in Jewish-Christian relations. But honestly, I don't see any impetus for Christians to change the ways -- they've shown no inclination that they think the current state of affairs is remotely problematic, and when Jews try to raise their voices to speak out, we're ignored, shunned, or labeled the problem.

It's moments like this when I get full-on separatist. There is simply no indication that Christians feel like listening, learning, or stepping back from the unbelievable arrogance which has characterized their relationship with Jews for centuries. There are individuals who have broken from the mold, and I salute them, but they're few and far between, and might as well be completely absent against the broader backdrop of the Christian community, which continues to organize itself in a fundamentally anti-Semitic, imperialistic fashion. Well forget that. If they feel like having a conversation as equals, they know where to find me. In the meantime, they can know that as far as I'm concerned, they're implicated in an anti-Semitic agenda top to bottom.