The newly formed national “Christian Citizen” organization “poses the threat of relegating Jews and other non-Christians to positions of fourth-class citizenship in this country,” in the opinion of Stanley S. Jacobs, director of the San Francisco Anti-Defamation League office.
The ADL official, in a statement published here, said that the “Christian Citizens” organization was a movement “to train Bible-believing Christians in how to win at practical policies” by developing party workers and candidates for public office with the goal of making it possible “for evangelical Christians to control local, state and Federal governments.”
He said the originator of the program was a wealthy Denver real estate developer, Gerri Von Freilick, who limits membership in the organization to those who “believe in Christ, the Bible and the Constitution.”
The ADL official explained that while Von Freilick denies the organization is anti-Semitic, the Denver promoter insists that all candidates for public office must “give a public commitment to a firm belief in Christ and must give testimony of his personal experience with Christ and accept the Bible as the infallible word of God.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.