Anti-Semitism was condemned this week-end by a number of speakers at the meeting here of the World Conference of Churches. The formation of the state of Israel and its relationship to the problem of anti-Semitism and the Christian world was also reviewed by several church leaders and a special sub-committee on Israel has been formed.
Many of the speakers at the sessions stressed that a sense of respect for and a feeling of guilt towards the Jews permeate the Christian world today as a result of the tragic annihilation of large Jewish communities in Europe. Several of the ecclesiastical leaders have said that the conference will go on record as acknowledging at least the partial guilt of the Christian churches for the racial strife over Israel.
Dr. Conrad Hoffman, secretary of the church and Israel sub-committee, said: “We of the Christian Church must feel our guilt in the fact that we have failed to solve the problem of anti-Semitism,” Dr. Hoffman said, “Christendom failed to prevent the annihilation of 6,000,000 Jews by Hitler — a third of the entire Jewish people.” He added: “We failed to provide any plans for the rescue of the Jews from Hitler. We thereby provoked the present pressure on Palestine.”
Bishop A. Dunn of the Episcopal Church of American said that the political reality of Israel will confuse Christian worship because “Israel” now means something new and different from what is meant in the Bible. Since Israel became a state, Bishop Dunn added, the Christian approach to the Jews has become a political problem of considerable dimensions.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
