Bishop James A. Pike charged today that the seeds of racial and religious hatred are often planted by the churches themselves by “what they teach, what they fail to teach, and what they are.” Writing in the new issue of Look magazine, Bishop Pike, the Episcopal Bishop of California, declared that many people responsible for acts of hate are Church members.
“The sad and shocking truth is that the roots of bias often reach back to the pulpit and the Sunday School class,” the bishop noted. He cited numerous examples from religious textbooks currently under study in which anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, and anti-Protestant feelings can be aroused by exaggerated or misleading interpretations of the Bible and of history. Bishop Pike cited some distorted accounts of the role of the Jews in the crucifixion of Christ.
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.
