Declaring that his primary concern was “with the proper relations between Christians and Jews in this country,” Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, president emeritus of the Union Theological Seminary, warned yesterday against political Zionism. He spoke at a luncheon meeting of the New York Chapter of the American for Judaism.
“No group among us has been more fervently and sincerely American than citizens of Jewish faith,” he said. “They have been foremost in public spirit and civic service, in generous support of institutions which promote public welfare. Many of them have been elected to public office and no one has questioned the single-minded-ness with which they have given themselves to the commonwealth. No one has the slightest grounds for questioning any division of their allegiance to this nation. But this new concern on the part of numbers of Jews for a national state startled their fellow American citizens.” He expressed the opinion that “Judaism is a religion and not a nation.
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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.
