The Rev. Chauncey J. Hawkins, minister of the First Congregational Church, San Francisco, pronounced an indictment against the “King of Kings” production in a statement issued here.
“The ‘King of Kings’ is a travesty on Christianity and an insult to the Jew. It pictures a Jesus who never existed and presents the Jewish race in a light that is false to history. It wounds the feelings of liberal-minded followers of the Nazerene and humiliates a noble race. It revives old hatreds which should have been buried long ago and upholds a purely superstitious conception of religion,” said the Rev. Dr. Hawkins.
“Living in an age when we deplore the intolerance of our fathers and the bitterness that has been engendered by it, every man who wants good will to exist between races and who wants facts of history rather than fanciful and theatrical interpretation of them, ought to protest against such a production in our city,” he declared.
Among other Christian clergymen in Northern California who have denounced “The King of Kings” are the Rev. Leslie C. Kelley of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, San Francisco; the Rev. Noel Breed, Petaluma Congregational Church, the Rev. Stanley Armstrong Hunter of St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, and publicists, including John D. Barry.
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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.
