Few Jewish College Students Won over to Christian Evangelism

The current surge of Christian evangelism is finding few converts among Jewish college students, a B’nai B’rith survey of 80 American campuses disclosed yesterday. The study, conducted by the B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundations to assess the “extent and significance” of the Jesus movement at colleges with proportionately large Jewish enrollments, found only a “negligible percentage” of Jews attracted to fundamentalist appeals, although “some form of missionary activity” was reported at 50 of the schools.

The findings, released at the annual meeting of the B’nai B’rith policy-making Board of Governors, challenged recent estimates that as many as 7000 Jewish youths are being converted to Christianity each year. Dr. Alfred Jospe, Hillel national director, described such claims as “zealously overblown” for Jewish college students. “While aggressive Christian proselytizing inherently constitutes a threat,” the present reality of Jewish student reaction “does not justify some of the rising fears and alarm in the Jewish community” Dr. Jospe declared.

He rejected the contention of Jewish spokesmen who have intimated that the rise in evangelism is “making the campus a Jewish disaster area.” The study was conducted in two separate samplings, the first taken late in the spring semester, in which 15 campuses reported known Jewish conversions to Christianity. A few large institutions–the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania and UCLA — listed “25 to 30.” The others reported “one,” “two” or “fewer than five.”

LITTLE ALLURE FOR JEWISH YOUTH

A follow-up survey during the fall term, covering 60 of the same schools showed that the missionizing efforts of such groups as “well-organized, and well-founded” Campus Crusade for Christ, which adopts a conventional campus style, and “Jesus Freaks” which makes its appeal to young, counter-culture, holds little allure for the 400,000 Jewish youths at American colleges.

The findings, compiled by Dr. Samuel Z. Fishman, a Hillel assistant national director, noted that the Jesus movement is directed to “the campus at large, not specifically Jewish students” but that the widespread publicity given to “Jews for Jesus” groups has created a false impression of extensive Jewish conversion. The evangelical movements, the study added, generally function “outside the pale of university campus ministries and, almost always, represent a theological, financial and personal challenge to the established ministry.”

Hillel directors at the schools surveyed said that anti-Semitism was not “an identifiable factor” in any of the missionary programs. The most intensive activity by the Jesus movement is taking place at West Coast schools, the study reported. Campuses on the eastern seaboard are next in popularity. “Virtual inactivity” was reported by many schools in the south and southwest, a region where fundamentalist denominations are strong. The study noted that Hillel directors have initiated programs of counteraction, generally through lectures presenting Jewish views of Jesus. One Hillel director reportedly conducts sessions for Jewish students on “everything you’ve wanted to know about Jesus and were afraid to ask.”