Irrespective of the religion they represent, missions that target any UK "racial" or ethnic minority should be outlawed under an amendment to Britain's Race Relations Act 1976 (hereafter the 1976 Act). This would not curtail the freedom of religions to propagate their beliefs because they could still form general non-targeted missions for this purpose.
There are now more Christian missions to the Jews operating in the UK than there are major centres of Jewish population. In targeting Jews, these missions practice direct "racial" or ethnic discrimination resulting in victimisation. The "racial" or ethnic discrimination is obvious from even a brief consideration of the structure of the Jewish community. As with the non-Jewish population of the UK, a certain proportion of Jews are irreligious. However, only conversion to a religion other than Judaism effectively excludes even atheists from membership of the Hebrew family, community and people. So when a mission targets "the Jews" the grounds for doing so must invariably be "racial" or ethnic. How could it be otherwise when religious Jews constitute only a sub-population of the total authentic ethnic Jewish community?
As I understand it, intention does not in law absolve a discriminator from responsibility for his or her discriminatory conduct. This is, for example, the case generally with unjustified indirect "racial" or ethnic discrimination under the 1976 Act. So if a mission says that its discrimination is on religious grounds this is no excuse in law if in practice that mission actually discriminates on "racial" or ethnic grounds. In my experience, missions that target Jews are anyway generally well aware that they are practising "racial" or ethnic discrimination. They know that "the Jews" constitute more than just a religious minority.
The "racial" or ethnic discrimination practised by missions to the Jews is not just an unfortunate and unintended side effect of targeting "the Jews" on religious grounds. Racial stereotypes of "Jewish" identity abound among Christian missions targeting Jews as the following examples will demonstrate. Unless otherwise noted, all missions mentioned below are British. All highlighting is mine.
For example, Mr. John Ross (Chief Executive of the "Christian Witness to Israel") wrote in a 1992 letter that,
"Though Jewish parents can biologically reproduce Jewish children, they cannot reproduce children that believe in Jesus. Racial origins are fixed by parentage but religious convictions are not a matter of heredity".
Later he went on to affirm that the CWI is,
"... against attempts to rob Jewish people of their true racial identity".
At the time Mr. Ross was writing as the European Co-ordinator of the "Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism", a Danish based group that monitors the Jewish community and collects and distributes information world-wide for missionary purposes. Most of the UK's leading missions to the Jews are members of the LCJE.
Mr. Derek White (Director of the "Christian Friends of Israel"), wrote in a 1995 letter,
"The Jews certainly are a distinct biological race, and one of the amazing things concerning them is that their racial characteristics have not been lost over the past 1900 years of their dispersion".
Mr. Martin Goldsmith ("All Nations Christian College"), wrote in a 1992 letter,
"I personally am more concerned about my faith than my race and therefore prefer to call myself a Jewish Christian rather than a Christian Jew. ... I hope also that you will spend your energies in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and his salvation with people of all races, rather than concentrating on opposition to your fellow Christians."
Mr. Harry Backhouse (missionary to the Jews involved with "Jews for Jesus") wrote in a 1994 letter,
"... by the way their (Jews - my comment) gene pool is one of the most compact among the nations ..."
Mr. Tony Pearce (Director of "Messianic Testimony" wrote in a 1992 letter,
"If Jewish believers have children their racial identity as Jews will automatically be transferred to them 'biologically' - i.e. because of their relation to their parents. The same would apply to English or Africans!"
Mr. Jonathan Fiddy ("Emmanuel Christian Fellowship") wrote in a 1995 letter,
"A Jew is Jewish by race - as a British person is British by race, whatever their religious standing."
The "Emmanuel Christian Fellowship" is a supporter of Mr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum (Director of the US based "Ariel Ministries" and an ordained Evangelical minister). Mr. Fruchtenbaum is widely regarded as a leading intellectual among missionaries to the Jews. He has made several lecture tours in the UK and his opinion is widely held in high esteem by his fellow Christians. His book "Hebrew Christianity" (Ariel Ministries Press, 1992) has considerable influence with missions targeting Jews on both sides of the Atlantic. On page 8 he claims that the Jews are like Negroes and so in the same way that,
"A Negro who is a Christian, Moslem, or Buddhist remains a Negro. ... The same is true of the Jew."
On page 32, commenting on Romans 11: 16-21 and 24, he writes,
"In this tree there are two types of branches, representing Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. The Hebrew Christians are the natural branches; that is, we correspond to the very nature of the tree. It is as if the tree and the natural branches have the same blood type. The wild olive branches are the Gentile Christians. It is clearly stated that the presence of these branches in the tree is 'contrary to nature'. The blood type is different."
These at but two examples of many from Mr. Fruchtenbaum's book. The theories set out in this book would be unsustainable unless it is assumed that "Jew" is a term of racial classification.
Mr. John Fieldsend (an Anglican minister; a missionary for the "Church's Ministry Among the Jews" and Vice-President of the "British Messianic Jewish Alliance") has published his views on "Jewish" identity in, "Messianic Jews" (Monarch Publications, 1993). On page 39 he comments on Israeli immigration legislation, which does not recognise Jews who have converted to a faith other than Judaism as Jews. He writes,
"Their (the Israeli religious establishment - whom Mr. Fieldsend appears to "blame" for current Israeli immigration legislation - my comment) problem is that a purely racial definition, such as the biblical one, cannot exclude Messianic believers, while a rabbinic religious definition would exclude secular Jews, who make up the vast majority in the Land. The biblical definition is clearly a racial one, though of course God expects Jews to live up to the high standards of the covenants he has graciously given them."
It should be pointed out that Mr. Fieldsend has grossly misrepresented Israeli immigration legislation, in that it most certainly does not exclude "secular Jews". Only conversion to a faith other than Judaism will effectively exclude a Jew from membership of the Hebrew family, community and people. Mr. Fieldsend's book, like Mr. Fruchtenbaum's, would be untenable without assuming that "Jew" is a term of racial classification.
Mr. Ronald Lewis (a retired United Reformed Church minister) is Executive Secretary of the "International Messianic Jewish Alliance" (1). In a 1995 reply to Canon Roy Clements (Anglican - Wakefield) he attempted to justify the IMJA's practice of discriminating racially against certain of its own fellow Christian members thus,
"We are a fellowship of Jewish believers in Jesus (i.e. 'Christian Jews' - my comment). We offer associate membership to non-Jewish Christians. ... Otherwise we would have the possibility of the organisation being run by non-Jewish Christians and would lose credibility".
In a society where many people still view Jews in terms of traditional antisemitic stereotypes, passing a Christian association off as "Jewish" is not difficult. It indicates the extent to which "race" mythology still determines the British public's perception of the Jewish community. For many Britons "Jew" still only makes sense as a term of "racial" classification.
That many Jews suffer victimisation directly due to the "racial" or ethnic discrimination practised by targeted Christian missions is plain to see. Generally and quite rightly, Jews see any missionary activity as just another threat to the future continuity of the Jewish community. Missions that specifically target Jews merely raise the level of anxiety already felt by many Jews on this topic.
Missions are also well aware of their potential for Jewish social and family disintegration. For example,
"Almost inevitably, if your Jewish contact becomes a Christian, there will be some break in relations with family. Or community. Or both." Jessup, G. "To help you introduce your Jewish friends to your saviour", "Church's Ministry Among the Jews", 1977.
I have a small library of missionary training manuals like the foregoing. They all make similar comments. In general the somewhat arrogant assumption seems to be among missionaries generally that converting to Christianity is worth the loss of all else. This is a point also made in the above publication by Mr. Jessup.
The claim is sometimes made in mitigation that targeted missions like the CMJ are of service to the Jewish community in that they combat antisemitism within the Church. It is in effect suggested that there is a sort of moral trade-off, i.e. missions might do harm but they also do some good. I am always very concerned about moral trade-offs as an excuse for abusive behaviour. No one in their right mind would, for example, excuse paedophiles on the grounds that they give shelter or "affection" to their victims.
If the Church wishes to combat antisemitism (which many fair-minded Christians appear to feel is its moral duty considering the past role of the Church in fostering antisemitism), there are plenty of Jews, both with and without rabbinical qualifications, who I am sure would willingly speak to Christians on most subjects. Why should Christians get their information second-hand from missionaries when they can get it from authentic Jewish sources direct?
In any case several factors must conspire to ensure that the information about Jews provided by targeted missions is likely to be of poor quality. Firstly, there is little or no information exchange between missions and representatives of the authentic Jewish community. What missionaries tell their fellow Christians is what they want them to hear. Much of this information is unlikely to be endorsed by Jews generally. Much of it is undoubtedly damaging misinformation, e.g. the already mentioned "racial" stereotyping.
Missionaries also have a specific agenda of their own that precludes certain painful subjects crucial to Jewish-Christian understanding from consideration. A prime example is the already mentioned role of the Church in the origin and continued maintenance of antisemitism. If as some people (mostly Christian theologians) would claim, certain New Testament writings are the motor driving antisemitism along, it is in everyone's interest that the subject be urgently addressed. However, most of the missionaries I have ever met or whose works I have read, not only dismiss a priori any such connection, but then go on to make misleading or disingenuous comments aimed at side-tracking the issues involved. Many of them appear more interested in maintaining their mission's good public image than in getting at the truth.
If community relations were left to targeted missions we would have
nothing but endless "race" war and ethnic strife. Such groups are hardly
a credit to Christianity, which at its best teaches brotherly love and
understanding. It is time that targeted missions were consigned to history.
They should be outlawed under an amendment to the 1976 Act.
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