Some Hold Anti-Semitic Opinions, Survey Finds : Jews Troubled by Fundamentalists’ Views

WASHINGTON —  Fundamentalist and evangelical Protestants do not consciously use their faith to justify anti-Semitism, but still show some troubling secular attitudes toward Jews, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith said.

“We do not find strong direct evidence in these data which suggests that most evangelical Christians consciously use their deeply held Christian faith and convictions as justification for an anti-Semitic view of Jews,” the ADL survey said.

It said that while it found “substantial agreement”--59%--with the idea that Jews cannot be forgiven “for what they did to Jesus” until they accept him as savior, “we interpret this more as a measure of general particularism than of specific anti-Semitism per se.”

The 179-page study, released Wednesday, reported on the responses of 1,000 religiously conservative Christians based on telephone interviews in September and October by the Houston polling firm of Tarrance, Hill, Newport & Ryan.

Among the findings the survey said indicate that Protestants do not use their theology to justify anti-Semitism:

- Ninety percent disagreed with a statement that “Christians are justified in holding negative attitudes toward Jews since the Jews killed Christ. Only 5% agreed and 5% said they were unsure.

- Thirty-four percent felt that God views Jews “more favorably than other non-Christians” because they are God’s chosen people and Jesus was a Jew. Ten percent said God views Jews “less favorably than other non-Christians.”

- Sixty-eight percent said Jews are viewed by God “no differently than other non-Christians” because they have not accepted Jesus; 20% said they may be judged “more harshly,” and 12% were unsure.

- Eighty-six percent disagreed with the assertion that “God does not hear the prayer of a Jew,”

But Nathan Perlmutter, ADL national director, described as “troubling” the survey’s finding that there were some indications that evangelicals and fundamentalists agreed with statements that the survey considered signs of secular anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish stereotyping.

The survey found that 22% of the sample agreed with at least one statement on a seven-part “anti-Semitic index,” while 21% agreed with two or more and 5% agreed with four or more.

And the survey said there was a statistically significant relationship between belief in a literal reading of the Bible and expressions of one or more secular anti-Semitic characterizations.

Those characterizations included such things as “Jews are tight with money,” or because they are not bound by Christian ethics, Jews “do things to get ahead that Christians generally do not do” and that Jews “are more loyal to Israel than to the United States.”

Perlmutter also said his organization is concerned about the 59% finding that Jews can never be forgiven for what they did to Jesus until they accept him as the true savior, and a 50% finding of those polled who said that Christians should “actively help lead Jews to accept Jesus Christ as savior.

And Perlmutter also expressed concern that 15% of those questioned were either unsure or said that there is no direct evidence that 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis in World War II.

Perlmutter said the ADL is planning to convene a meeting with the leadership of religiously conservative Christian groups to discuss the survey’s findings and to explore ways to improve understanding between the two groups.