B’nai B’rith International President Dennis W. Glick and Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin wrote a letter to Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck expressing “deep concern” in regards to a reference he made to Jews and the death of Jesus.
On your July 13th program broadcast on the Fox News Channel, during a discussion of various forms of “liberation theology,” you said: “Jesus conquered death. He chose to give his life. Jesus didn’t come back from the dead and make the Jews pay for what they did. That would have been an abomination.”
We write to express our deep concern over what appears to be the casual, and potentially very misleading, way in which you referenced “the Jews,” with the suggestion that “they” carried out the killing of Jesus.
This was not only insensitive to your Jewish viewers – and an ostensible echo of the deicide charge that led to such unimaginable calamities among the Jewish people historically – but inconsistent with Christian teaching that Jews collectively must never be portrayed as responsible for the death of Jesus. This teaching, and the related reflection on the need to present religious scripture with great thought and care, has allowed the development of unprecedented reconciliation, in our day, between Christians and Jews.
In this spirit, we strongly urge you to clarify your aforementioned remark.
Sincerely,
Dennis W. Glick Daniel S. Mariaschin
President Executive Vice President
Here is the full text of the letter.Dear Mr. Beck:
On your July 13th program broadcast on the Fox News Channel, during a discussion of various forms of “liberation theology,” you said: “Jesus conquered death. He chose to give his life. Jesus didn’t come back from the dead and make the Jews pay for what they did. That would have been an abomination.”
We write to express our deep concern over what appears to be the casual, and potentially very misleading, way in which you referenced “the Jews,” with the suggestion that “they” carried out the killing of Jesus.
This was not only insensitive to your Jewish viewers – and an ostensible echo of the deicide charge that led to such unimaginable calamities among the Jewish people historically – but inconsistent with Christian teaching that Jews collectively must never be portrayed as responsible for the death of Jesus. This teaching, and the related reflection on the need to present religious scripture with great thought and care, has allowed the development of unprecedented reconciliation, in our day, between Christians and Jews.
In this spirit, we strongly urge you to clarify your aforementioned remark.
Sincerely,
Dennis W. Glick Daniel S. Mariaschin
President Executive Vice President