Antisemitism & Christian Young Men

Antisemitism among young Christian men is becoming a real problem. Why?

A young evangelical Methodist in Las Vegas recently described this new antisemitism he is seeing, and he explained: “It’s essentially the woke mind virus on the Right.” These young men with whom he talks feel economically “disenfranchised,” they “look for an oppressor,” or in these right-wing circles, a “subversive group (i.e., Jews/Israel),” and they “blame them for foreign policy which leads to lack of prosperity.”

Many quickly respond that criticism of Israel does not equal antisemitism, which can be true. But the new antisemitism targets Israel and Jews more widely, obsessively critiquing Israel without interest in problems by other nations, while faulting Jews domestically for their own personal struggles or for what they see as larger economic or social problems. The Iran War almost certainly will exacerbate this trend.

There are several possible explanations, the chief of which is likely the online nature of young lives, especially young men. For obsessive young internet consumers, without the maturity or experience to be skeptical, and especially prone to what is outrageous, antisemitism is a natural attraction. Online provocateurs can pretend to be brave and naughty by attacking and weaving outlandish yarns about Jews. The young male viewer in front of his screen, unfiltered by a wider physical community, absorbs the outrageousness without filters, the wisdom of community, or the judgement of older, wiser heads.

Young male Christians may physically attend church but they, as many older Christians, find their main authorities online, which they self-collate, often from dark corners that would be unknown to their grandparents (although many older online viewers find their own disturbing online outlets). Pastors and traditional Christian gatekeepers are often inconsequential to young male Christians, who have their own independent spiritual ecosystem. Denominations are irrelevant.

It’s also true that young male Christians want their religion, with their other beliefs, to be very high octane, with clear boundaries, and uncompromising, which ostensibly evinces masculinity and boldness. For many of them, any collegiality with Jews implies a softening of Christianity. Some are hostile to the idea of “Judeo-Christian,” which supposedly dilutes Christianity. Christian leaders who highlight their ties to Jews appear to them weak and compromised. Strong Christians “stand up” to Jews, and their fellow travelers from this perspective.

Another trend enabling hostility to Jews by young Christians is the decline of Dispensationalism and philo Semitism that once were paramount among American evangelicals. The 19th century theological system that placed Jews and Israel at the center of the final events leading to Christ’s return has been in decline for at least twenty years and is increasingly uncommon among young Christians. Young anti-Jewish Catholics now identify “Christian Zionism,” which they conflate with Dispensationalism, as a “heresy,” intrinsically at odds with Catholic teaching. Even the old adage about God blessing those who bless Abraham’s descendants has faded from favor. For many perhaps most young Christians, Jews have no further role in God’s plans. This perspective has sometimes been derided as “Replacement Theology,” but probably few young Christiani men are even familiar with this phrase or theologically thought through their reasons. Reliance on TikTok videos does not foster deep theological reflection.

Many young Christian men are attracted to their brand of Christianity for political reasons. To be Christian is to be anti-woke. From this view, Christian faith becomes a political and tribal marker as much as or even more important than personal faith. The church, as they define it, chiefly through self-selected online sources, is the shelter against wokeness that will affirm their manhood and succor if not platform their grievances.

Some young male Christians politicize their faith further by embracing premodern theories of Christendom. Catholic Integralists want a society where Roman Catholicism is legally dominant. Calvinist Christian Nationalists want a confessional state that bans or restricts other religious expressions. Neither project is plausible in America, or anywhere else. But both projects aspire to confine Jews to their own spheres and make them second class citizens, which amplifies anti-Jewish sentiment.

Jews are only two percent of the U.S. population and a much smaller percentage of the world population. But antisemitism is an enduring ideology that appeals to conspiracy, fear, resentment, and grievance. In this mindset, Jews are successful and have power at the expense of everybody else. They are always convenient scapegoats.

Antisemitism is not just a threat to Jews themselves but to democracy and ordered liberty for all people. It denies the core Christian and Jewish insight that all are equally created in the image of God and in civil society should have equal rights and dignity. The new antisemitism is part of the new authoritarianism that is impatient of democracy and rights and prefers a bracing vision of control and coercion by the “right” people.

Many young Christians are drawn to this ostensibly masculine society where enemies are repressed and imprisoned, perhaps even tortured are killed. It’s the same sadism that motivates extremist young men at their worst everywhere, whether in Iran in 1979, Germany in the early 1930s, or Moscow in 1917, or China in 1949, among many other times and places. In contrast, democracy and human rights require self-restraint, patience, forbearance, and respect even for adversaries.

How can the new antisemitism and new authoritarianism popular among some Christian young men be countered? There are no silver bullets. These trends appeal to the darker impulses always present throughout humanity. Democracy and mutual respect appeal to higher aspirations, ultimately based on God’s goodness, mercy, and grace, while also admitting our limited capacities as finite and sinful humans. If God is God, and we are only human, only He can judge and condemn. In our humility, we treat others as we hope they will treat us.

Articulating these principles might be more of a vocation for laity than clergy, especially for online laity who are effective and entertaining communicators.

So there are no easy remedies for Christian antisemitism or authoritarianism. We can only appeal to the common grace that covers our fallen world, pointing out that all humans ultimately benefit from controlling our resentments and living peaceably together. Even zealous young men by God’s grace can listen and understand.

More from IRD :

Free Speech for All?

Catholic Integralism Replacing Evangelicals?

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