good for the Church
The basic premise of this article is incorrect. Catholic doctrine and moral teachings are not defined by a "forum of Catholic-Jewish intellectuals."
Controversy, some people think Jews should be allowed to have a country.
My skepticism is fueled by the fact that for several years there was a "Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend" allegedly written by Martin Luther King, jr. which eventually was proven to be bogus.
I ask all FReepers to pray for the safety of my son in the IDF, who is on duty in the Jordan Valley.
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel ping list.
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
From Haaretz on July 4, 2004:
Scholars, religious leaders to hold Jewish-Catholic panel on anti-Semitism
By Shlomo Shamir
Catholic and Jewish scholars will try to enlist the Catholic Church to an open fight against anti-Semitism in a dialogue that opens in Buenos Aires tomorrow. It is the first time that the dialogue, held by delegates representing the two religions every three years, will take place in a South American country that is a bastion of the Catholic Church.
Each delegation has 25 members, including senior religious figures, scholars and experts on Vatican and Jewish relations. The Catholic side is headed by Cardinal Walter Casper, commissioner for the Church's relations with the Jews, and has 10 other cardinals from the United States and other countries. The Jewish delegation consists of rabbis and representatives of large American Jewish Organizations and six Israeli delegates including Minister Nathan Sharansky and Rabbi Sh'ear Yashuv Cohen, formerly Haifa chief rabbi. The rabbis represent the three religious streams in American Jewry.
Entitled "Justice and Charity," the dialogue will last until Thursday and was initially planned to deal with formulating a joint plan for both religions to alleviate poverty caused by the economic crisis in Argentina. However, following the incidents of anti-Semitism in Europe, both sides agreed to hold a serious debate on anti-Semitism and formulate a way to make the Catholic Church part of the struggle against it.
"The dialogue in Buenos Aires is part of a global effort against anti-Semitism," said Ilan Steinberg, director of the World Jewish Congress on Friday. "The dialogue will be a sequel to the conference on anti-Semitism organized by the European Commission in Brussels, to the declaration against anti-Semitism made at the world conference in Berlin, and to the seminar against anti-Semitism in the UN two weeks ago."
The dialogue is being held as the Jewish community in Buenos Aires prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of the terror attack that wrecked the building of the Jewish community offices in the city.
If you'll read this sentence carefully I think you'll agree that "equates" is an over-statement. The unidentified author(s) condemn anti-zionism not categorically, but to the extent that it's used to mask a hatred of Jews. Put another way, anti-zionism is not a legitimate expression of anti-semitism, whose unredeemable evil cannot be papered over as a political problem.
One might just as soon say that objections to reverse discrimination (as one finds in the mouths of David Duke and such) are not acceptable when they're grounded in a hatred of blacks. That does not mean that objections to reverse discrimination are categorically evil, but that pleading a political argument can't sanitise a racist motive.
Are these statements made with the sole purpose of stirring up Internet exchanges of insults with some hurryup troll? 'Coz I don't see how they could be consequential in any other way. (This applies in general to all such things. I mean, they're as meaningful as all the statements the perfumed princes make on the steps of the Capitol, and as meaningful in the real world as the major political party platforms in this country.)
Finally, a bit of sense from Gotham.
Bravo! I hope this does represent "official" church thinking.
The odds that an anti-Zionist is not also anti-Semitic are vanishingly small.
Dumb, but not unexpected.