Jews are Doomed to Hell

Sunday September 25, 2005

Arrogant, superior attitudes towards Jews still exist among Christians. In the past, these attitudes fueled anti-Semitism; if Christians continue to be anti-Semitic, they aren't willing to acknowledge it anymore. Ryan Church, an outfielder with the Washington Nationals, had to apologize for indicating that Jews are headed for eternal damnation.

The Washington Post explains:

[Tony Tavares, the team’s president] said he was conducting an investigation that might lead to the permanent removal of chaplain Jon Moeller, an FBI agent who volunteers for Baseball Chapel, the Pennsylvania-based evangelical Christian group that provides unpaid ministers for many major and minor league teams. “I don’t dispute his right to teach his Christian beliefs. It’s just the way this was done, turning this into some public pulpit . . . that’s what troubles me,” Tavares said.

An article in Sunday’s paper about Baseball Chapel quoted Church as saying that he had turned to Moeller for advice about his former girlfriend, who was Jewish. “I said, like, Jewish people, they don’t believe in Jesus. Does that mean they’re doomed? Jon nodded, like, that’s what it meant. My ex-girlfriend! I was like, man, if they only knew. Other religions don’t know any better. It’s up to us to spread the word,” Church said.

In a written statement yesterday distributed by the team, Church said: “Those who know me on a personal level understand that I am not the type of person who would call into question the religious beliefs of others. I sincerely regret if the quote attributed to me in Sunday’s Washington Post article offended anyone.”

Obviously, Church is the sort of person who would call into question the religious beliefs of others — or at least, he’s the sort of person who would insist that everyone is doomed to hell except those who agree with him and his little group. Moeller is that sort of person, too. What we are seeing here have been standard Christian attitudes towards Jews for centuries. These people aren’t sorry for what they think, they are only sorry for having been caught thinking it publicly.

Let’s face it: these attitudes are perfectly consistent with standard Christian dogma. It’s a rare Christian who doesn’t believe that non-Christians (and Jews in particular) aren’t likely headed for hell. It takes some serious mental acrobatics in order to read biblical texts as allowing anything else. People do it, that’s true, but they are a minority not only in the Christian population today, but in the entirely Christian community stretching through history.

And, insofar as Christians are able to accept that maybe Jews aren’t bound for hell, it’s even more rare that they are willing to think the same about Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and adherents of other religions. I think it’s a strong possibility that if Church and Moeller had been talking about almost any religion other than Jews — and certainly if they had been talking about atheists — no one would have made such a fuss. Moeller’s job wouldn’t be in jeopardy and Church wouldn’t have been forced to apologize. Yet, the attitude is the same. If it’s wrong to say such things about Jews, it’s wrong to say them about Hindus or atheists.

Thus, what’s really disturbing about this is that the views of Ryan Church and Jon Moeller are being treated as if they were strange aberrations when they aren’t. People are criticizing Church and Moeller, but they aren’t criticizing Christianity for fostering these views. Church and Moeller shouldn’t be singled out for being proper Christians. That will force these views to go underground where they can’t be confronted, challenged, and refuted. People should be focusing not on individuals like these, but the entirely theological system which they have willingly accepted.

Or would that just be too hard?

No More Mr. Nice Blog points out that Vince Nauss, the president of Baseball Chapel, is a Bush donor.

Read More: