The Christian Century

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a case involving Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman whose right to life has been at the center of a 15-year legal battle. A Florida Supreme Court decision had denied Florida Governor Jeb Bush the power to block a court ruling that Schiavo’s life support be stopped. Her parents had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review that decision.

When people speak loosely of anti-Semitism, do they have in mind a religiously derived separation from Judaism on the part of Christians historically, or a pernicious racialist theory? Twentieth-century political theorist Hannah Arendt argued that these are two distinct theories.

The resurgence of anti-Semitism in many parts of the world was denounced in a joint letter to the London Times by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams; Catholic Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, archbishop of Westminster; and Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

Anti-Semitism is a very real and toxic plague in history and in modern life. The suffering of the Jews is a well-known and often-told story that must never be forgotten. Jews have a right, based on experience, to fear anti-Semitism. But it also must be said that to be opposed to the policies of a particular Israeli government need not be anti-Semitic. It could simply be smart politics.