Yesterday we reported that the U.S. House passed a bill that would challenge the freedom to express certain biblical truths regarding the Jews and their historical actions. The bill, known as the “Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023” (H.R. 6090), proposes to adopt a definition of antisemitism that potentially categorizes traditional biblical teachings as discriminatory.
Here’s the pertinent text of the bill and the working definition:
Specifically, texts such as 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15, where the Apostle Paul, himself a Jew, states that the Jews “killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets,” would be illegal. This biblical fact is not rooted in antisemitism but reflects a historical biblical account, which acknowledges that the Jews were responsible for handing Jesus over to the authorities to carry out his crucifixion.
This portrayal is consistent with John 1, which describes Jesus as coming to his own people who did not accept him. If the Senate passes this bill and it is signed into law, articulating such biblical views would technically be illegal under new guidelines meant to combat supposed “antisemitism.”
And here, we have Brent Leatherwood, the head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) lobbying on behalf of Southern Baptists for the passage of this bill. It’s actually rather surreal to watch on of the most influential Southern Baptist leaders in history promote such a thing:
Later today in Congress, the Anti -Semitism Awareness Act is expected to pass the U .S. House. We’re in full support of this legislation and we urge the U .S. Senate to take it up not a place where harassment and intimidation and evil will persist.
And so we stand with our friends from Israel. We stand with Jewish citizens here in America. And we want to make sure that we are constantly being a voice for the vulnerable in these types of situations.
Of course, we believe that Israel has a “right to exist,” but we also have the freedom in the United States to say what we want, no matter how offensive it may be to others. It’s called the First Amendment. We literally have a Southern Baptist leader lobbying for anti-First Amendment legislation that would make quoting Scripture under certain circumstances illegal.
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