What enabled the Holocaust?

According to a new report from the Church of England, blame centuries of anti-Semitism by Christians.

The report, titled God’s Unfailing World, asks Christians to repent for their past sins while urging them to play an active role in pushing back against anti-Semitic statements and attitudes.

In a foreword to the report, published today, the Archbishop of Canterbury said that Christians cannot challenge and reflect on the past honestly, “until we have felt the cruelty of our history”. … It also marks the first time that the Church of England has made an authoritative statement on the subject of anti-Semitism.

It’s worth comparing this document to what Pope Francis said last week about the same subject. The Church of England has owned up to its culpability in persecution and genocide; the pope has not. While the head of the Catholic Church said some very nice things about how wrong anti-Semitism is, and that Christians shouldn’t perpetuate it, he failed to say anything about how his own religious tradition enabled and perpetuated the problem.

The differences are stark, and shouldn’t be ignored.

(Image via Shutterstock)

