An Unusual Relationship: Evangelical Christians and Jews

8. Evangelical Christians and Anti-Jewish Conspiracy Theories

142 > 143 was worried that the Protocols would inspire anti-Jewish outbursts but nevertheless thought it likely that the document was authentic. Gray’s more literal reading of the Christian Old Testament and his messianic hope ensured a great amount of goodwill on his part toward Jews and opposition to their victimization. But he believed that because the Jews did not yet accept Jesus as their savior they were capable of committing vicious acts, including the global conspiracy that the forgers of the Protocols accused them of conducting.5 The years between the two world wars saw a rise in overt anti-Jewish activity and incitement in America, with a number of popular preachers blaming the Jews for the ills of the times, including the depression of the 1930s. This atmosphere influenced, at least partially, evangelical attitudes toward the Jews. Some evangelical writers denounced overt and brutal forms of anti-Semitism and asserted that the traditional libels against Jews were false. However, a few activists adopted socially and politically exclusivist white Protestant “nativist” stands. Some, such as Gerald L. K. Smith, labored during the 1920s and 1930s on the borders of mainstream evangelicalism.6 Others, such as Gerald Winrod, founder and head of the Defenders of the Christian Faith, received more widespread recognition in conservative evangelical circles.7 Charles Fuller, one of the leading evangelists in America and founder of Fuller Theological Seminary, participated in the activities of Winrod’s organization.8 The Protocols and the Evangelical Mind The credit that evangelical leaders in the 1920s and 1930s gave the idea of a global Jewish conspiracy pointed to a willingness to adopt theories of global conspiracies as valid analyses of the political, economic, and cultural realities of the era. Likewise, the endorsement of such theories reflected a mood of pessimism regarding human nature and suspicion of cultural environments and political initiatives that were alien to conservative Protestantism. It further testified to long-held cultural stereotypes of Jews and their character and especially to opinions on secular, liberal, or socialist Jews, who, from the conservative evangelical perspective, had 144 > 145 as rejectors of Christ,”15 and they were still strongly influenced by age-old views within Western Christian society on the Jews as carrying morally evil traits. The Jews, in the evangelical mind, were definitely in need of moral guidance and especially during the 1920s and 1930s were seen as major perpetrators of non-Christian ideas and movements. Evangelical authors such as William Blackstone, Arno Gaebelein, and Alfred Thompson had developed a grudging respect for observant Jews. They claimed that traditional Jews, while they had failed to recognize the Messiah, regarded the Bible as divinely inscribed, continued to anticipate the arrival of the Messiah, and prayed for the national restoration of Israel.16 Paradoxically, traditional and Orthodox Judaism were the only religious expressions, aside from evangelical Protestantism , for which premillennialist evangelicals found a purpose. Although they saw observant forms of Judaism as erroneous, they believed that this system of faith had a role in God’s plans for humanity. Likewise, evangelicals holding to a premillennialist faith appreciated Zionists, who wished to settle Palestine and build a Jewish infrastructure in that land, as they considered these developments to be preparations for the arrival of the Messiah. This appreciation did not extend to secular, non-Zionist groups of Jews. Indeed, the Jews whom conservative evangelical writers, such as Arno Gaebelein, William Riley, James Gray, Charles Fuller, and Charles Cook, accused of leading the world into chaos and lawlessness were those who had abandoned traditional Judaism but had chosen neither to convert to Christianity nor to become Zionists. That many Jews had left the faith of their fathers but had not accepted Christianity or become Zionists annoyed conservative Christians enormously. Instead of embracing the one true faith and finding a home for their souls as well as eternal life in becoming Christians, they chose a path that did them and others no good. Evangelicals often referred to them as “apostate” or “infidel,” by which they meant nonobservant liberal or socialist Jews. Such Jews, evangelicals contended, led movements of social and political reform that undermined Christian values. “There is nothing so vile on earth as an apostate Jew,” Gaebelein declared.17 146 > 147 it—so much so that they and others brought it to the attention of the political elite in...