Religious Liberty Event Puts Spotlight on Rising Anti-Semitism in Europe
On November 6, The King’s College and Princeton University’s James Madison Program co-sponsored a panel discussion to explore the revival of anti-Semitism in Europe.
Less than seventy-five years after the horrors of the Holocaust, anti-Semitic sentiment and violence have returned to Europe, arising from various, seemingly incompatible sources. On November 6, The King’s College and Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions co-sponsored a panel discussion at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan explore the sources of and possible responses to the revival of anti-Semitism in Europe.
Robert George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, served as moderator for the event. The three distinguished panelists were Professor Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University; Rabbi Dr. David Dalin, professor of politics at Ave Maria University; and Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. Taken together, the panelists’ perspectives complemented one another, providing a thorough analysis of contemporary European anti-Semitism. Gregory Alan Thornbury, president of The King’s College, gave the opening prayer and remarks.
Professor George pointed out that the problem of European anti-Semitism today is complex and cannot be ascribed to any single source. He shared a quotation from the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who on Holocaust Remembrance Day in 1997 reminded Americans that anti-Semitism in the form of Nazism took hold of a highly civilized and advanced nation. Such prejudice is not, Justice Scalia warned, the bane of “backwards” nations, nor is it a holdover from the barbaric past, but can emerge from the heart of any modern nation.
Professor Glendon noted the simultaneous rise of two trends in Europe: first, increasing anti-Semitism, but second, attempts to restrict religious freedom in European nations. Acknowledging that many of the hate crimes perpetrated against Jews in Europe are committed by Muslim extremists, she pointed out that Jews are under attack on another front: lawmakers throughout Europe are attempting to repress and restrict the freedom of Jews to live according to their faith, for example by circumcising their sons or wearing religious clothing and symbols.
She raised the question of whether these two trends—rising anti-Semitism and increased disregard for religious freedom—are connected, and whether the rejection and suppression of Europe’s religious heritage in favor of anti-religious secularism could be contributing to the suppression of Jewish religious expression in Europe. The aggressive secularism that is quickly becoming the dominant political force in Europe takes some of its power from Europeans’ increasing fears about religiously motivated violence. This secularism calls for the absolute prohibition of religious expression in the public square. For religious Jews, whose dress, diet, calendar, and whole way of life requires them to express their religious beliefs publicly, this poses a grave threat. As Europe toys with the wholesale rejection of its Judeo-Christian heritage in favor of secularism, Glendon says that the question that Europe must consider is this: “Does secular liberalism contain within itself what it needs to sustain liberal values and virtues?” If we get this question wrong, she warns, the consequences will be disastrous.
Rabbi Dalin focused on the specific threats faced by Jews in Europe today, both from anti-Semitic vigilantes and from lawmakers. Dalin recited a terrible litany of violent assaults on individual Jews and Jewish communities in Europe: burned bookstores, desecrated and destroyed synagogues, Jewish travel agencies to Israel threatened and burned, kosher markets and Jewish schools attacked. As these attacks increase, legal support for Jews fades. He observed that in England, anti-Semitism is growing more and more common on the secular Left and that it has in many ways become “a defining marker of what it means to be a leftist.” Moderate Europeans who value freedom and human rights must take action soon, he said, to curb the hatred before it takes an even more horrific form.
Rabbi Soloveichik pointed out an irreconcilable dualism in many European nations’ approach to the Jews. Even as they recall the horrors of the Holocaust with grief, they refuse to defend the state that protects Jews today, and they enact restrictions on Jewish life in Europe. Rabbi Soloveichik argued that, while it is legitimate to criticize certain policies of the state of Israel, attacks on Israel’s very right to exist too often lead to anti-Semitism. Some of this is because the nation of Israel was formed just as Europe entered a period of anti-nationalism, where it become popular to envision a world without borders. The existence of the state of Israel as a distinct nation—and the reality that without borders and national identity, Jews in the Middle East face extinction—serves as an unpleasant referendum on the globalist, anti-national project.
After the presentations, the audience directed questions at the panelists. The first question, “Does emphasizing the relationship between Islam and anti-Semitism run the risk of subjecting Muslims to the very violence we want to prevent happening to the Jews?” prompted the panelists to explain that religious freedom is not a zero-sum game. To resist anti-Semitism by pointing out incidents of extremist Muslim violence against Jews does not justify either aggression or antipathy towards Muslims. Another attendee asked, “What do we do?”. Professor Glendon pointed out that many European countries have laws prohibiting anti-Semitism, so the first task is to recognize that there is a deep problem here and that it goes beyond law. The issue must be dealt with on a cultural and moral level, and that sort of work takes an extended and concentrated effort.
President Thornbury said of the event, “The changing culture of Europe and the rising intolerance towards Jews is not something to be taken lightly. This panel represents some of the finest minds in the world on the subject, and gives us new ways to consider the problem. May we all be inspired by the work of these panelists to draw attention to this burgeoning tragedy, and to advocate for the freedom of Jews to live and practice their ancient faith in Europe and around the world.”
Watch The Event Speakers: