Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor
of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Israel National News is reporting that a group of people representing the Amish communities in the United States have traveled to Israel to apologize for their past anti-Semitism. Below is an excerpt from the news release:

Both in the U.S. and Europe, the Amish have had a history of anti-Semitism, believing that Jews have been “replaced” by Christians and even that Hitler was G-d’s agent in punishing the Jews for their rejection of Jesus.

“We are here to say we are sorry,” [Bishop Ben] Girod told Israel’s Channel 2 News during the group’s visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. “We no longer want to reject you or look at you as not being G-d’s people. You were G-d’s people long before we were.” Another Amish member said, “Our people have had some bad attitudes toward the Jewish people and have rejected the Jewish people to a certain extent, and we have come to restore that and apologize.”

Read the news release in its entirety by visiting Israel National News online.

This is good news. Christians do not have any reason to be anti-Semitics. Jesus was a Jew and most of the people whose lives are part of the biblical narrative and loved the God of Israel were Semites. We owe this people of faith a debt of gratitude for preserving to us the story of God’s work in the world.

Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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