THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505050015
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
The Rev. Pat Robertson's denials of his anti-Semitism ought to remind one of the crocodile that invited the chicken to cross the river on his snout. Although the crocodile assured the chicken that he would be safe, in the middle of the river the crocodile opened his mouth - and the chicken was gone. Robertson's protestations of innocence are denied by the discriminatory hiring practices of The Founders Inn, his writings and his denunciations of the reliability of the Jewish faith.
His message is clear: Jews are blind to the glory of Christian salvation. He would say that Jews are impoverished because they want to remain Jews and not embrace Jesus. He would state that Christianity came to supersede Judaism. Robertson fails to see that Judaism has not died but is as vibrant as Christianity, young in spirit and as near to God as Christianity. As Catholic theologian Hans Hermann Henrix has stated: ``Christian anti-Judaism will not come to an end until Christians develop a positive attitude toward Jews, not despite their nonacceptance of Christ but because of it.''
Robertson may will shake the hand of the Jew while he seeks to murder the faith of the Jews. What the Crusades and the inquisitions and the pogroms did in one way, Robertson tried to do in another.
THOMAS ROPER
Virginia Beach, May 2, 1995 by CNB