History Of Antisemitism

Overview

From Biblical times to present day ISIS, religious prejudice has remained a global issue. The most infamous of these perceptions is the policy of antisemitism. Anti semitism,"the specific hatred of Jews", not only revolves around lack of Jewish tolerance, but also around trends associated with them ("Antisemitism"). Christians were very antisemitic because contrary to Christian beliefs, Jews did not believe in Jesus. As political power eventually trumped the power of the church, the Jews glorified beliefs such as civil rights, free trade, and democracy ("Antisemitism"). The European government was terrified of these views challenging their traditional ways of life, so they did everything in their power to discriminate against these

One belief held by the majority of Christians was the fact that "all Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Christ" ("Antisemitism: Early Church-1400"). However, this theory is invalid because the Roman government was the real culprits of Jesus 's crucifixion. Yet somehow, rumors like these were passed on from generation to generation. As more denominations of the Christian church were forming in 1000 AD, Jews were considered to be threats to the Christian church ("Antisemitism: Early Church-1400). In order to keep the Jews from becoming predominant, a new myth called the "blood libel" circulated through Europe. This stereotype depicted Jews as people who "used the blood of Christian children for ritual purposes" (Antisemitism: Early Church-1400). Unfortunately for the Jews, the spread of simple words and ideas like these were far from

Jews were oppressed in whatever aspect people got their self-identity and self-worth from. Today, antisemitism is much less prevalent, but there is still an abundance of religious persecution, especially in the Middle East. ISIS, the most prominent terrorist organization in the world, is killing anyone and everyone who isn 't Muslim. Also, the general philosophy of the past century has been that any demographic that stands out from the rest is bad. In order for religious discrimination (including antisemitism) to become less of an issue, people of all ages, races, and walks of life need to be aware that outside of their little world, there is a much bigger scheme of