Why do people hate...?

Question

I don't want to sound like I'm blasting a religion, because that's not my intent. And I don't want this to turn into a place full of bashing people, so I hope I'm not being prejudice, but I'll be straight-forward. Why have Jews gotten such a bad rep? I'm not sure if it's something from the time of Jesus or Adolf Hitler or something. This isn't to be a religious bashing question, it's just a question from history and religion that I don't know, or maybe I just didn't study enough in school.

Educated answers, please. I don't want any hill-billy, po-dunk country bumpkin answers...

Sorry Grandma Suzie. I didn't mean the "hill-billy, country bumpkin" in a bad way. I'm from the country too. I just meant, I didn't want any answers from somebody that would say, "Beeecuz, they ain't cool peeples and..." such and so forth. I'm trying not to step on any toes...

Answer 1

To quote someone who answered a similar question:

Passionate hatred can bring meaning and purpose to an empty life

- Eric Hoffer

These anti-Semitic accounts in the New Testament have taught mankind to hate the Jew. As long as the New Testament continues in print (at least in its present form) the Jew will be hated. Here are but a few verses from where Christianity borrowed its anti-Semitic sentiments.

“The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8.12)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate.” (Matthew 23.37,38) Then answered all the people (Jews) and said, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25). 1 “But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you to councils, and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten” (Mark 13.9)

“He that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16.16)

“Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8.43-47)

“Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so you do. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers” (Acts 7.51-53)

“It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing you put it from you and judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13.45-51)

“For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake ... wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.” (Titus 1.10-14).

“The Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.” (l Thessalonians 2.14-16)

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is an antichrist, that denieth the father and the son. Whoever denieth the son, the same hath not the father” (l John 2.22,23)

“I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan ...” (Revelation 2.9,10)

“Behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not but do lie; behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet...” (Revelation 3.9)

now examine the words of some Christian “saints” and leaders and notice how their anti-Jewish expressions are based on New Testament verses listed earlier in this article.

Origen: “Their rejection of Jesus has resulted in their present calamity and exile. We say with confidence that they will never be restored to their former condition. For they have committed a crime of the most unhallowed kind, in conspiring against the saviour.”

St. Gregory: “ Jews are slayers of the Lord, murderers of the prophets, enemies of God, haters of God, adversaries of grace, enemies of their fathers’ faith, advocates of the devil, brood of vipers, slanderers, scoffers, men of darkened minds, leaven of the Pharisees, congregation of demons, sinners, wicked men, stoners and haters of goodness.”

St. Jerome: “....serpents, haters of all men, their image is Judas ... their psalms and prayers are the braying of donkeys..”

St. John Chrysostom: “I know that many people hold a high regard for the Jews and consider their way of life worthy of respect at the present time... This is why I am hurrying to pull up this fatal notion by the roots ... A place where a whore stands on display is a whorehouse. What is more, the synagogue is not only a whorehouse and a theater; it is also a den of thieves and a haunt of wild animals ... not the cave of a wild animal merely, but of an unclean wild animal ... When animals are unfit for work, they are marked for slaughter, and this is the very thing which the Jews have experienced. By making themselves unfit for work, they have become ready for slaughter. This is why Christ said: “ask for my enemies, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them and slay them before me’ (Luke 19.27).”

St. Augustine: “Judaism is a corruption. Indeed Judas is the image of the Jewish people. Their understanding of the Scriptures is carnal. They bear the guilt for the death of the saviour, for through their fathers they have killed the Christ.”

St. Thomas Aquinas: “It would be licit to hold Jews, because of the crimes, in perpetual servitude, and therefore the princes may regard the possessions of Jews as belonging to the State.”

The teachings of Martin Luther:

“Know, 0 adored Christ, and make no mistake, that aside from the Devil, you have no enemy more venomous, more desperate, more bitter, than a true Jew who truly seeks to be a Jew... a Jew, a Jewish heart, are hard as wood, as stone, as iron, as the Devil himself. In short, they are children of the Devil, condemned to the flames of hell.”

“O Lord, I am too feeble to mock such devils. I would do so, but they are much stronger than I in raillery, and they have a God who is a past master in this art; He is called the devil and the wicked spirit.. They have transformed God into the devil, or rather into a servant of the Devil, accomplishing all the evil the Devil desires, corrupting unhappy souls , and raging against himself: in short, the Jews are worse than the devils.”

“What then shall we Christians do with this damned, rejected race of Jews? First, their synagogues should be set on fire, and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread over with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder or stone of it. And this ought to be done for the honour of God and of Christianity, in order that God may see that we are true Christians. Secondly, their homes should be likewise broken down and destroyed. Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayerbooks and talmuds in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught. Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threats of death to teach anymore.”

“Now whoever wishes to accept venomous serpents, desperate enemies of the lord, and to honor them, to let himself be robbed, pillaged, corrupted and cursed by them, need only turn to the Jews. If this is not enough for him, he can do more: crawl up into their...... and worship the sanctuary, so as to glorify himself afterwards for having been merciful, for having fortified the Devil and his children, in order to blaspheme our beloved lord and the precious blood that has redeemed us. He will then be a perfect Christian, filled with works of mercy, for which Christ will reward him on the-day of judgment with the eternal fire of hell (where he will roast together with the Jews).”

“In truth, the Jews, being foreigners, should possess nothing, and what they do possess should be ours.”

“...Cursed goy that I am, I cannot understand how they manage to be so skillful, unless I think that when Judas Iscariot hanged himself, his guts burst and emptied. Perhaps the Jews sent their servants with plates of silver and pots of gold to gather up Judas’ piss with the other treasures, and then they ate and drank his offal, and thereby acquired eyes so piercing that they discover in the scriptures commentaries that neither Matthew nor Isaiah himself found there, not to mention the rest of us cursed goyim..”

“If I find a Jew to baptize, I shall lead him to the Elbe bridge, hang a stone around his neck, and push him into the water, baptizing him with the name of Avraham!.. I cannot convert the Jews. Our lord Christ did not succeed in doing so; but I can close their mouths so that there will be nothing for them to do but to lie upon the ground.”

“I hope I shall never be so stupid as to be circumcised; I would rather cut off the left breast of my Catherine and of all women.”

“If we are to remain unsullied by the blasphemy of the Jews and not wish to take part in it, we must be separated from them and they must be driven out of their country.”

These anti-semitic words uttered by popes, priests, pastors and laymen, were put into action by unruly Christian mobs and later by Hitler’s followers.

Over time, Christian anti-Semitism acquired a racial dimension along with its religious thrust. This had significant consequences. After all, when Jew-hating was rooted in religion, a Jew could convert to Christianity and become, as it were, fully kosher. But when states began forcing Jews to convert—or face expulsion or execution—the authenticity of the Jews’ conversions became suspect. After Christians conquered Spain from the Muslims in 1492, they forced Jews and Muslims to convert, flee, or die. Many Jews converted yet practiced their old faith secretly, leading church officials to make new rules discriminating against all so-called conversos.

In the 19th century, anti-Semitism became increasingly racialized. The Enlightenment certainly made life better for Jews, at least in Western Europe, where religious tolerance took hold. Yet the Enlightenment also brought new “scientific”—or, as we now say, pseudoscientific—notions that human beings belonged to different races, some superior to others. Under these notions, Jews (as well as Africans, Arabs, and others) were deemed to be biologically and thus immutably inferior to white or “Aryan” Europeans.

Alongside racism, 19th-century Europe also saw the spread of nationalism: the idea that every people deserved its own state. Nationalism served to justify the repression of “alien” peoples, especially Jews—not just in eastern Europe, where Jews lived in ghettos, insulated from their Polish or Russian compatriots, but even in Western Europe, where many Jews were assimilated and considered themselves full citizens of their countries. This new form of ideological anti-Semitism—seeing the Jews as an alien and inferior people amid Christian European nations—finally got its name in 1879, thanks to an Austrian journalist named Wilhelm Marr.

By this point, the ideology of anti-Semitism had bred elaborate theories about the Jewish people’s evil. In some cases, ancient religious bigotries were updated, as in the “blood libel” that Jews killed Christian children to use their blood in making Passover matzot. (In Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ukraine, and elsewhere, Jews were actually tried in court on such charges.) In other cases, the slanders were new, as with the publication of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a document fabricated by Russian secret police that purported to divulge the Jews’ conspiratorial plans for world domination.

Until the late 19th century, anti-Semitism as an ideology remained largely absent from Arab and Muslim culture. In the Quran and in Islamic commentary, Jews are significant not for rejecting Muhammad but for succumbing to his followers. In Arab literature, they are sometimes portrayed as hostile or vindictive, but their humility and weakness is a much more common theme. Islamic governments did not often persecute Jews either, the way European states did, and when Jews faced discrimination, it was no different from what Christians endured. Unlike in Europe, Jews in Islamic lands were not expelled or forced to convert or, with a few exceptions, consigned to ghettos.

That all started to change around 1900. First, colonialism brought a growing European influence into the region, and both political and religious authorities from Europe promoted the idea that Jews engaged in ritual murders. Second, traditional Islamic authority was under challenge from Western liberalism, and the Jews provided a convenient scapegoat. During the 1908 Turkish revolution, the so-called Young Turks seized power in the Ottoman Empire and installed a constitutional regime that expanded freedom of religion. In arguing against the revolution, Muslim conservatives latched onto anti-Semitic propaganda, claiming that secret Jewish machinations lay behind the new regime.

Finally, there was Zionism. Starting in the mid-1800s, Jews turned to Zionism—their own nationalism—as a solution to escalating European persecution. Since biblical times, Jews had maintained a small presence in the ancient kingdom of Judea (which in the late 19th century Europeans began calling Palestine), and Zionists saw the land as the ideal refuge for them, a Jewish National Home.

Zionist immigration began in earnest in the 1880s, and soon Jewish settlers ran into conflicts with local Arabs. At first, however, the friction centered on grazing rights, land titles, and other property matters; it didn’t carry nationalist or religious overtones. Yet as crude anti-Semitic ideas circulated more widely, the view of Jews as greedy, devious, and bent on world domination became bound up with the Arab critique of Zionism. Possibly the first major expression of the now-common view that Jewish settlement was really a beachhead for a takeover of the region was published in 1909 by the Turkish journalist Yunus Nadi, who warned—without any evidence at all—that the Jews aimed to establish “an Israelite kingdom comprising the ancient states of Babel and Nineveh, with Jerusalem at its center.” The conspiratorial notion of the Jews as plotting to take over the world quickly developed.

Then came the Holocaust, which not only marked the pinnacle of European anti-Semitism but encouraged it in the Arab world as well. Because Arab leaders shared the Germans’ hostility to Britain and France—the dominant colonial powers in the Middle East—they were eager to make common cause with Hitler, despite Nazi belief that they, like the Jews, were inferior to Aryans. The mufti of Jerusalem, among others, actively spread propaganda about “Anglo-Saxon Jewish greed” while praising the Nazi war effort. Even years later, sympathy for Nazism could be easily found in Arab culture. When Israel apprehended Adolf Eichmann in 1960, a Saudi newspaper headline read, “Capture of Eichmann, Who Had the Honor of Killing Five Million Jews.”

If the Holocaust nurtured Arab anti-Semitism, it also helped to discredit such bigotry in the West. Indeed, it helped mobilize support for a Jewish state internationally. In 1948, Israel was finally granted independence. As if to welcome their new neighbor into the region, the Arab countries promptly invaded. Israel repulsed the attacks, and in the three Arab-Israeli wars that followed (1956, 1967, 1973), the Jewish state managed to survive and even to expand its territory. Most controversially, it took over the Gaza Strip from Egypt and the West Bank from Jordan, which were home to large numbers of Palestinian Arabs.

With Israel’s military successes and its willingness to occupy Arab lands until a peace treaty could be struck, Arab anti-Semitism hardened into official doctrine, as it has remained for many decades now. Propagandists, looking to rationalize their losses to a supposedly inferior people, came to depict the Jews as craven lackeys of a mightier power—the United States—a theme that can be heard in Osama Bin Laden’s rhetoric today. And it was not just propaganda: Arab countries passed laws that discriminate not against Israelis or Zionists but against all Jews, simply for being Jews.

Islamic teaching, too, has been radically retrofitted to accommodate the new anti-Semitism. Whereas traditional Muslim accounts depict the fate of the Jews as tragic, that of a people too benighted to follow Muhammad the Prophet, current Muslim scholarship in the Arab world imaginatively rereads the Quran for evidence of the Jews’ devilish nature. Meanwhile, films showing sympathy for the Jews or depicting the Holocaust are censored, while staples of old-fashioned European anti-Semitism—cartoons portraying greedy hook-nosed Jews, popular novels with conspiratorial Jewish villains, public lectures drawing on phony scholarship like the Protocols—became staples of the new Arab culture.

Answer 2

It's a good question. I personally believe in equal opportunity bashing, that is, all religious belief systems should be bashed equally. Except for Buddhists, they're pretty cool, and they don't bother anybody. And Buddhism is probably not considered a religion anyway.

I'll try to answer your question off the top of my head: Even in Shakespeare's time (and I'm sure it probably goes all the way back to Egypt's pharaohs), there was a perception that Jews were the "haves" while the "good guys" were the "have nots." The Jews were the money lenders, they were good with money, I guess. If you've read Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" or seen the movie, you'll get the point. So there was this perception of greed. Plus, the fact that Jews referred to themselves as "the chosen people" didn't exactly sit too well with the rest of Christiandom. Personally, it rankles me when someone announces that they're "saved" (and you're not, neener, neener, neeeener), so I can sort of see how that "better than thou" attitude would tick people off. It Hitler's time, they were a convenient scapegoat for the problems in Europe, and it was again a perception that Jews had a lot of wealth while your average chubby German had to get by on a potato diet. Human nature being what it is, the Aryans had to go and view themselves as "superior" and try to eliminate "inferior" races. So now you've got a bunch of fat-necked Aryan stooges believing THEY are the chosen ones. It just never stops. In any event, I don't see much difference in fanatical Christians or Muslims. It's just that we still have a few laws in the U.S.A. to protect us from the likes of the Inquisition. Thank you for letting me rant a bit, and please feel free to blast away all you want to. It's about time people did. And why do people hate? I dunno, because they're miserable themselves?

Answer 3

I'm not exactly sure why the Jews have so often been persecuted but it's something that has gone on for thousands of years, even before the birth of Christ. Religious groups of any kind, including Christians, Muslims, Wiccans and Buddhists are often persectuted out of ignorance and fear. People look for the easiest mark when they're angry and afraid and go for it. It's very sad.

One of the earliest examples of animosity toward Jews was in 3rd century BCE when Manetho, a Hellenistic Egyptian chronicler and priest, alleged that Moses was not a Jew, but an Egyptian renegade priest called Osarseph, and portrays the Exodus as the expulsion of a leper colony.

Also, in 2nd century BCE, Mnaseas of Patros, a Greek author, reported that the Jews worship a donkey's head in the Holy of Holies. This legend was repeated by Apollonius Molon, Democritus, Apion, and Plutarch.

These types of ridiculous notions are started out of some type of anger on somebodies part, fed to the public or a certain group and then the lies take a vengeful form.

Anti-Semetism and other religious discrimination and hatred is also often used as a way for another group to get a stronger foothold or more public approval. Just look at the way politicians after 9/11 were feeding the fear the public had toward Muslims. I don't mean to sound too cynical, but what a way for these politicians to get votes if they're seen as "protectors". Again this is very sad.

Answer 4

Well it's the whole scapegoat thing. Jews are always the scapegoat in any sort of situation. As well because it was previously established that all Jews (because of the actions of SOME) are somehow all 'Christ killers', it has a 'historical' backing, and anyone with a low enough level of self-worth will blame the minorities, namely the Jews, because it's been done so often in the past. As well many jews are seen as enterprising, greedy money mongers, which is not at all true of a great deal of the ones that I know (living in a Jewish neighbourhood and such). The whole Christian/Jewish thing can be rationalized and blamed on Jesus being killed by Jews, (which is not a view endorsed by any real Christian, just those with low self esteem) and they get bad rep because of that. The Muslim/Jewish thing can again be rationalized based on the actions of a STATE, which despite being the homeland of many Jews, people of the state (Israel) should not be blamed for the actions of the government. That's like blaming the family member of a German Jew for Hitler's actions against the Jews, or blaming a Japanese-Canadian for all the people that were taken off their land during WWII as a result of them being seen as a 'threat'. Blame people, sometimes the really bad seeds end up not being able to blame themselves for their own problems, because that would damage their view of themselves even further, so they blame minorities, like the Jews.

Answer 5

Well, there is some historical rationalization for anti-semitism. Christians who hate (and most don't) point to the fact that the Jews rejected Jesus's teachings and dragged him to the Romans to be crucified. And when he was being judged, they called for his blood and screamed something to the effect of "let his blood be upon our heads and upon our descendents". At least that's the way the Bible account reads.

Honestly though, you see the same thing with any group that believes something different than the "majority". Take the Mormons for instance. You post a "What do you think of the Mormons" question here...and you will get some of the nastiest, mean-spirited responses imaginable - about a group of people that for the most part are polite, helpful people, good citizens, and good neighbors. It's just human nature to hate what you don't understand IMO.

Answer 6

Perhaps it is easier to blame others for one's own problems rather than take responsibility for them. It is also easier to lay characteristics onto a culture and stereotype the people from that culture. While I do not know all of the history of anti-Semitic thought, it has been around for a long time. It may also be an artifact from when the Jewish culture competed strongly against other cultures, and may reflect how others viewed them at the time. I know that Americans weren't usually saying nice things about the Russian folk 40 years ago. Imagine that kind of hatred, but lasting several hundreds or thousands of years-- it will remain here, even if there is no warrant for it.

Answer 7

I think it's based on an us-vs-them mentality. We're good (we must be, because we're us), so they HAVE to be bad.

This doesn't just occur in religion, of course--there is racial hatred, and hatred between countries. During the middle ages, some people in France (presumably peasants) believed that English people were covered in scales. Many Christians were told that Jews had horns; there's a famous sculpture of Moses (by Michelangelo??) that has knobby little horns.

Also during the middle ages, Jews were often financiers; moneylenders, and jewelers/ pawnbrokers. Owing someone a lot of money can make some people hate the lender.

Answer 8

Sweetie I'm sorry I'm a country bumkin and offensive to you, but anyone who has ever read about it should know that much of it is propaganda. Would you be surprised to learn the AP is partially owned by an arab? Jews have been discriminated against for a very long time. Hitler of course kept the propaganda churning out to encourage people to keep silent about his atrocities. Catholics for years have felt that the Jews cruicified Jesus, and of course some caused it, but the bible makes very clear the first Christians were Jews, and Jesus died for all of us, He volunteered, nobody killed Jesus, He planned it all. Now you have about a billion muslims on every side of their tiny little country, and in most of the world who have a dream of the extermination of every Jew on the face of the earth. Naturally they aren't going to say "We want to kill all these Jews because we have hated them for centuries", no they are going to say the Jews are picking on them, are taking their land, are being mean to them by fighting back when the Arabs attack. It is all hatred and propaganda.

Answer 9

Jews migrated to several countries around the world,however they have always insulated themselves from the nations that they had moved to.Instead of trying to assimulate into the nation the they were living, they tried to remain pure as the"chosen people".Note that after world war 2 ,with millions of refugees,none of the civilized nations wanted them,hence the need to find a place for them which resulted in the creation of Israel.The result became a nation that perceived itself to be pure and superior to all others as a nation of "chosen people" that was not bound by the laws of nature and the world of civilized nations.

Answer 10

To hate is a choice; just as to love is a choice. The people in the world today are so self absorbed that it is difficult to reach out a helping hand. It almost seems easier to snub people rather than give a helping hand. As for the Jews. I have no idea. They are children of God just as the rest of us. There were things that happened in the time of Christ that has cast something over them, but it is by no means a reason for hate.

Answer 11

Well start with this, Christianity and Islam like to kill their fellow human beings.

I know there are many nice people who believe in God, but the real evil amongst us, are the vast majority of religious followers and believers who have clearly shown over time to be the major instigators of wars, violence, abuse, greed and practically everything evil on our planet.

Even according to Genesis in the Bible, God is clearly the greatest mass murderer in history. The Bible is full of terrible atrocities and evil, far more than nice things, but of course believers will just ignore or twist the atrocities into whatever soothes their confused minds.

Everyone knows of murders and violence associated with Christianity and Islam, I suppose all of the other major religions have a track record of killing their fellow human beings as well.