In late April, the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA) announced its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) formal definition of anti-Semitism, which has been endorsed by 37 countries—including the United States, Germany, and Poland. However, as Jayson Casper reports, a number of large Christian organizations are ambivalent about or opposed to the IHRA’s definition, largely because of its approach to anti-Semitism aimed at the Jewish state.
In a solemn ceremony last month at the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA) laid a wreath of remembrance.
It was also a pledge. “In awe and profound shame,” the alliance wrote on its Yad Vashem laurel, “yet with the promise for future solidarity.”
Alongside dialogue partners from the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC), the EEA warned that anti-Semitism is rising around the world. The EEA was joined in Jerusalem by Thomas Schirrmacher, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance, as well as Goodwill Shana, chairman of its international council. Though the two leaders also laid a wreath, the global organization did not sign onto the IHRA definition like its European affiliate.
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More about: Anti-Semitism, Evangelical Christianity, IHRA, Jewish-Christian relations