News in Christian-Jewish Relations:  November 2003

CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS TO JOIN WITH REFORM JEWS IN RENEWED INTERFAITH DIALOGUE

(MINNEAPOLIS, November 8) -- Recognizing the importance of interfaith dialogue as a means to advance Mideast peace and to combat anti-Semitism, the leaders of four Christian denominations will urge their churches to join with Reform synagogues in interfaith dialogue and study.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church USA, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have agreed to this effort join in to develop interfaith awareness and understanding. The Union has prepared a seven-session curriculum based on sacred texts to discuss the common aspects and critical differences of their histories, Israel, and the Mideast conflict.

Yoffie announced the interfaith initiative before 4,500 synagogue leaders gathered here for the Reform Movement's Biennial Convention, which concludes Sunday. He also said President Bush's campaign to reduce taxes for the wealthy has become a dangerous "eleventh commandment" that is "the last thing this country needs right now." And he called on the Government of Israel to dismantle illegal outposts and freeze all other settlement activity before a two-state solution is no longer possible.

Yoffie recalled that that Reform Jews were at the forefront of interreligious dialogue in North America in the 1950s and 60s, but said that "in recent decades interfaith dialogue has declined precipitously. In many communities, little survives beyond Thanksgiving services and model seders."

He therefore called on the synagogue leaders to invite a neighborhood church to join in studying and discussing a seven-session curriculum that will focus on Biblical texts and the religious and political questions that surround the State of Israel.

"Your call for more -- and better -- discussion between our communities is a powerful one," wrote Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. "This is especially true on issues concerning the Middle East, where we have much to learn from one another."

"The Presbyterian Church (USA) welcomes the new study process now being initiated by Rabbi Eric Yoffie and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations," wrote the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick. "As our Theological Understanding of the Relationship Between Christians and Jews (1987) makes clear, the church's identity is intimately related to the continuing identity of the Jewish people."

See the curriculum here