COMMENTARY: Anglican-Jewish Agreement a Sign of Hope

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) This month, the religious “bad news” story was the violent reaction of Muslims to the pope’s speech in which he invoked a 14th-century emperor who called the prophet Muhammad’s teachings “evil and inhuman.” Some Muslim leaders even issued bizarre calls for the pope to convert to Islam. Unfortunately, during […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) This month, the religious “bad news” story was the violent reaction of Muslims to the pope’s speech in which he invoked a 14th-century emperor who called the prophet Muhammad’s teachings “evil and inhuman.” Some Muslim leaders even issued bizarre calls for the pope to convert to Islam.

Unfortunately, during the same month, an interreligious “good news” story was overwhelmed by the papal-Islamic controversy.


Meeting at London’s Lambeth Palace on Sept. 5, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion’s 77 million members, joined Israel’s two chief rabbis, Shlomo Amar and Yonah Metzger, in signing an historic agreement that breaks new ground in the continuing struggle to forge a new constructive relationship Christianity and Judaism.

Seventy prominent Anglicans and Jews _ including two leaders from Jerusalem, Coadjutor Bishop Suheil Dawani and Rabbi David Rosen, the American Jewish Committee’s international interreligious director _ attended the event. Also present was Britain’s chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks.

Rosen, a key architect of the agreement, believes the agreement will lead to an Anglican-Jewish bilateral commission, similar to the long-standing Roman Catholic-Jewish model.

Williams said the agreement provides a “framework” for Anglicans and Jews to confront with “mutual trust and respect” the “practical and sometimes challenging issues” that affect the two faith communities.

The document itself acknowledges that Christians have a relationship with Jews and Judaism that is “unique,” and “different … than our dialogue with any other religion” because Christianity “emerges from within Judaism.”

Sadly, the document notes, there have been “all too many times of violence and persecution by Christians of Jews.” The joint statement recognizes “times when the church has been complicit” in fomenting and perpetuating anti-semitism. Both sides expressed “profound concerns” about the rise of anti-semitism around the world, describing it as a “scourge that we are committed to struggle against.”

There is an urgent need, the statement said, “to educate the coming generations in the history of anti-semitism” and voiced support for a National Holocaust Memorial Day in the United Kingdom.”


Coming just weeks after the United Nations-brokered cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, Williams and the Israeli rabbis were forceful and clear in affirming “the rights of the State of Israel to live within recognized and secure borders and to defend itself by all legal means. … We condemn without reserve those who deny a place for Israel and especially those who engage in the evil work of seeking to bring about its destruction.”

Finally, the statement called for future meetings between Anglicans and Jews based upon the principles of “encounter, discussion, reflection, and reconciliation … in the context of (today’s) troubled times … where religious faith has an increasingly significant place in shaping the thoughts and actions of people and communities.”

The important agreement comes at a critical historic moment for both Anglicans and Jews.

In some parts of the world, Anglican membership is spiraling downward, especially in the United States, where Episcopalians face possible schism over an internal battle about the role of gay clergy. Will a weakened Episcopal Church have the necessary spiritual and moral energy to act upon the vital demands of the recently signed accord?

Sixty years after the end of the Holocaust, there is a sharp rise in hatred of Jews, Judaism and the State of Israel. The cancer of anti-semitism, once thought to be in remission, has yet again reappeared in a virulent form.

The global Jewish community looks to the Anglican Communion as a welcome ally in battling the old pathology of anti-Semitism. The Canterbury-Jerusalem agreement provides a powerful mandate for such desperately needed efforts.

KRE/JL END RUDIN

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)


Editors: To obtain a photo of Rabbi Rudin, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.

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