The Committee of Catholics to Fight Anti-Semitism (later known as the Committee of Catholics for Human Rights) was an American Catholic anti-racist organization formed in May 1939, partially in response to the 1938 announcement of Pope Pius XI that "it is not possible for Christians to take part in anti-Semitism". It was supported by many prominent Catholics, including members of the Catholic Worker Movement, among them Dorothy Day. [1]
In September 1938 Pope Pius XI, speaking to a group of Belgian pilgrims, denounced anti-Semitism explicitly, saying that it was incompatible with Christianity. Influenced by this statement, a group of American bishops released a statement encouraging Catholics to, "guard against all forms of racial bigotry." Inspired by the statement of the bishops, the Committee of Catholics to Fight Anti-Semitism was formed [2] in May 1939 by Dorothy Day, [3] Catherine Doherty, [4] other supporters of the Catholic Worker Movement, [5] and Emmanuel Chapman, professor at Fordham University, [6] who was its first executive secretary. [3] Also included among the founders were artists, philosophers, writers and, according to Day, "a long list of priests and nuns." [7] In August 1939 the group changed its name to the Committee of Catholics for Human Rights. [8]
Millions of citizens throughout the world are no longer considered as inviolable persons: they are mere things to be juggled at will by gangster governments. Atheism, Communism, Nazism, excessive nationalism and arrogant militarism have brought back to the civilized world the servitude of man. The anti-Semite, like the atheist and the Communist, refuses to recognize in his neighbor the image and likeness of God.
Robert Emmet Lucey, Bishop of Amarillo, writing in The Voice, 1940. [9]
The American Church hierarchy supported the establishment of the group entirely. [10] By July 1939, Thomas J. Walsh, national commander of the Catholic War Veterans (CWV) and Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, had joined the committee. At the same time, Edward J. Higgins, CWV founder, and John M. J. Quinn, the national chaplain of the CWV, announced that they would be joining the organization. [11]
In June 1939 boxer Gene Tunney joined the committee. Other notable members were John A. Ryan, Robert F. Wagner, Jr., and Theodore Maynard. [12]
According to the committee, its purpose was, "primarily to reach those who, contrary to the teachings of Christianity and the principles of democracy, are taking part, unfortunately, in spreading race and minority hatreds in the United States. Our approach will be positive and dignified, and there will be no personal attacks against anyone." [13]
According to The New York Times the committee's "program of activity consists of frequent issuance of literature, radio broadcasts, speakers' bureaus, educational programs for schools, research bureau, information service, and education of Catholics to combat bigotry and anti-Semitism." [14]
In July 1939, John Brophy, national director of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, gave a speech appealing for the labor movement to support the committee's work, saying that, "anti-Semitism, like every other form of racism and minority hatred, has a real place in the plans of un-democratic, un-American forces seeking to dominate our social and political life. It is spread in America today for a definite and carefully plotted purpose." [15] By 1945 Brophy was a member of the executive board of the Committee. [16]
The committee published an eight-page tabloid [17] journal called The Voice. [18] The first copy of the first issue was ceremonially presented to New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia at the 1939 New York World's Fair. [17] By July, 1939, according to Chapman, over 100,000 copies of the journal had been circulated. [11] According to historian Mary Christine Athans, "The Voice was published in direct opposition to [ Father Charles Coughlin's] Social Justice , condemning the antisemitic activities which were rampant at that time." [19]
A branch of the committee was founded in Chicago on July 28, 1939. Thirty Catholic leaders announced the formation of the branch committee, among them Edward Marciniak, elected chairman of the new group, and Marie Antoinette Roulet. [14]
Freedom of conscience, as written into the Federal Constitution, through the wisdom and foresight of the Fathers has been a guarantee of peace and happiness during all our life as a nation. Any selfish group which would discriminate against any of our fellow citizens because of race or religion would thereby endanger the fundamental rights of all.
Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United States, writing in The Voice, 1940. [20]
In August 1939 group changed its name to the Committee of Catholics for Human Rights (CCHR) [8] and the name of their publication to the Voice for Human Rights. [21] According to executive secretary Chapman, "The original aim of the committee was to combat the growing error of racism by bringing before the public the positive Christian doctrines condemning such thought. Since those same doctrines which emphasize the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God apply to all races and peoples, we have felt that a broader application of them was imperative." [8]
Msgr. Ryan was a man of broad sympathies whose heart beat with true compassion for the laboring man and laboring woman and for all who bore heavy burdens; for the underprivileged everywhere. I think it is especially fitting that the award in his name is to be made by an organization which recognizes the dignity of human nature regardless of faith, race, color, or social condition.
Harry Truman, President of the United States, in a letter commending Bernard J. Sheil and Philip Murray on their receipt of the John A. Ryan award from the CCHR in November 1945
Under its new name the committee vigorously opposed radio priest and vocal anti-Semite Coughlin's organization the Christian Front. [22] They also spoke out against Mississippi senator Theodore Bilbo for opposing Franklin Roosevelt's Fair Employment Practices Committee by using arguments containing "personal attacks that help feed the flames of bigotry and discriminatory practice." [23] Bilbo vowed to respond to the Committee's letter and promised that his reply "would be hot." [24]
In August 1940 the first anniversary issue of The Voice was published. The issue contained messages of support from Eleanor Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie, then-governor of New York Herbert H. Lehman, and President Franklin Roosevelt. [20]
By September 1939, the CCHR had local chapters in Chicago, Cincinnati, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. [25] Former New York State governor Al Smith joined the CCHR in September 1939, stating in a letter to the committee that "no Catholic can be an anti-Semite, because the Catholic Church teaches charity and love of your neighbor." [25]
The CCHR suspended its activities when World War II began. It was revived in 1944. Its reorganization, explained Emmanuel Chapman, "was made urgent by numerous requests from members of the committee who pointed to the resurgence of intolerance at this time." United States Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy was named honorary chairman of the reorganized committee. [26]
Notable prelate Edwin Vincent O'Hara joined the CCHR in 1944. [27] In November 1945 the CCHR awarded the Monsignor John A. Ryan Award to Congress of Industrial Organizations president Philip Murray and bishop Bernard James Sheil of Chicago, who were consequently commended by President Harry Truman. [28]
Antisemitism is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antisemitism has increased greatly in the Arab world since the beginning of the 20th century, for several reasons: the dissolution and breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and traditional Islamic society; European influence, brought about by Western imperialism and Arab Christians; Nazi propaganda and relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world; resentment over Jewish nationalism; the rise of Arab nationalism; and the widespread proliferation of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories.
Antisemitism in Christianity, a form of religious antisemitism, is the feeling of hostility which some Christian Churches, Christian groups, and ordinary Christians have toward the Jewish religion and the Jewish people.
Semites, Semitic peoples or Semitic cultures is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group. The terminology is now largely unused outside the grouping "Semitic languages" in linguistics.
The America First Committee (AFC) was the foremost United States isolationist pressure group against American entry into World War II. Launched in September 1940, it surpassed 800,000 members in 450 chapters at its peak. The AFC principally supported isolationism for its own sake, and its coalition included many Midwesterners, Republicans, conservatives, socialists, students, and leading industrialists, but it was controversial for the anti-Semitic and pro-fascist views of some of its most prominent speakers, leaders, and members. The AFC was dissolved on December 11, 1941, four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war.
New antisemitism is the idea that a new form of antisemitism has developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, tending to manifest itself as anti-Zionism and criticism of the Israeli government. The concept is included in some definitions of antisemitism, such as the Working Definition of Antisemitism and the 3D test of antisemitism.
Allen Joseph Ellender was an American politician and lawyer who was a U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1937 until his death. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with Huey Long. As Senator he compiled a generally conservative record, voting 77% of the time with the Conservative Coalition on domestic issues. A staunch segregationist, he signed the Southern Manifesto in 1956, voted against the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and opposed anti-lynching legislation in 1938. Unlike many Democrats he was not a "hawk" in foreign policy and opposed the Vietnam War.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to The New York Times, is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish organizations". As of 2009, AJC envisions itself as the "Global Center for Jewish and Israel Advocacy".
Abraham Henry Foxman is an American lawyer and activist. He served as the national director of the Anti-Defamation League from 1987 to 2015, and is currently the League's national director emeritus. From 2016 to 2021 he served as vice chair of the board of trustees at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City in order to lead its efforts on antisemitism.
The Britons was an English anti-Semitic and anti-immigration organisation founded in July 1919 by Henry Hamilton Beamish. The organisation published pamphlets and propaganda under imprint names: Judaic Publishing Co. and later The Britons, and (The) Britons Publishing Society. These entities mainly engaged in disseminating anti-Semitic literature and rhetoric in the United Kingdom and called for greater nationalism, being considered academically among the forefront of British Fascists. Imprints under the first label exist for 1920, 1921, and 1922.
Anti-Semite and Jew is an essay about antisemitism written by Jean-Paul Sartre shortly after the Liberation of Paris from German occupation in 1944. The first part of the essay, "The Portrait of the Antisemite", was published in December 1945 in Les Temps modernes. The full text was then published in 1946.
Antisemitic tropes, canards, or myths are "sensational reports, misrepresentations, or fabrications" that are defamatory towards Judaism as a religion or defamatory towards Jews as an ethnic or religious group. Since the Middle Ages, such reports have been a recurring motif of broader antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Kenneth S. Stern is an American attorney and an author. He is the director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, a program of the Human Rights Project at Bard College. From 2014 to 2018 he was the executive director of the Justus & Karin Rosenberg Foundation. From 1989 to 2014 he was the director of antisemitism, hate studies and extremism for the American Jewish Committee. In 2000, Stern was a special advisor to the defense in the David Irving v. Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt trial. His 2020 book, The Conflict Over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate, examines attempts of partisans of each side to censor the other, and the resulting damage to the academy.
Joseph Ignatius Breen was an American film censor with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America who applied the Hays Code to film production.
Antisemitism in the United States has existed for centuries. In the United States, most Jewish community relations agencies draw distinctions between antisemitism, which is measured in terms of attitudes and behaviors, and the security and status of American Jews, which are both measured by the occurrence of specific incidents. FBI data shows that in every year since 1991, Jews were the most frequent victims of religiously motivated hate crimes, according to a report which was published by the Anti-Defamation League in 2019. Evidence suggests that the true number of hate crimes against Jews is underreported, as is the case for many other targeted groups.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) is a nonprofit organization established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Its stated mission is to "eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections." Many critics regard it as a Scientology front group whose purpose is to push the organization's anti-psychiatric agenda.
Anti-Jewish boycotts are organized boycotts directed against Jewish people to exclude them economical, political or cultural life. Antisemitic boycotts are often regarded as a manifestation of popular antisemitism.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB) is a nonprofit organization founded by Kenneth L. Marcus in 2012 to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all. LDB is active on American campuses, where it, according to the organization, combats anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
Anti-Palestinianism or anti-Palestinian racism refers to prejudice and discrimination against Palestinians by groups, individuals, or governments. It is sometimes referred to as a form of racism manifested in anti-Arab sentiment, though it may also be a political standpoint as well. The phenomenon is common in Israel, the United States, and Lebanon, among other countries.
Zionist antisemitism is the phenomenon in which individuals, groups, or governments support the Zionist movement and the State of Israel while they simultaneously hold antisemitic views about Jews. In some cases, Zionism may be promoted for explicitly antisemitic reasons. The prevalence of antisemitism has been widely noted within the Christian Zionist movement, whose adherents may hold antisemitic and supersessionist beliefs about Jews while also supporting Zionism for eschatological reasons. Antisemitic right-wing nationalists, particularly in Europe and the United States, sometimes support the Zionist movement because they wish that Jews be expelled or that they emigrate to Israel. The Israeli government's alleged collaboration with antisemitic politicians abroad has been criticized as an example of Zionist antisemitism. Anti-Zionists have criticized the Zionist movement for its alleged complicity with or its alleged capitulation to antisemitism since its inception, with some anti-Zionists also referring to Zionism as a form of antisemitism.
