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Article: The world according to Judeophobes: Jews have always been the favoured scapegoat of influential leaders and elites.(Ideological Antisemitism)
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- October 1, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE charge of deicide (the murder of God) against the Jews would influence the actions of a string of Christian leaders such as Augustine who opined that 'the degradation of the Jews all over the world [serves] as a contrast to the beauty of the form of the Church'. Martin Luther, the 15th-century Protestant reformer, hoped that Jews would be expelled from his beloved German 'fatherland': 'Moved by prayer and respectful piety, we must act with merciful severity ... In the first place, their synagogues should be burned down and what does not burn must be covered in mud. This must be done for the honour of God and Christianity ...' Luther's birthday would be commemorated by ...