Religion is a controversial issue, and the Jews for Jesus’ Behold Your God Campaign this September is bound to complicate matters even more.
This missionary crusade, which has sparked sharp opposition from many Jewish and Christian organizations in Toronto, is conducted by Jews who believe that Jesus is the Messiah and adhere to the scriptures of both the old and new testaments.
“We want people to think for themselves about what is true,” said Andrew Barron, Chief of Station at the Canadian Branch of Jews for Jesus. “We feel it is our duty to spread the message of our faith, especially to our Jewish brothers and sisters, because we want them to understand that you can be Jewish and believe in Jesus at the same time.”
Representatives from the group will pay daily visits to U of T’s St. George Campus until September 13, distributing brochures on the streets.
When asked whether Jews for Jesus should come to U of T, Hyla Korn, a fourth year U of T student and co-chair of Ontario Hillel Partnership, said that the issue is not the group’s right to speak with students, but the strategy they use in doing so.
“Everyone should be allowed to talk about what they believe because U of T stands for religious and ethnic tolerance,” said Korn. “The problem at hand is that Jews for Jesus uses deceptive tactics in their campaigns. They claim to be Jewish, but they are not. They say that one does not need to convert to Christianity in order to believe in Jesus but, in essence, what they are seeking is for people to convert.”
Barron, however, does not mention conversion. He says that a Jew is a Jew because, biologically, he is the descendent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. According to Barron, one can believe in Jesus and remain Jewish, since the former is ethnicity and the latter is faith.
Director of Community Relations of the Canadian Jewish Congress (Ontario Region), Len Rudner, disagrees. “Jesus represents a sharp break from the Hebrew scriptures, creating a clear distinction between Judaism and Christianity. Therefore, no matter how devoted Jews for Jesus are to their faith,” says Rudner, “being Jewish and believing in Jesus at the same time contradicts one another.”
“You can be a Jew For Jesus no more than you can be a vegetarian for meat, or an atheist for God,” Rudner added.
Along with Toronto’s Jewish community, the Christian church disapproves of Jews for Jesus as well. Dr. Charles McVety, president of the Canadian Christian College, said that “by disguising themselves as Jews while practicing Christianity, Jews for Jesus lose all credibility in the eyes of the church.”
As a response to the group’s missionary activities in Toronto, a campaign entitled “Missionary Impossible”, organized in an attempt to defend Judaism, will feature a “Stand Up for Judaism” Sabbath and rally on Saturday, Sept. 6 and Sunday, Sept. 7. The rally will begin at 8 p.m. at the Toronto Zionist Centre, 788 Marlee Ave. and is open to the public.
