It started with this post.

There's no hope for any of us outside of having faith in Jesus Christ alone.

— Lizzie Marbach (@LizzieMarbach) August 15, 2023

Congressman Max Miller responded this way:

This is one of the most bigoted tweets I have ever seen.

Delete it, Lizzie.

Religious freedom in the United States applies to every religion.

You have gone too far. https://t.co/QCx8oAT1Kr

— Max Miller (@MaxMillerOH) August 15, 2023

Now the internet is on fire and there is about to be sectarian violence between Christians and Jews.

Miller may have overreacted, but you need to understand the divide here.

I understand the Christian perspective.  Lizzie was making a statement of faith.

Giving her the benefit of the doubt, it wasn’t malicious.

What Jews, with out thousands of years of faith, tradition, and history of being persecuted for that faith, hear is: “You’re wrong, there is no hope for you l, and you’re going to hell.”

This, however, is the problem with proselytization.  What one side might have said in love and concern for the souls of others, is heard as an attack on their faith, culture, and identity.

We Jews do not proselytize and we take deep offense at being proselytized to.

I’ll be honest, even though I understand what Lizzie is saying and giving her the benefit of the doubt, my reflexive position is that she’s an asshole for saying what she said the way she said it.

Now a very vocal side of the Christian Right is playing the wounded victim, with this as an example of Jews using the power of government to oppress Christians.

On that later point, we need to be clear what a First Amendment violation actually is.

A Congressman saying: “Your post sucks and you should delete it” isn’t a violation.

A Congressman saying: “Your post sucks and you should delete it or you will face legal consequences” is a a violation.

If a simple opinion without the backing of force is a violation, then any Congressman who wishes people a Merry Christmas is in violation for creating a official state religion.  Without any weight of enforcement behind it, it’s just a person opinion which everyone, including Congressmen, are entitled to.

But back to the main point.

One of the most salient features of American Exceptionalism is our lack of sectarian conflict.

Compared to Europe or Asia, with theor thousands of years of religious wars, America has lived in religious harmony.

I’d like to keep it that way.

This is an issue of cultural sensitivity, or lack there of, where each side feels slighted.

Christians, for being called bigots for professing an article of faith.

Jews, for being told (one again) that were wrong, bad, and going to hell.

The Left already hates the Jews.  I don’t want the mainstream Rught to adopt the alt-Right Naziesque Jew-hating position that ‘the Jews are attacking Christianity.’

Rather than retreat to extremes, can we understand the situation in context.