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By Bill Berkowitz
Within the span of a few weeks both Ward and Weyrich claimed that Jews are Christ-killers. Horowitz slides in for the denouement. Here's how these separate stories have become joined at the hip. Ward, an African American, is a former Florida State quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy as the best college football player in the nation several years back. He's currently a point guard for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association. Ward is a conservative with "a long history of using Christianity as a bludgeon and as a shield," writes Gwen Knapp, a sportswriter with the San Francisco Chronicle. He is one of a growing number of professional athletes who have taken to wearing their Christianity on their sleeves. They're the players, who thank God after winning a ball game, as if God actually takes sides in sporting events.
Ward's anti-Semitic remarks set off a firestorm in New York City, where he was relentlessly booed at Madison Square Garden, his home court. Although Ward later apologized for his remarks, the incident still reverberates. Weyrich: Godfather of the Christian Right Paul Weyrich is the Zelig of late twentieth century Christian Right politics. In 1973, he helped raise the money that created the Heritage Foundation. For years he has run the Free Congress Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think-tank, through which he founded National Empowerment Television, a television network for conservative organizations. Make no mistake about it; Weyrich is the real deal--a far more important figure in the Christian right's inner circle than even someone such as Jerry Falwell. Political Research Associates, an organization tracking right-wing movements, calls Weyrich a "key strategist for the secular and religious right."
Weyrich's April 13 e-mail to his constituents headlined "Indeed He Is Risen," is the cause of his latest controversy: "Our God could not bear to see mankind suffering, even if it was from the consequences of his own actions, so He sent His only Son to become man so than man could become like God. To accomplish that, Christ was crucified by the Jews who had wanted a temporal ruler to rescue them from the oppressive Roman authorities. Instead God sent them a spiritual leader to rescue them from their sins and despite the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, performed incredible miracles, even raised people from the dead, He was not what the Jews had expected so they considered Him a threat. Thus He was put to death." Historically, Christians have used the notion that Jews are Christ-killers to stir up hatred and violence against them. According to Marc Stern of the American Jewish Congress, "the charge often set off pogroms based on the "blood libel that Jews killed Christ." Eugene Fisher, director of Catholic-Jewish relations for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the Washington Post that Weyrich's statement "is exactly the type of collective guilt on the Jewish people that the Second Vatican Council specifically condemned in the declaration Nostra Aetate, October 28, 1965." While Ward and Weyrich share fundamentalist beliefs, it is also clear that they come from very different places. Ward makes his living as an athlete and only occasionally steps into the political sphere. It is within the realm of possibility that he didn't understand the ramifications of his remarks. Here comes the Governor: Ward is a spokesperson for Florida's "Born to Read" program. According to U.S. Newswire, People for the American Way Foundation (PFAWF) has called on Florida Governor Jeb Bush "to issue a public apology to the people of Florida over his handling of the controversy." PFAWF claims that while Ward's remarks were troubling enough, the governor compounded the problem by quickly brushing them aside. PFAWF charges Governor Bush with doing "a deep disservice to the spirit of community that depends upon mutual understanding, tolerance, and respect." Along comes Horowitz
One might have expected that Weyrich's anti-Semitic remarks would unleash a torrent of criticism. But they didn't. Only conservative journalist Evan Gahr responded with a piece blasting Weyrich. He submitted it to David Horowitz's FrontPage online magazine. Horowitz's turned down the piece despite his recently assumed mantle of Western Civilization's primary defender of free speech, with his campaign to place anti-reparations advertisements in college newspapers around the country. Instead, Gahr's article wound up on the web site of The American Spectator. According to Conason, the controversy didn't end there. Horowitz not only rejected Gahr's piece, but "a few days later, went so far as to ban Gahr permanently from writing for FrontPage" after Gahr had been quoted in the Washington Post saying Weyrich was "a demented anti-Semite." In Horowitz's tortured defense of Weyrich on FrontPage ("In Defense of Paul Weyrich" April 23), he accuses Gahr of maliciously attacking Weyrich, with whom Horowitz has gotten along amiably with over the years. Although Horowitz admits that "Weyrich unquestionably knew what he was doing and probably inserted the phrase as an in-your-face to the PC Church, regardless of consequences," he argues that the attack on "Christians like Weyrich" is just another example of political correctness run rampant. Horowitz claims that Weyrich's letter to his supporters was a pretty harmless communication. With his usual penchant for distortion and turning issues on its head, he writes: "It's true that Jews are vulnerable even in today's America. But are they teetering on the edge of survival? Is life so perilous for Jews that they cannot handle a pastoral letter, which includes a passing reference like this? Here's another way of putting the question: Would you rather be a Jew in the world of Washington politics who was under attack as a "kike," or a Christian who was under attack as a "demented anti-Semite?" The answer should be obvious." Finally, in the "if this don't beat all" department, Horowitz tells Gahr that "your piece was rejected because it was a malicious slander. You tried to bully Richard [FrontPage's editor] into running it immediately. What was the hurry? To stamp out a dangerous anti-Semite or to get your name in print with a sensational (if groundless) attack? I am terminating you as a columnist for ^FrontPage for these reasons. You should think about an apology to Weyrich. Then we can talk." Both Weyrich and Ward have the right to say what they darn well please about whomever they please. But then, they should be held accountable. As to Horowitz--his involvement is par for the course. |
New York Knick Charlie Ward: Playing the point for the god-squad 
Paul Weyrich: Christian extremists? He's listening 
David Horowitz: Defending anti-Semitic comments 
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