Texas Senator Ted Cruz slams Christian claims that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus, calling it “bad theology” and “bigotry.”
By World Israel News Staff
Republican Senator Ted Cruz lambasted claims by fellow Christians that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus, calling the accusation historically inaccurate, theologically false, and fundamentally bigoted.
On Wednesday, the senator hosted conservative pundit Ben Ferguson and former Auburn Tigers basketball coach Bruce Pearl on his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz.”
During the discussion, Pearl, who is Jewish, challenged antisemitism based on the claim that Jews killed Jesus, while appearing to affirm that Jews were indeed responsible.
“You could either look at the Jews and say, ‘Well, you all killed Christ…killed our God.’ Okay, well, was it not God’s plan to send his son to die so that you would be brought into covenant with him? Wasn’t that his plan?” Pearl said.
“Does it really matter who killed him?” he continued. “Jesus was Jewish.”
Cruz responded that the claim that Jews killed Jesus is factually incorrect, adding that it also contradicts Christian dogma regarding the death of Jesus.
“The week before Christmas, and Ben will remember this, I sent out a tweet and I said, ‘Two thoughts that drive the anti-Semites crazy in this Christmas season. Number one, our savior Jesus was Jewish in the line of David, and number two, Jews didn’t kill Jesus – I did. You did. He died for our sins’,” Cruz said.
The senator then castigated those blaming Jews for Jesus’ death as “antisemites,” adding that no argument is made to hold Italians responsible, despite the execution being carried out by Romans.
“That’s what the New Testament says, is that he willingly took the cross to die for our sins, and so the sort of antisemites who says Jews killed Jesus, well actually, it was Romans who drove the nails in. Is anyone mad at the Italians? Like that’s just stupid. It’s bad theology, it’s bigotry, and I will admit I was kind of happy with that tweet because it really did drive the anti-Semites crazy.”
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