A new report claims UK Christians are antisemitic. Is it accurate?

The news has felt remarkably dark in recent days.

Earlier this week a man admitted shooting dead his mother and two siblings in Luton. Last week 1,000 women shared their stories of being raped, abused and harassed while serving in the British military. Meanwhile in Munich, a two year-old and her mother have died, and many others injured after an Afghan asylum seeker drove his car into a crowd of people.

Turning one’s attention to the Middle East, the picture becomes perhaps even bleaker. Following the massacre committed by Hamas on October 7 2023, millions of Gazans have been displaced, injured and killed by Israeli bombing. Most recently, Hamas have been accused of murdering a 4 year-old child and a 9 month baby whom they’d taken hostage. The pictures of the hostage release ceremonies have (re)traumatised Jews and shocked the world.

Do stories of Jewish people being rounded up at gunpoint, falsely imprisoned and murdered by Islamist terrorists move you as much as the other tales of horror I’ve just outlined?

According to a recent survey, they may not.

That’s because a shocking proportion of Christians, apparently hold antisemitic views.

Chosen People Ministry’s survey of 2,000 British Christians was released at the weekend. It found that belief in antisemitic tropes is worryingly high. 29% of British Christians believe Jews “have too much power in the financial markets.” 23% think “Jews have too much control over the global media.” One third say Jews “talk too much about the Holocaust”. 1 in 6 think Jews are responsible for most wars.

The idea that any Brit would hold such views is worrying. But to think that Christians – who worship a Jewish Messiah and read a holy book authored almost exclusively by Jewish people – would endorse these antisemitic beliefs is not just concerning. It’s baffling. What’s going on?

Anti-semitism rising

It is well documented that whenever the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians intensifies, so does antisemitism and Islamophobia around the world. This claim is well evidenced – Tell MAMA say they recorded around 2,000 anti-Muslim hate cases in the four months following October 7. The Community Security Trust (CST), reported an almost identical number of anti-Jewish incidents within a similar time frame. Both groups pointed to a significant percentage rise in such occurrences post-October 7.

Why do attacks on Jews and Muslims around the world increase when Israelis and Palestinians are at war? It’s worth stating there can be no justification for antisemitic or Islamophobic attacks. Expressing hatred toward someone because of their skin colour, nationality or religion is always wrong – no matter what is happening in the Middle East.

Expressing disagreement – or even disgust – at Israeli government policy is not in itself antisemitic. At the same time, we should be mindful that plenty of people have sadly crossed the line from legitimate criticism of Israeli government policies to illegitimate hatred of Jewish people. Recent British political history and the actions of some of the protesters on the streets of London prove as much.

Is it plausible that well-meaning Christians who have taken up the Palestinian cause may have (consciously or unconsciously) begun to also endorse the antisemitic tropes listed above? Or is there another explanation for these disturbing survey results?

Defining ‘Christian’

Mark Twain famously popularised the saying, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” When assessing the claim that between a quarter and a third of British Christians believe antisemitic tropes, it’s worth pausing to consider how the survey finds and defines “Christian”.

Unfortunately, this research fails to distinguish between the following three categories of Christians. 1) People who were raised in Christian families but no longer practise their faith 2) Nominal or cultural Christians – who although they tick ‘Christian’ on a survey may never attend church, pray or read their Bible and 3) Christians who regularly and actively practise their faith through church attendance and Bible reading. 

Lumping these three groups together and calling them all “Christians” has resulted in some strange findings. 15% of respondents, for example, ticked ‘Christian’ and said they never attend church. 28% said they never read their Bible. And 46% don’t think that Jesus was Jewish (15% thought he wasn’t and 31% were unsure). One can’t help but wonder how its possible to be a Christian and not realise your own Jewish Messiah was Jewish. Perhaps the answer, to put it bluntly, is some of these survey respondents aren’t actually Christians. Or at least they are not Christians in the sense of the third category, above.

Is it possible that the antisemitism discovered by this survey is largely confined to more nominal believers (or even atheists who were included in this survey merely because they were raised in Christian families)?

It seems plausible, especially when you consider that the research uncovered that the more you go to church, the less likely you are to express antisemitic attitudes.

If I’m right, there’s a simple and practical application from this research for any leader in any church: Evangelise. Encourage committed church attendance, disciple people well, teach them about their Jewish Messiah and get them reading their Bibles and maybe even speaking Hebrew (“Amen” and “Hallelujah” will do for now). Get these basics right and any hateful attitudes towards Jews (and likely any other group) will likely dissipate. The more you go to church, the less likely you are to be antisemitic.

A warning

Dr Mitch Glaser of Chosen People Ministries has said the results are “like a mirror – showing us exactly where Christians in the UK stand – and it’s deeply concerning”. Even with my caveats above, I believe Dr Glaser is right to be worried. That’s partly because of our history. Many Christians are unaware of the direct line you can trace from the Reformer Martin Luther’s antisemitic attitudes to the Holocaust. We must be constantly vigilant. As the late Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks said, “The hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews. Antisemitism is the world’s most reliable early warning sign of a major threat to freedom, humanity and the dignity of difference. It matters to all of us. Which is why we must fight it together.”

These results are unequivocal in showing that Brits are considerably more antisemitic in their attitudes compared to Americans. And this is far from the first piece of research to warn about rising antisemitism on European shores.

Another concerning factor identified by this research is just how prevalent antisemitic attitudes are among Gen Z in particular. 

We cannot sit back and chalk all of these results up to nominalism. That might be part of the picture, but its unlikely to be the full story. 

Speaking at the report’s launch in central London, Dr Glaser had some practical suggestions for Christians who are concerned by this research.

His first suggestion was a call to prayer. “Pray as the scripture calls upon us to, ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem’. It’s a prayer with a promise that ‘those who love thee will prosper’ (Psalm 122:6). ‘Prosper’ is a unique Hebrew term regarding the tranquillity of the soul. So when we pray for peace in Jerusalem, we experience that peace in our lives. The reward of praying for peace is peace.

“Secondly, let your Jewish friends know that you care. I can promise you that when you tell a Jewish person that you are praying to them, they will [be grateful].

“Third, we need to think about our role as Christians to protect the Jewish people. Genesis chapter 12:3 says, ‘I will bless those who bless thee, curse those who curse you and through you all the families of earth shall be blessed.’ God chose the Jewish people not for their own joy or blessing, but as a bridge of redemption to a broken world. Christians today have a role in blessing the Jewish people. This is a moment in history when the Jewish people need friends and who better than to extend that friendship than those who love the Jewish Messiah - Yeshua, Jesus.”

Update 14/03/25 - Read a response to this article from the researchers