Rejecting Judeo-Christian Privilege: The First Step Towards Semitic Solidarity

Abstract

As a first step towards Semitic solidarity, I (cautiously) engage with a privilege that is complex, in that it is partially attributed and partially assumed: Judeo-Christian privilege, which has yet to be studied by scholars. I begin by conceptualizing and analyzing Judeo-Christian privilege, which, like all privileges, is both material and ideational. Next, I consider the argument for and against the uniqueness of the Shoah that helped establish Judeo-Christian privilege. I then turn to arguments about anti-Semitism, and specifically its relation to other forms of racism and how these argument support Judeo-Christian privilege. Lastly, I argue against using a rhetoric of uniqueness, because it potentially prevents the identification and challenging of a violent pattern of exclusion that remains present today. Without denying the importance of differences between genocides and forms of racism, I aim to demonstrate how these arguments can be an impediment to solidarity and justice.

Religion, secularity, culture? Investigating Christian privilege in Western Europe

“…Moreover, Schraub (2019) explains how white Jews can sometimes benefit from white privilege, but are not part of white hegemony. Similarly, Topolski (2020a: 298) argues that Jews are at times given a privileged status in Europe, but their inclusion in ‘Judeo-Christianity’ is largely symbolic and Judaism does not constitute a part of white secular Christian hegemony.…”

Material Perspectives on Religion, Conflict, and Violence

“…Nevertheless, in public debates, Muslims are often collectively held accountable for antisemitism (Døving 2016;Lenz and Moe 2020). Some scholars (Silverstein 2007;Özyürek 2016;Romeyn 2020;Topolski 2020) argue that the contemporary fight against antisemitism in Europe entails a process of boundary drawing between a tolerant European 'Self' and an antisemitic Muslim 'Other' . They warn that the singling out of Muslims as the main contemporary antisemites serves to question the belonging of Muslims in European societies, or to raise alarm about a 'war of civilizations' .…”