Dear Editor,
Over the past month or so I have been confronted by overwhelming evidence of personal failure of personal integrity on my part. After being presented with so many undeniable examples, I have concluded that all of my excuses for not raising my voice and putting the full force of my efforts into the absolute and total removal of a symbol of racism, hatred, and slavery have been exposed as fraudulent, weak and in all ways contrary to my proclaimed belief in the Holy Scriptures.
I know that many, if not all, of those reading this have been similarly confronted by friends and family and even those we don’t know personally through the power of social media and I am hopeful, like me, all reading this will stand up today and spread the word using every tool available in an effort to rid the world of this symbol.
It is my hope that through the efforts of Bible believers, throughout our nation, this symbol will be removed from all public buildings, all stores, brick and mortar and digital, will immediately stop sales and distribution and all memorials depicting those who lead those who marched and served under this symbol will be immediately torn down.
It is an undeniable, historical truth that under this symbol, simply because of their race, people where hated, denied their rights, enslaved, burned alive and murdered.
It is past time for every American who professes to believe in the Holy Book to stand up with me in calling for the immediate and total removal of the Christian cross. Under this symbol of hatred Jewish people and non-Christians around the world, for thousands of years were tortured, murdered, burned alive, robbed of property, and expelled from nations simply because of their race, all the while armies and individuals marched under flags and banners of the cross.
Now, I know that many reading this just got angry with me. The truth is I am NOT really calling for the removal of the cross from all pubic spaces and I don’t want people to stop selling cross flags, jewelry or anything else depicting the image representing the heritage of so many people. I just wanted to make a point. Throughout history people have done horrible things to other people. They have distorted the teachings of the Bible for their own personal gain and based upon their own personal hatreds. But, with that in mind, symbols mean different things to different people depending on which side of the symbol you stand for. For Jewish people, like myself, the symbol of the cross takes on a dramatically different meaning as my people suffered under that symbol through the Crusades, Inquisitions, Pogroms and Holocaust. To the Jew it is a symbol of racism, hatred, murder and slavery. To my Christian friends it doesn’t mean any of those things. Even to those who know the history of the atrocities that were committed under the symbol of the cross, to millions of Jewish people simply because they were Jews, the cross is a symbol of the exact opposite of slavery, murder and hatred.
I write this post not to draw attention to the history of the cross as much as to draw attention to ourselves, our different background and heritage and the truth. It is possible that two people can look at the same symbol and see two totally different meanings and in a land where freedom still rules (so far), we should be honest enough with ourselves to acknowledge everyone doesn’t view everything exactly the way we do and they should not have to.
Rabbi Eric Tokajer
Brit Ahm Messianic Synagogue
Publisher of Messianic Times Newspaper
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Cross not holy for all Bible believers