Antisemitism and Religion: A Symposium

Surveys indicate that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Austria and world wide. After the Shoah, a new anti-Semitism took hold in the modern world and combines new forms of Jew-hatred with old ones. The roots of anti-Semitism reach back to antiquity and continued to manifest themselves over the centuries both in the Islamic and western worlds. Today anti-Zionism often expressed with anti-Semitic motifs, plays a role not only in the Islamic world but also has an ever increasing presence in anti-Semitic agitation as a whole.

The spectrum of anti-Semitic activities ranges from discrimination, slander, and verbal abuse via the structural anti-Semitism of many societies and cultures to physical violence against and persecution of Jews. As in its earliest manifestations, today anti-Semitism is often religious in nature. For instance, more than 13% of Austria’s population find the Jews guilty of killing Jesus and feel sorry because they do not recognize Jesus Christ as their savior. Religious prejudices against Jewish people are restricted neither to Austria nor to Christian or Muslim populations but can be found worldwide, even in places where there are no Jews.

Presenters at the symposium will inquire about the Christian roots of Holocaust denial, the connection between religious dogma and the persecution of Jews, the polemical use of the Talmud, as well as the demonization of Jews.

The conference is organized by the European Jewish Congress, the Institute for Jewish Studies of Vienna University, the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien, the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary Jewry of Tel Aviv University, and the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies of New York University.

This event is a precursor to the world conference on anti-Semitism to be held in Vienna in February, 2018 (http://judaistik.univie.ac.at/aktuelles/news/conference-an-end-to-anti-semitism/).

Programme: http://judaistik.univie.ac.at/aktuelles/news/anti-semitism-and-religion-a-symposium/ 

Symposium: Anti-Semitism and Religion
Time: Wednesday, 24 May 2017, 17 hrs
Place: Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien, 1010 Vienna, Seitenstettengasse 4
(Access with Photo-ID only)

Attendence is free