[Question:]{.underline} Is it correct to speak of our “Judeo-Christian” heritage?
[Answer:]{.underline} The term “Judeo-Christian” is not a recent invention of the ecumenical age, as it would first seem. It is a very ancient term, dating from the beginning of Christianity. The Judeo-Christians were originally converts to the Faith from Judaism, but who still practiced circumcision and observed the Mosaic law, and attempted to impose this upon the converts from amongst the Gentiles. They were first condemned by the Council of Jerusalem in the year 49, as told in chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles.
Thereafter two groups of Judeo-Christians emerged. There were those who simply kept the Mosaic law themselves, but who did not attempt to impose it upon other Christians, and who were not heretical. They were called Nazarenes, and rapidly disappeared after the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70. The other group of Judeo-Christians were also called Ebionites. They were truly heretical, considered the Mosaic law obligatory, and denied the divinity of Christ, the Virgin birth, and the work and writings of St. Paul. They also gave rise to various gnostic sects. It is for this reason that the title “Judeo-Christian” is a pejorative one, opposed to doctrinal orthodoxy.
The attempt to describe one’s morality or principles as “Judeo-Christian” is consequently not at all traditional. It could theoretically be used to describe one’s attachment to the moral principles of the Bible, including the Ten Commandments, as being the principles of all moral life, and which the Church received from the Israelites. However, there are a couple of problems. The first one is that the Jews themselves in the time of Our Lord, did not keep the moral principles of the Old Law, as Our Lord did not cease reiterating. How could one possibly use the title of “Judeo-Christian heritage” to express one’s attachment to these principles, when the Jews themselves practiced polygamy and divorce, when the Jews did not hesitate to undermine the first and great commandment of the love of God and neighbor, by teaching the exact opposite: “love your neighbor and hate your enemy” (Mt 5:43), or “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Mt 5:38)? How could we possible use this title when the vast majority of Jews have no problem with euthanasia, abortion, birth control, divorce, homosexuality, and even the elimination of God, and love towards our neighbor from public life, politics, education and the courts? What could this title “Judeo-Christian heritage” consequently really mean?
If it is used to indicate those who observe the Ten Commandments, and keep them as the foundation of all morality, then let that he said explicitly: our heritage is the Ten Commandments. Let there be no ambiguity. However, it is not Jewish. It is our Catholic heritage. The Catholic Church has in fact succeeded to the Israel of the Old Testament, as being the true people of God. Present day Jews are not a part of this heritage, nor are they our older brothers in the Faith, as the Pope has, alas, stated. They do not have the true Faith, the Faith of the Catholic Church, for they explicitly reject and refuse to believe in Christ, the Son of God made man, despite the fact that he fulfilled all the prophecies of the Old Testament. By refusing to believe in the Holy Trinity, they refuse to believe in God as He has revealed Himself. They consequently have not had the Faith of Abraham, who believe everything that God revealed to him, since Christ revealed this mystery of the Trinity.
The existence in the Church of a modern, liberal, ecumenical concept of a Judeo-Christian heritage dates back to the Vatican II document on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate. This declaration mentions twice that “Christians and Jews have a common spiritual heritage” (§4), without explaining what that is. If by this is meant that we share that part of sacred scripture that we call the Old Testament, it is partly right (the Jews reject seven inspired books of the Old Testament). If, however, by this is meant that there is something common with respect to our spiritual life, Faith and moral principles, then it is entirely wrong, for present day Judaism is based upon the denial of the most basic truths of the Catholic Faith.
Consequently, this politically correct term “Judeo-Christian heritage” must be regarded as vague, deliberately ambiguous, liberal, favoring indifferentism and ecumenism, and not at all orthodox.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.