Amidst rising anti-Semitism around the world, American organizations equip young Christians to oppose anti-Semitic sentiment.
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Passage CEO Zach Bauer, an organization that brings young people to Israel and educates them on important biblical issues, recently told CBN News that he is most concerned about the rise in anti-Semitism in America.
“I started in this position in January,” he said of his leadership role. “And when I first started… our main concern was addressing anti-Semitism on the left, and I knew there was a faction on the right that was boiling beneath the surface.
However, he said something has changed over the past few months and that the latter issue has “entered overdrive.” This is a passage that seeks to face direct conflict as Bauer’s organization works to prepare Christian youth to stand up.
“The right students at colleges and universities, we want to make sure they’re hearing the facts,” Bauer said. “We won’t be easily shaken to make sure they have facts and believe some of the things they’re hearing.”
Ultimately, he said it was essential that these young people help Christians to support the Jews and understand why it is important for them to “stay with Israel” especially as these young people are in the “formational stage” of their walk with Christ.
Passage recently made concrete efforts to help young people develop such understandings.
“We had what we (recently) called our Passage DC Experience. 150 students from across the country attended conferences here at Bible Museum and have heard from various speakers,” Bauer said. “The main goal was to train and equip these students to return to campus, become effective Israeli advocates, and identify anti-Semitism on campus.”
Part of this fight is portraying Israel as a villain and countering negative news stories that ignore earthly facts and reality in the process. Passage attempts to help young people understand how this information is processed, and Bauer mentions a recent discussion of photographs of children in Gaza.
“The story… spread the photo of a Gaza child in the New York Times,” he said. “And it becomes clear later that the child has a pre-existing medical condition.”
Bauer said, “We need to dig deeper into the facts,” explaining how the DC passages can help young Christians understand and navigate these issues. The event also featured advocacy education to equip young people to return to campus and fight anti-Semitism.
“Hopefully there will be some Christian students back on campus ready to stand up and defend on behalf of Israel and the Jews,” Bauer said.
The nonprofit leader also explained why the October 7 terrorist attacks were a call for passage to wake up. This means that young Christians need to be better equipped and trained before and after travelling to Israel to experience their Jewish homeland firsthand.
“It’s great to send Christian college students to Israel, but not only will they grow up in their faith and walks with Christ, we will send children there… we will come back and be powerful, shocking defenders of Israel and be able to stand up against anti-Semitism.”
Bauer also emphasized the importance of understanding Judaism and properly understanding the components of one’s faith.
“Without Judaism, Christianity wouldn’t exist,” he said. “Judaism is literally the roots of the Christian faith, so it’s about realizing that it’s the first.”
As for Israel, Bauer explained that attacks on the country will be much deeper than simply attacking foreign countries.
“And the attack on Israel is essentially an attack in my mind on the values of the Western where our country was established,” he said. “One thing I’ve noticed is that I’ve seen in protests on some of these university campuses in the past and see the Israeli flag burning, but soon you’ll see the American flag burning.”
See what else he had to say.
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