The Cross as Bludgeon
A historic Jackson, Mississippi, synagogue was set on fire earlier this year by a young man who claimed to be a Christian. Unfortunately, many people today who say they are Christians are misled antisemites.
In the case of Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, surveillance footage showed him inside Beth Israel Congregation shortly after 3 a.m., pouring gasoline on the floor and furniture before the fire began. The flames charred the synagogue’s offices and library and destroyed two Torah scrolls. He called the building a “synagogue of Satan,” a reference to two verses in the book of Revelation (2:9; 3:9).
Pittman followed social media accounts associated with the Christian alt-right, a term sometimes attributed to faithful followers of Christ but more often to radicalized antisemites masquerading as Christians. These people post antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish control of society and invoke language commonly associated with Holocaust revisionism and denial.
Pittman appeared to absorb this material. His final public Instagram post showed a cartoon princess pushing a Jewish caricature into a swimming pool. Hours later, Pittman broke into Beth Israel and set it on fire.
After the attack, he sent his father a photo of the back of the building with the message “There’s a furnace in the back.” His father reported him to authorities after Pittman confessed. According to an FBI affidavit, Pittman said “he was due for a homerun and ‘I did my research.'” He “laughed as he told his father what he did and said he finally got them.” When advised of his legal rights in court two days later, he responded, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”
For Bible-believing Christians, antisemitism espoused by professing believers is especially troubling. After all, we affirm that Jesus Christ is Lord too. But today, once-trusted media figures claiming the mantle of Christian values promote anti-Jewish rhetoric.
Former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, who long advocated for biblical principles, now targets the Jewish people and those who love them. He has criticized Christian love for Israel and platformed anti-Zionists such as Rev. Munther Isaac, Holocaust revisionist Darryl Cooper, and self-proclaimed antisemite Nick Fuentes, often without meaningful critique.
In his interview with Fuentes, Carlson expressed his animosity toward Christian supporters of Israel: “How do you explain [Mike] Huckabee, Ted Cruz . . . who I’ve seen be seized by this brain virus, and they’re not Jewish. Most of them are self-described Christians. And then the Christian Zionists. . . . I dislike them more than anybody . . . because it’s Christian heresy, and I’m offended by that as a Christian.”
At conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, Carlson insinuated Jewish involvement in Kirk’s assassination, comparing it to his imagined version of Jesus’ crucifixion: “I can just sort of picture the scene in a lamplit room with a bunch of guys sitting around eating hummus thinking about, ‘What do we do about this guy telling the truth about us? . . . Why don’t we just kill him?'”
Political commentator Candace Owens, once known as a news pundit with a Christian perspective, now promotes false, anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. She recently asserted that “Jewish people were in control of the slave trade” and that Jews who follow the Talmud “think that [Gentiles] are animals.” Owens and Carlson were named “Antisemite of the Year” by the advocacy group StopAntisemitism in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
This rising antisemitic rhetoric from those claiming the name of Christ must be confronted. It’s affecting the Jewish people in tangible, sometimes bloody ways; and we must denounce it wherever it surfaces.
For the many Christians who support Israel and the Jewish people, Scripture—not influencers—must remain our authority. There, we find Paul’s admonition to Gentile believers not to “boast against” the Jewish people, “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:18, 29).
