Under normal circumstances, such a question might be little more than hyperbole, akin to nothing more than the juvenile hackery of Ann Coulter. However, James Dobson's recent statements regarding Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade raise the question in a legitimate fashion.
In a Denver Post article on Dobson's response to Gibson's rant, Dobson has this to say:
"We certainly do not condone that racially insensitive outburst," Dobson said.
"Racially insensitive"? Judaism is a religion, not a race, and most of us would expect a reference to anti-Semitic remarks to be focused on the religious component, not the "racial" component.
However, having done quite a bit of research on the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany during the latter part of the 19th century and the early 20th century, Dobson's remarks are a bit more concerning.
Sam Harris notes this in his book, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. In discussing the transformation of Judaism from religion to racea necessary aspect to psychologically justify the destruction of Jews in Europe, including those who had converted to Christianitythe Vatican laid the groundwork which the German Socialists siezed upon.
With the passage of the Nuremburg laws in 1935, the transformation of German anti-Semitism was complete. The Jews wereto be considered a race, one that was inimical to a healthy Germany in principle. As such, they were fundamentally irredeemable, for while one can cast away one's religious ideology, and even accept baptism intothe church, one cannot cease to be what one is. And it is here that we encounter the overt complicity of the church in the attempted murder of an entire people. German Catholics showed themselves remarkably acquiescent to a racist creed that was at cross purposes with at least one of their core beliefs . . . .
. . . That a person's race could not be rescinded was underscored as early as 1880, in a vatican approved paper: "Oh how wrong and deluded are those who think Judaism is just a religion, like Catholicism, Paganism, Protestantism, and not in fact a race, a people, and a nation! . . . For the Jews are not only Jews because of their religion . . . they are Jews also and especially because of their race."
Extrapolating Dobson's stupidity to the Holocaust is not necessary here, nor is it encouraged. What is worth noting here is the idea that Dobson semantically continues to segregate Jews and Christians along racial components. This is the same mentality that has allowed the tragedy of Darfur to occur, and continues to foment war and death in the Middle East. Can we really tolerate such retrograde thinking in a civilized society?