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Argument stands, but ‘Pharisee’ trope outdated
As a pastor of more than 25 years, I agree wholeheartedly with the argument of the recent editorial, “Tennessee Republicans are modern-day Pharisees,” Times, 02/11. Critique of legislation to criminalize protest in religious spaces while selectively shielding certain interests is fair and urgently needed.
That said, I want to offer a pastoral and theological caution about one rhetorical choice in the piece: the use of the term “Pharisee” as a label for modern political opponents.
In contemporary Christian scholarship and in Jewish–Christian dialogue, there is growing and well-founded agreement that lifting “Pharisee” out of its first-century, intra-Jewish context as shorthand for hypocrisy or authoritarianism is antisemitic in effect, even when not in intent. This trope has been one of the primary ways Christians have marginalized Jews, caricaturing Judaism as legalistic, cold or morally corrupt. Invoking a metaphor long used to marginalize one group risks reinscribing the very patterns of exclusion and dehumanization the piece condemns.
Precisely because words matter — and because editors shape the moral imagination of their readers — I would encourage clearer, historically grounded language: authoritarianism, theocratic impulses, state-aligned religiosity or religious nationalism all name the problem without leaning on a trope that carries the weight of centuries of anti-Jewish misuse.
Jeff P. Crim
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Minnesotan thanks Tenneseeans
As the people of Minnesota stand resolute against ICE’s assault on our constitutional rights, we want to thank the people of Tennessee for their support. We take solace in the fact that we do not stand alone.
These are dark days in Minnesota. But it is in America’s darkest moments like these when we see the resilience of our nation.
We have seen people stand up and protest ICE’s treatment across Tennessee, including Chattanooga, Memphis and Knoxville. We hear you calling your representatives and demanding action. We are grateful for donations that have poured in from Tennesseans of all walks of life.
The people of Tennessee who stand with us are demonstrating that we are not red states and blue states, nor are we Democrats and Republicans — we are one nation, committed to liberty and justice for all.
Kieran Dwyer, Minneapolis