British Christians were less likely to have a high opinion of Jews or express support for Israel compared to their American counterparts, according to a new study backed by a ministry that evangelizes to Jewish communities that analyzed antisemitism among Christians.
Mitch Glaser, a Messianic Jew and the president of Chosen People Ministries, expressed concern about antisemitic views among some Christians, which he warned makes it harder to share the Gospel with Jewish people.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Glaser said he’s experienced many things covered in the survey Chosen People Ministries released earlier this month. As someone who was born into a nominally Orthodox Jewish home and later accepted Jesus as his Savior, Glaser wants to help Christians build better relationships with Jewish people.
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Glaser, who has spoken at Southern Baptist seminaries and colleges, said the issue of antisemitism is “very personal” to him, adding that it hurts him when Christians express antisemitic views.
“I’ll speak at a church in the South, and then some Christian will come to the back to tell me how much they enjoyed my sermon, and then they’ll make a joke about Jews and money,” the ministry leader told CP.
“They’re my brother and sister, and I know they’re ignorant, or maybe they really are antisemitic, at least on that trope,” he said. “I love my brothers and sisters, and I just want them not to do that.”
Regarding the research that Chosen People Ministries released earlier this month, Glaser said it’s helped him understand the current state of antisemitism as the organization works to help Christians pray for and evangelize to Jews. The ministry leader said he hopes to see Christians become more “self-aware.”
The study, titled “A Survey of British Christian Attitudes Towards the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Faith, Politics and Perception,” was conducted in December 2024 and compared with data from a related study conducted in March 2024 that included Christians in the U.S.
Both studies surveyed more than 2,000 people who identified as Christian in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, using statistical modeling to analyze data across all ages, ethnicities, genders, income levels, educational backgrounds and marital status.
According to the data, 58.5% of American Christians have a favorable view of Jews compared to 50.6% of British Christians. Researchers also found that fewer than a quarter of British Christians (23.6%) supported Israel compared to 42.3% of American Christians; however, 27.6% of American Christians and 37.3% of British Christians said they support neither.
When asked if “Jews still talk too much about what happened in the Holocaust,” 22% of American respondents agreed that this was “probably true,” compared to 33% of participants in the U.K.
Kirill Bumin, who co-authored both studies and serves as associate dean of Metropolitan College at Boston University, highlighted several reasons why American participants seemed more concerned about Israel and antisemitism than British respondents.
The researcher noted that frequent interaction with Jews and exposure to their beliefs often correlated with strong support for Israel, citing one of the predictors from the study.
“British rarely interact with the Jewish people, both in work settings and in social life, as well as in religious settings,” Bumlin told CP. “Americans are significantly more likely to do so, particularly in those kinds of mundane interactions at work or in the neighborhoods.”
In both countries, however, researchers found that the “dual loyalty” trope — the idea that the Jewish people are more loyal to Israel than their home country — is one of the most widely accepted antisemitic views in the U.S. and the U.K. Forty-six percent of British respondents and 33.6% of American participants agreed that it’s “probably true” that Jews are “more loyal to Israel than this country.”
“It is probably the most disturbing aspect, in my view, of our study because the dual loyalty trope is really a foundational or a precursor trope to many other antisemitic attitudes,” Bumin lamented. “This idea that Jews are inherently disloyal or they’re more loyal to some sort of a foreign entity reinforces other stereotypes, such as Jewish control over politics, finance [and] the media.”
As the study’s co-author explained, once people see Jews as “others with conflicting allegiances,” then antisemites can rationalize persecuting them or turning them into scapegoats.
“So the fact that there is such widespread adherence to this antisemitic trope is incredibly, incredibly problematic and very concerning,” Bumlin said.
In response to a series of anti-Israel protests and concerns about a global rise in antisemitic incidents, Chosen People Ministries continues to educate and train Christians. One of the initiatives built by the ministry, the Coalition Against Antisemitism, helps Christians oppose Jew hatred through social media, activism and public events.
“We need to show the antisemites that if they want to get to the Jewish people, then they have to come through the Church,” Glaser told CP.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
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