Different Antisemitisms: On Three Distinct Forms of Antisemitism in C | Page 24

Figure 23:

Critique of core Jewish practices such as circumcision of baby boys and slaughtering of
animals according to certain religious prescriptions is not necessarily based in antisemitic
sentiments. Jewish persons may, however, based on their historical experiences of previous
antisemitic campaigns and sense of cultural vulnerability in the society they live in, perceive
it as such. In the contemporary world some of this kind of critique of significant Jewish
customs appears to be based on modern ideas of children’s rights and concern for the welfare
of animals. The French-Italian historian Diana Pinto has labelled this form of anti-Jewish
attitudes and critique Aufklärungsantisemitismus, i.e. a basically an Enlightenment-based
critique of traditional Jewish practices. As shown in Figure 24, this Enlightenment inspired
attitude is most pronounced and frequent in the most clearly Protestant, modernized and
secularized countries of this study: Sweden, Germany and the UK. Those who present such
viewpoints are often people with liberal political viewpoints. Liberals are usually among
those who most consistently defend the idea of religious freedom. In this instance, that idea
comes in conflict with another idea, central to the liberal ideology: the individual’s right to
decide for himself and is also reinforced also by the equally liberally inspired idea of
children’s rights. For some liberals, such as Bengt Westerberg, former leader of the Liberal
Party and Minister of Social Affairs in Sweden, the aforementioned viewpoints apparently
carry more weight than the idea of religious freedom. For other liberals the reverse is true.

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