Aaron Gyde, the editor in chief of the student-run Harvard Ichthus Christian blog website, has apologized on behalf of the editorial board for publishing an anonymous post that called for Jews to be persecuted for killing Jesus.
The post, which has been removed permanently from the Christian journal, was published Nov. 20.
"Firstly, we apologize for inadequate editorial oversight in the publishing and re-publishing of this blog post," Gyde wrote in the apology letter. "It was not the intent of the writer, nor the Ichthus, to present a piece that is anti-Semitic in nature or in interpretation."
The essay titled 'Why Us?' was penned by a Jewish convert to Christianity. An excerpt of the post:
"We, the Jews, collectively rejected God and hung Him up on a cross to die, and thus we deserved the punishments that were heaped on our heads over the last 2000 years," USA Today reports.
Gyde further said that the writer loves his heritage and wishes welfare of the Jewish people. The blog did not intend to spread hatred but communicated the desire to attain salvation through Jesus Christ alone.
"As a staff, we would not argue that the fact some Jews were involved in the death of Jesus merits the persecution they have suffered over the past 2,000 years. We deeply regret the way many Christians have used our sacred texts to justify anti-Semitism. We did not feel that the intent or purpose of the article was specifically anti-Semitic," Gyde said, Boston Globe reports.
A Harvard spokesman said that the university does not support the views of any of its organizations and the website's decision to apologize was taken on its own.
The apology letter also stated that it encourages blogs to be 'areas of thoughtful dialogue.' Authors are free to put through ideas that are not fully supported.
"This particular piece has led to increasing misunderstanding and disinformation about the author's views, the Ichthus, and Christianity. We do acknowledge that many of the claims of Christianity are offensive to those who do not believe it, but we think that much of the offense that has resulted from this article is not the offense of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And for that we apologize," the letter said.
