J Street and Others Slam White House Bible Study for Teaching that Jews Killed Jesus

Cabinet members attend antisemitic Bible study as the administration uses claims of antisemitism to stifle critics of Israel

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The White House Bible study group that teaches that the Jews killed Jesus is coming under fire from Jewish and secular organizations.

The head of J Street, an advocacy group that lobbies for pro-Israel and pro-peace policies, said in a statement that the administration of Pres. Donald Trump “refuse[s] to reckon with the antisemitism in their own ranks.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) also criticized the Bible study. Both were among multiple secular advocacy groups that last month condemned the Bible study generally, before it issued a two-part study guide about Israel.

(The Anti-Defamation League, which criticized Trump for using the antisemitic term “Shylock,” did not comment when asked about the Trump White House hosting this lesson. In a previous, more general exchange, the ADL referred me to its site about deicide, the myth that Jews killed Jesus.)

The White House every Wednesday hosts a regular Bible study which last month included teaching that “Israel … executed the Messiah.” Specifically, the Bible-study leader explained in a video posted June 17 that the Jewish people have been “sidetracked” by God because “they crucified their messiah.”

This antisemitic reading of the New Testament dates back more than a millennium and has driven much of history’s worst and most bloody campaigns against the Jewish people.

The weekly sessions began at the invitation of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The Pentagon confirmed to me that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends. So does Pres. Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR).

Trump is said not to attend, but to have seen past study guides when the same Bible lessons were taught at the White House during his first term.

The specific, June 13, study guide that blames Jews for killing Jesus, which is available online, also teaches that Israel is “smart” and good at “financial management.” While both may be intended as compliments, these, too, are antisemitic tropes that have fueled resentment against and conspiracy theories about the Jewish people.

The same Bible lessons are hosted in Congress. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is a sponsor of the Senate iteration, which meets on Tuesdays. The House Bible study is held on Thursdays, sponsored by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Both leaders are listed as sponsors on the pamphlet that blames the Jews for killing Jesus.

The lessons are run by Capitol Ministries, which publishes the study guides and is headed by right-wing preacher Ralph Drollinger. He and his wife founded Capitol Ministries to pressure legislators around the world to govern according to his views of Biblical principles. They operate in most U.S. state capitols, as well.

The Trump White House Bible studies came to light after months of Republican accusations of antisemitism against critics of Israel’s military assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 57,000 people and devastated the region’s medical services and supplies of basic necessities.

Constitutionally protected speech critical of Israel has been punished by the Trump administration with unlawful detentions and attempted deportations. As I reported last weekend, however, both Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem participate in Drollinger’s White House Bible study, according to Drollinger himself.

In an April interview, Drollinger said:

“At the first meeting of the new Trump administration, I felt like I was giving a Bible study for beauty queens. Attorney General Pam Bondi was there, as were Kelly Loeffler, head of the Small Business Administration, and Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security—all very pretty and feminine, but of course also real wrecking balls. I call them my wrecking ball class.”

Bondi and Noem have helped lead the administration’s efforts against putative antisemitism, targeting critics of the Israeli government. Trump has used allegedly lax enforcement against antisemitism to justify going after some of America’s most prestigious universities.

As I wrote back in April, the administration’s language has mirrored that of Canary Mission, a dark-money group funded by right-wing Israel backers dedicated to doxxing and stigmatizing Israel’s critics. Recently released court records confirmed the administration’s reliance on Canary Mission.

Jewish and secular organizations responded to my reporting on the Bible study by calling out the irony that this administration’s leaders are supporting and participating in a Bible study that pushes the most toxic and historically dangerous antisemitic lie in human history: Jewish culpability for the death of Jesus. (You can see the full statements at the end of this post.)

J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement, “While the administration continues to target individuals for protected speech and infringes on academic freedom over claims of antisemitism, they refuse to reckon with the antisemitism in their own ranks.”

J Street’s Jeremy Ben-Ami and I will discuss my reporting and J Street’s response in a live video conversation on July 21 at 12pm, eastern time.

Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) Action Fund President Annie Laurie Gaylor called my reporting about the administration’s participation in Drollinger’s Bible studies “alarming.” She said her organization “urges the administration to end any association with Drollinger.”

Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) President and Founder Mikey Weinstein’s organization advocates on behalf of military and intelligence personnel whose religious freedoms are infringed upon by their institutions or leaders. Hegseth not only participates in Drollinger’s lessons, but initiated a flagrantly unconstitutional monthly prayer service at the Pentagon.

Weinstein and the MRFF are fighting the latter, and Weinstein pulled no punches objecting to the Bible studies, too.

“[T]he fact that the White House, Senate and House Bible studies are utilizing this monstrous blood libel is nothing less than a crime against humanity,” Weinstein told me in a statement. “I would literally spit in the face of any of those White House, Senate or House Bible study attendees if they said that directly to me in person.”

Drollinger’s Bible studies are sponsored by dozens of elected and appointed officials, all Republicans. I shared the full list of current sponsors in a previous post, but they are also listed in the pamphlet versions of Drollinger’s study guides, which he posts online.

Drollinger has claimed Democratic participants, but the only one known currently is Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), who confirmed her participation in January after constituents confronted her about my initial report that she was recruiting for Drollinger.

Some of Drollinger’s Bible students supported the failed Antisemitism Awareness Act, which included in its antisemitism definition the smear that the Jews killed Jesus. (Most major Christian denominations have renounced the claim.)

Some of Drollinger’s students, however, opposed the legislation precisely because it would label them antisemitic for their belief, which some express publicly, that the Jews are responsible for killing Jesus. (The Bible says Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers under Roman governor Pontius Pilate in fulfillment of God’s plan.)

Full Statements

Here are the full statements provided to me in response to my reporting about Capitol Ministries teaching U.S. officials that the Jews killed Jesus:

J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami:

“While the administration continues to target individuals for protected speech and infringes on academic freedom over claims of antisemitism, they refuse to reckon with the antisemitism in their own ranks. Being ‘pro-Israel’ has become the litmus test to define people as being against antisemitism, but when they are actively platforming beliefs, that are by definition, antisemitic, are those really the allies we want?

“Whether it be their bible study lessons or their staffers with extensive histories of spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories, the Trump administration must stop their cynical use of antisemitism as justification for their unrelated policy priorities and take action to hold their staffers accountable.”

Freedom From Religion (FFRF) Action Fund President Annie Laurie Gaylor:

“It’s alarming to learn that senior White House officials have participated in Ralph Drollinger’s Bible studies without objection—despite his history of pushing antisemitic and extremist Christian nationalist views. This isn’t just a private devotional—it’s a pattern of tacit approval from the highest levels of government. The FFRF Action Fund urges the administration to end any association with Drollinger.”

Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) Founder and President Mikey Weinstein:

“[F]irstly, the teaching that Jews executed Jesus is the ultimate and most pernicious and pervasive aspect of fundamentalist Christian nationalism’s true antisemitism. (As contrasted with college students and others who protest what they see as the Israeli government’s savagery against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip). Secondly, Jews allegedly killing Jesus, is the [motherlode] of classic antisemitism, and the fact that the White House, Senate and House Bible studies are utilizing this monstrous blood libel is nothing less than a crime against humanity. In closing, let’s keep in mind that the Second Vatican Council in 1965 with a groundbreaking document called ‘Nostra Aetate’ completely absolved the Jewish people of any complicity in the death of Jesus Christ. I would literally spit in the face of any of those White House, Senate or House Bible study attendees if they said that directly to me in person.”

The Vatican document to which Weinstein refers declared that “what happened in His [Jesus’s] passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures.”

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I’m a veteran journalist and TV news producer who’s worked at MSNBC — as co-creator of Up w/ Chris Hayes and senior producer for Countdown with Keith Olbermann — CNN, ABCNews, The Daily Show, Air America Radio, and TYT. My original reporting on Substack is made possible by a handful of paid subscribers. Thank you.