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Emily Mangan
November 22
nd
, 2013
Dr. D Gregory Griffith
Understanding Religious Intolerance
Intolerance in Our Midst

During class, we had a discussion about the anti-Racist activist and writer Tim Wise, who
came to UCs campus on October 24
th
, 2013 and gave a two hour long speech on the
importance of recognizing white privilege, and eradicating institutionalized racism. I had the
great privilege of listening to Mr. Wises speech and while I could not stay for the whole thing,
the part I did hear greatly interested me. Our class discussion the next day also sparked my
interest because we addressed the protesters who picketed campus and disturbed Wises
presentation with their anti-Semitic rhetoric. I think that the actions and reactions that Wises
presence and speech caused are a fantastic example of how religious intolerance, cultural
identity, and ethnic intolerance are interrelated. Throughout this semester we have analyzed
many different forms of intolerance, and while many of these are violent, the example Im
choosing to focus on in this essay is what I like to call voiced intolerance. In my opinion the
words of angry, hateful people are sometimes more eye-opening than senseless violence,
because they represent the deep-rooted ignorance some people have towards others. In this
particular case, I am looking into the voiced religious intolerance of the Traditionalist Youth
Network, in relation to Judaism and Tim Wise.
The Traditionalist Youth Network (TYN) is a nationwide organization comprised of local
chapters, which serve to provide resources and support to independent groups of high school
and college students throughout North America who are learning about the Traditionalist
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School of thought, helping one another apply the principles and spirit of Tradition in their lives,
and organizing in defense of Tradition on their campuses and in their communities. The TYN
has a hefty mission statement on their website, which focuses on the group being inclusive,
diverse, organic and sustainable, and not specifically conservative. TYN states about its political
affiliations: While our defense of the traditional institutions of marriage, military service, and
religious expression in public life would place us firmly on the right side of the political
spectrum, our opposition to capitalist materialism, corporate greed, destruction of the
environment, and selfish individualism is perhaps more at home on the left side of the political
spectrum (Traditionalist Youth Network). While TYNs core values are understandable and
justifiable, their actions and rhetoric are largely intolerant and hateful, often in a religious
manner.
When Mr. Wise came to speak at the University of Cincinnati, 6 TYN members protested
at the edge of campus, holding up signs emblazoned with the swastika and with phrases such as
anti-racist is a code word for anti-white. They also held a Confederate flag. Robert Ransdell,
not affiliated with TYN but a public supporter of their work, stood up during Wises speech and
called Schindlers List a work of fiction, adding youre not even White, youre a Jew! Ransdell
also distributed posters with Wises picture and the word Wanted on them throughout
campus earlier that week. Cincinnati was not the only place that TYN was involved with Wises
campaign. The previous week, a protest at Indiana State University turned violent when the
Bloomington, IN TYN president Thomas Buhls was allegedly attacked. Top Conservative News
stated in an article supporters of Tim Wise allegedly attacked a group of protesters with mace,
a knife, and a padlock in a sock. On Wise coming to Indiana State, a TYN representative posted
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on their website: Its the fall semester at universities around the country, and that means its
time for the globalists, secularists, modernists, communists, and other garden variety loons of
the left to invade our campuses and work doubly hard at separating people from their tribe and
tradition (Traditionalist Youth Network).
It may seem like the intolerance going on through the Traditional Youth Network and
other protesters of the anti-White movement is simply racial. But this is a paper on religious
intolerance, not racial. I think that this intolerance becomes religious when it chooses to attack
a specific person because of their religious affiliation. TYN did not just attack Tim Wise for being
anti-White. They specifically targeted him as a Jew, and used anti-Semitic symbols (i.e. the
swastika) to promote hatred towards him and Judaism. Because of this, while I was at Wises
presentation at UC, he referred numerous times to the protesters as the Nazis on the corner.
I think that very quickly, this racial problem becomes a religious one.
TYN identifies itself as a Christian organization. Therefore, in speaking out publicly
against Jews, it ignites a religious conversation. Were TYN simply a political or white-pride
organization, their rhetoric could be interpreted as entirely racial/cultural. But I believe that a
Christian-affiliated organization should be consistent with Christian values and morals, and
promoting anti-Semitism is in no way aligned with Christian values. In a way, I find TYNs
rhetoric and actions to be similar to that of the Westboro Baptist Church. When Westboro
Baptist creates signs that say God hates fags, they make anti-homosexual statements related
to Christianity. In the same way, TYN makes white supremacy statements related to
Christianity. In both instances, religious intolerance is formed because Christianity is promoted
as the only acceptable religion. The Bible says homosexuality is a sin, therefore homosexuals
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shouldnt be allowed to be married. Tim Wise is a Jew, therefore nothing he says is true
because he is anti-White. Religious intolerance does not always have to be burning mosques.
Sometimes it can simply be the implication that one religion is dominant over all others. In class
we read the essay Education for Tolerance: Sameness, Not Difference by Peter Balint, which
discussed the topic of sameness tolerance, and to me this is an example of why this is
construed.
The essay we read for class Anti-Semitism defined perfectly the mixture of racial and
religious prejudice that so often occurs, and that was manifested in the example of Tim Wise:
The virulence of this invective (then and now) has led some scholars to view anti-
Semitism in the United States primarily in terms of racial prejudice. For example, Ernest
Volkman makes no mention of religion as he defines anti-Semitism as the hatred of the
Jews as a people. However, defining anti-Semitism solely in terms of perceived racial
difference belies the complex nature of intolerance. Scholar Leonard Dinnerstein
reminds us that when dealing with intolerance toward Jews, particularly in the United
States, the category of religion matters. He writes, It cannot be emphasized too
strongly that all aspects of American anti-Semitism are built on this foundation of
Christian hostility toward Jews. While racial ideology plays a central part on modern
and contemporary anti-Semitism, religion also continues to occupy a leading role.
(Corrigan, and Neal)
This prompt, Intolerance in Our Midst, asked us to focus on an instance of religious
intolerance in the greater Cincinnati area. I strongly believe, however, that anti-Semitism is a
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mixture of both racial and religious intolerance that cannot be ignored. Tim Wise was attacked
by TYN primarily because he promotes what they see as anti-White propaganda. But he was
also attacked because of his religious identity. If Wise were a Christian, would TYN protest him
so vigorously? Or would they make an attempt to listen to him? These questions will never be
answered, but they raise a critical point: TYN focuses on the religious aspect of many of their
claims and articles, and in doing so open themselves up to not only cultural bigotry and white
supremacy, but religious intolerance and Christian supremacy.
In November 2005, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights examined anti-Semitism on
college campuses. It reported that "incidents of threatened bodily injury, physical intimidation
or property damage are now rare", but anti-Semitism still occurs on many campuses and is a
"serious problem." The Commission recommended that the U.S. Department of Education's
Office for Civil Rights protect college students from anti-Semitism through vigorous
enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and further recommended that Congress
clarify that Title VI applies to discrimination against Jewish students. Two of the most common
views of anti-Semitics are that Jews are more loyal to Israel than America, and that they are
responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. Because of the second of these views, it is clear that
anti-Semitism can be a religiously based viewpoint.
Matthew Heinbach, TYNs founder, made a statement regarding their protests of Tim
Wise: We are trying to spread our messages that no one should be afraid, and that each race
should be allowed to fulfill their own destiny separately. I started doing this because I am a
Christian, and I feel that this is not only a racial issue, but a spiritual one (Kendrick). It seems to
me that Heinbach, the Traditionalist Youth Network, and many other groups like them have a
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difficult time discerning between what a religious matter is and what a racial or political one is.
But then again, lots of things in America are rooted in this problem. Going back to the classic
example of the Westboro Baptist Church (which is extreme but recognizable and a clear-cut
example), their actions make homosexuality a crime that should be punished, instead of a sin to
be judged by God. No one says that the Church shouldnt believe what it believes, but when
beliefs become intolerance, and intolerance becomes the law, the separation between church
and state is impossible to discern. Tim Wise is not a religious speaker. He is an anti-Racism
activist who speaks about personal and institutionalized racism and the importance of Whites
recognizing how they are privileged and how they can combat racism. The Traditionalist Youth
Networks rhetoric on Tim Wise however, focused on him as a Jew, and how his Jewish beliefs
somehow make him inferior to a White man. The question I end with then is will there ever be
a definite difference between religious and racial intolerance, and how can we attempt to end
both?


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Works Cited
Corrigan, John, and Lynn S. Neal. Anti-Semitism. The University of North Carolina Press, 2010.
Web. 25 Nov. 2013. <https://blackboard.uc.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-9176456-dt-content-
rid-45198999_2/courses/13FS_RELG3010001/Anti-Semitism.pdf>.
Kendrick, Will. "Tim Wise encourages students to talk about race issues." News Record. (2013):
n. page. Print. <http://www.newsrecord.org/news/campus/tim-wise-encourages-
students-to- talk-about-race-issues/article_046f6796-3c63-11e3-84f5-
001a4bcf6878.html>.
"Our Mission." Traditionalist Youth Network n.pag. Web. 25 Nov 2013.
<http://www.tradyouth.org/>.
Ransdell, Robert. "Traditional Youth (and myself) confront Tim Wise, again!." White Pride World
Wide. Stormfront.org, 24 Oct 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t1001336/>.