The American Jewish Response to Christian Clergy Advocating for Persecuted Jews and Christians in the Soviet Union, 1972-1976

The proposed paper is a case study of the National Interreligious Task Force on Soviet Jewry (Task Force) established in 1971 by the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice (NCCIJ) and the American Jewish Committee. It sought Christian support for the effort to end the cultural and religious persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union. Sister Ann Gillen directed the Task Force from 1971 through 1988. In advocating for Soviet Jews, Task Force leaders became aware of Christians (Catholics, Adventists, Baptists) being persecuted in the Soviet Union. The Task Force took up their struggle for religious freedom. This conflicted with the position held by mainstream American Jewish advocacy groups who followed the Israeli policy of focusing exclusively on Soviet Jews. Israel's Liaison Bureau tried not to be anti-Soviet. They demanded that the Soviet Union give its Jews their religious and cultural rights or allow them to emigrate. In contrast, persecuted Christians often overlapping with 'captive nation' groups favored regime change. The paper analyzes the response of the AJC, the major American Jewish advocacy groups and the Israelis to the Task Force, taking up the cause of persecuted Christians. Eventually, many in the advocacy movement supported the Task Force's wider concerns with Christians as well as Jews. A major factor influencing many parties was the Helsinki Final Accords (1975), which put the issue of human rights on the agenda of East-West relations.