Congressman-Elect Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) Tried to Convert Jews to Christianity
In an interview with Jewish Insider, Congressman-Elect Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) shared that he had attempted to convert Jews and Muslims to Christianity.
Jewish Insider interviewed Cawthorn shortly after his election victory for U.S. House District 11 in North Carolina. When asked by journalist Matthew Kassel if he ever tried to convert any Jews to Christianity, Cawthorn responded:
"I have...I have, unsuccessfully. I have a lot of, uh, you know, I guess, culturally Jewish people. But being a practicing Jew, like, people who are religious about it, they are very difficult. I've had a hard time connecting with them in that way."
A piece in Hey Alma about Cawthorn’s comments and the response to them from Jewish communities reviewed the history of mission work and proselytizing, noting that specifically targeting Jews for conversion is a fundamentally antisemitic act.
In the same Jewish Insider interview, Cawthorn complained: “There’s just been so much, you know, blatant lies about me, specifically when it comes to questions of Nazism and racism.” The '“questions” Cawthorn referenced include concerns about: His trip to Hitler's vacation home, documented in now-deleted Instagram posts in which he referring to Hitler as “the Führer”; The fact that he followed precisely 88 accounts on Twitter — a number seen as a signal to neo-Nazis, and; The fact that the name of a company he owns with is “SPQR,” a phrase and symbol in wide use with white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
The Jewish Insider article also unearthed a sermon Cawthorn gave in 2019, during which he said, “If you have Jewish blood running through your veins today, this might not mean as much to you, but for someone like me, who’s a gentile, this means a lot.”
The Jewish Insider interview immediately sparked backlash from Jews — including several Rabbis — bristling at the news that an incoming member of Congress sought to convert Jews, and held what appeared to be fetishizing ideas about “Jewish blood.” In response, Cawthorn tweeted, “I am being attacked because I share my faith with others? Is the left fully anti religious freedom now? This is dangerous for America!” sparking additional backlash: