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A psychological study of Judaism and Christianity inevitably confronts deep-seated biases and prejudices. A dual focus on the psychology of religion and of ethnic identity is required, each of which invites misunderstanding and criticism. Those who feel, rightly or wrongly, that their religious beliefs are challenged or their ethnic identifications criticized may feel offended. Any effort to deny or to minimize the differences, however, inevitably must interfere with the objective investigation of the differences and their psychological implications.
Religion is a universal practice found in every known culture throughout history. There is a grandiosity in Judaeo-Christian religious experience expressed by the belief that we are created in the image of God, a belief accompanied by the reassuring assertion that physical death is not the end of our existence. Devoutly religious groups, however, frequently have not hesitated to persecute, and often to kill those whose beliefs differed from their own. Theists have struggled valiantly to rationalize the contradictions of a perfect God of Peace and the destructiveness and violence of human experience. Historically, there may have been many more persons killed in the name of God than persons saved as a result of efforts made in His name. Gautama Buddha's advice might be a cornerstone of human tolerance that has yet to be achieved: that we should respect the religious convictions of those who believe differently, because, for all we know, they may be right! History reveals the extent to which that advice has been rejected, especially by Christians in their relationships with the Jews.
The persecution of Jews throughout history was, and to a significant extent, continues to be rationalized by accusations of undesirable psychological and ethnic characteristics. These are obvious distortions based on the psychopathology and politics of anti-Semitic prejudice. Reaction-formations against such prejudice have also evolv