harmless historical speculation, the myth, also known as “deicide,” has resulted in unimaginable Jewish suffering and has been used to justify antisemitic beliefs, despite the uniform agreement of historians and theologians that Jews are not culpable for the death of Jesus.

The origin of the misconception is based on a verse in the New Testament: “His blood be on us, and on our children,” (Matthew 27:24-25), which has been read as an admission that all Jews, of Jesus's time and after, accepted responsibility for Jesus' death.

According to some scholars, such as Amy-Jill Levine of Vanderbilt University Divinity School, the passage has caused more Jewish suffering throughout history than any other in the New Testament. For centuries, the myth was promulgated by Christian leaders during sermons that often inspired church members to avenge the death of Jesus and even condemned Jews as agents of the devil.

Historian Dr. Deborah Lipstadt has explained that these conspiracy myths can be traced back to the origins of Christianity. According to Lipstadt, the Church promoted the belief that “the Jews” conspired to kill Jesus—even though Jewish individuals did not have a hand in his death. This paved the way for the undermining and marginalization of those who adhered to Judaism.
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“Jews, [early Christians] argued, repudiated this new faith because of their inherent maliciousness,” Lipstadt writes. “This formulation rendered Judaism more than just a competing religion. It became a source of evil.”  

Early and medieval Christian leaders portrayed Jews as unwilling to accept the word of God because Satan had blinded them. The myth was even perpetuated by the Nazis to justify the Holocaust; they argued that the murder of six million Jews was punishment for the murder of Jesus their ancestors.

The myth has reinforced other accusations such as that the Jews possess too much power—because, in order to have murdered Jesus, the Jews must not only have tremendous power, but also the ability to outwit God. This myth and fear of Jewish power remains to this day and is the driving force behind much present-day antisemitism.

Under the leadership of Pope Paul VI, the Catholic Church distanced itself from the deicide myth in 1964 with the publication of the “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions” (Nostra Aetate), which stated unambiguously that the crucifixion of Jesus “cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today.”

Nevertheless, while most churches have repudiated the deicide charge, antisemites continue to use it to justify their hatred of the Jewish people. Imagery associated with the accusation has been used to represent Palestinians being figuratively “crucified” by the Israeli Defense Forces or the Israeli government.