Sermon called anti-Semitic

The Anti-Defamation League found out about the sermon shortly after and its repeated attempts to meet with Sheley were ignored, said Jonathan Bernstein, director of the Central Pacific Region of the Anti-Defamation League.

Sheley’s sermon references the Bible’s depiction of Jesus’ death as a Jewish crime. He claims that the troubles "the nation of Israel” faced since the time of Jesus’ death is a result of its rejection of Jesus.

"And ladies and gentleman, that’s the tragic story of the nation of Israel. For 2,000 years, they’ve been driven and chased into every corner of this world, hated, killed, murdered because of their rejection,” he said in his sermon, which is available on the church’s Web site.

Painting Jews as the responsible party for Jesus’ death is an outdated theory that the Vatican, theologians and clergy from many denominations have rejected since the 1960s, Bernstein said in a Nov. 16 letter to Sheley. The execution of Jesus is almost uniformly understood to be a political act of the Roman government taken to stabilize its military rule, the letter said.

"We believe the ideas in [the sermon] will only serve to increase unwarranted prejudice toward Jews and Judaism, views which responsible clergy have long since abandoned,” Bernstein said in the letter.

The letter was the league’s latest attempt to meet with Sheley. Representatives from the league made several phone calls to Sheley and was told by his secretary he was not interested in meeting. Two Daily Journal phone calls to Sheley’s office were not returned Friday. Sheley’s secretary said he will be on vacation starting this week.

The Anti-Defamation League learned about the sermon from a musician who was invited to play at the church. Bernstein said the organization also received phone calls from members of the clergy.

In the six-page sermon, Sheley tells his congregation to avoid the mistake of the Jewish people by rejecting God. By doing so, they’ll avoid "eternal consequences” similar to those suffered by the Jews. Further in the sermon he uses children of a member of his congregation as examples. The three children became a prostitute and two drug addicts because they rejected God, he said.

Sheley has been a pastor for 50 years and spent 40 of them at the Church of the Highlands, according to the church’s Web site.

Regardless of his good intentions, Bernstein said his message only serves to hurt the community.

"When ever there is a hateful or divisive message put out to the public, it’s very hard to counter it,” Bernstein said.

The League is still hoping to meet with Sheley, Bernstein said.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.