Dutch Bible campaign pits Jews against Christians

On the eve of the presentation of a new "ecumenical" Dutch-language version of the Bible, a dispute has erupted between the Jewish and Christian communities in the Netherlands. In an ad campaign to promote the new version of the Bible, the chief editor of the feminist magazine "Opzij", Cisca Dresselhuys, takes issue with the book of Esther in the Old Testament, "from every page of which blood was spilling". While in Esther, the Jew Mordechai represented the evil crook, " the ad goes on as saying "thankfully, another Jewish man later brought us the message of love and reconciliation." But Jews had not yet recognized that Jesus Christ was the son of God. The "Nederlands-Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap" (NIK), the Dutch umbrella body of Jewish organizations, said that once again, Jews were portrayed as bloodthirsty, and the Bible was used in such a way as to inflict damage on the Jewish people. The NIK has urged the "Dutch Bible Society", who runs the campaign, to stop the advertisements.