The B.C. comic strip flap: Here is the Jewish Defense League’s call for adherents to appeal to local newspapers “not to allow this insult to be printed”, as it is scheduled to be tomorrow. Of course, the color supplements to the Sunday papers were printed a long time ago and the strip cannot be pulled at this late date, respond the newspapers. A copy of the strip appears on the site. The JDL says:

B.C. is pushing Replacement Theology (the theory that
Christianity has replaced Judaism as “The Chosen” because the Jews do not accept Jesus
as messiah) down the throats of the readers — many of them children — of the Sunday
comics. As the candles burn, the menorah (a sacred and venerated symbol of the Jewish
people) is obliterated and turns into a cross (the symbol of Christianity).

The Anti-Defamation League, at a different place altogether in the Jewish spectrum, does not call for the retraction of the strip but finds it

insensitive and
offensive. While not anti-Semitic, the comic
strip’s message is reminiscent of the
theology of contempt, which for centuries
played a central role in fomenting Christian
violence and hatred against Jews. It is even
more troubling because the comic strip
appears during Passover, a season that
Christianity had historically used as an
excuse to defame the Jewish religion with
charges of blood libel, Jews as
“Christ-killers,” and pogroms. Sadly, we
thought that the Christian-Jewish dialogue
had moved us beyond such crude
expressions of contempt.

Time magazine has some background on Hart’s proselytizing here.

A Google search on (“Johnny Hart” and B.C. and Christian) looks like this.