Did Congress just ban the Bible? No, despite the many hyperbolic claims floating around on social media after the House passed the so-called “Antisemitism Awareness Act” on Wednesday. But free speech watchdogs are nonetheless decrying the legislation for what it actually does — and rightly so.
The well-intentioned legislation is responding to a disturbing uptick in anti-Jewish sentiment on college campuses. It enshrines into law a specific definition of antisemitism and then permits the Department of Education to defund universities that allow this kind of speech to occur.
“We must give the Department of Education the tools to … hold college administrators accountable for refusing to address antisemitism on their campuses,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY).
The fundamental problem with this legislation is that its definition of “antisemitism”…
