“C” is for Christian-Jewish Congress of South Carolina. The organization was formed in 1976 as the state’s first organization to foster dialogue and cooperation between Christians and Jews. It emerged out of conversations between the South Carolina Christian Action Council and the Jewish Welfare Federations in Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville. The organization’s motto was “conversation not conversion” and its objectives focused on education and cooperation.
It sought to correct misunderstandings between faith communities, especially forms of anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism that occasionally surfaced in communities across the state. Chapters were established in Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville and met for regular meetings in living rooms or houses of worship. An annual statewide meeting was held from 1976 to 1988. After the demise of the Christian-Jewish Congress of South Carolina, dialogue groups continued to meet in Charleston, Columbia, and other communities.
