Gerry, actually I'm not Christian, but I was brought up in that tradition. I'm not sure quite why I've got myself so involved in this discussion - I think I was a bit offended by the implication that we should censor, or self-censor, a song because of what I still see, with respect, as a largely imagined offence. Maybe I've just enjoyed the debate.

I had understood your earlier argument to be that "the holy people" is how Jews refer to themselves, therefore "the holy people" in LOTD was a reference to the whole Jewish people past and present, and was implicitly accusing all of them of responsibility for the crucifixion. You now seem to be agreeing that it refers to just a few Jews at that time, the priests and religious authorities, but deny that they had any involvement. Your problem seems to be, not that LOTD misrepresents the gospel story, but with that story itself.

I agree, it is probably not really important to the Christian story who was responsible, the essential element is the crucifixion, and what happened afterwards. And I don't know to what extent, if at all, the Gospels represent historical truth, or even if these events actually happened. The point is, to Christians this is how the story unfolded, with the Jewish authorities bringing Jesus before the Romans and encouraging them to punish him. LOTD is a Christian song and is based around this story.

If you feel that simply repeating this story is anti-semitic, then you are saying that Christianity itself is anti-semitic. Whilst it is unarguable that both the Church and individual Christians have been horrifically anti-semitic at times, you are in danger of making the same sweeping generalisation about Christianity that you object to when its made about Jews.

I think the origins of Christian anti-semitism are actually more complicated, and were more to do with economic reasons (the Jews were the financiers of Europe at a time when Christians considered usury a sin, and their perceived economic power has always made them convenient scapegoats), and the theological arguments were used as an excuse. None of which excuses or forgives the treatment Jews have suffered over centuries as a result.