November 13, 2005
TORQUEMADA IN THE HUDDLE
Foxman's hypocrisy (Hillel Halkin, Jerusalem Post, November 12th, 2005)
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League - the one major American Jewish organization whose primary goal is fighting anti-Semitism - is worried. American Jews, he believes, are threatened, not by anti-Semites, but by the non-anti-Semitic Christian Right. In an address to the League's national commission in New York last weekend, Foxman said:"Today we face a better financed, more sophisticated, coordinated, unified, energized and organized coalition of groups in opposition to our policy positions on church-state separation than ever before. Their goal is to implement their Christian worldview. To Christianize America. To save us!"
Gevalt! And what are these Christian groups actually trying to do in order to "implement their Christian worldview"? Not only are they pushing an "agenda of a wide range of issues, including judicial nominees, stem-cell research, same-sex marriage, abortion restriction and faith-based initiative," they also intend "to Christianize all aspects of American life, from the halls of government to the libraries, to the movies, to recording studios, to the playing fields and locker rooms of professional, collegiate, and amateur sports; from the military to SpongeBob SquarePants. No effort is made to hide their goals or their ambitions, and their vision of America is far different from ours."
That the Christian Right's vision of America is different from Abraham Foxman's, and from that of most and perhaps all American Jews, is indisputable. What is not so, however, is, firstly, whether the Christian Right is doing anything that the American Jewish community and the Anti-Defamation League have not been doing for decades; secondly, whether it is not therefore absurd to attack Christians for such things; and thirdly, whether there is any wisdom, from the American Jewish perspective, in declaring war on a Christian public that in recent years has been Israel's strongest supporter in the United States.
The ever-astute Mr. Halkin is being too harsh in pointing at the American Jewish community here. Like the ACLU, organizations like the ADL stand for the radical, uncompromising secularizing of American culture with religious expression expunged totally from the public square. They depend for both ideological and institutional reasons on the constant demonizing of religious influence and on pretending society is in the iron grip of a harsh religious orthodoxy that hasn’t been seen for generations, if not centuries. They delight in frightening ordinary folks (and donors) by drawing direct links between the most innocuous and healthy public expressions of faith and the darkest, most remote episodes in Christian history. Indeed, listening to their rote and fevered warnings in response to issues like Christmas trees, the pledge of allegiance and school prayer, one wonders how any non-Christians survived the 19th century at all.
That Christianity is almost always the target has much more to do with the cultural self-hatred that animates so much modern “progressive” thinking in the West than with interfaith relations or theological differences. Even here, one is struck by how some of our commenters are prone to quickly see dark and theocratic menace in such mundane matters as Sunday closings for fast-food restaurants or open inquiry in science classes. Mr. Foxman is not an agent of the American Jewish community. He would be better described as the director of propaganda for the American secular community–Jewish chapter.
Foxman also takes Pat Robertson seriously by thinking there's mindless widespread evangelical support behind him, as opposed to how normal people view actions like that, as a source of unintentional comedy (James Dobson may have stronger support at this time that puts the willies into Abe, but that's dependant on him avoiding any future "Spongebob" trivialities, since the faithful for the most part do know when their beliefs are and aren't being mocked or threatened).
The is the same stuff Ive been hearing from Jewish friends for decades. They're really more afraid/concerned about fundamentalist Christians than fundamentalist Moslems????
This from people who are totally sane, intelligent professionals mostly second and third generation Americans who simple cannot make the leap to voting for Republicans. No amount of evidence that Democrats are not friends of the Jewish community or Israel will move them.
I thought for sure that 9/11 would be enough to get it through their thick heads that liberal policies are dangerous, but no they just cant be convinced.
erp:
They have abandoned God, and don't like to be reminded of it. They scoff at Allah (even as they might fear his murderous followers), but those Christians, now that's getting a little too personal.
I don't know much about Abe Foxman, but if he is getting denounced by both Bart and Peter, then that says something. If he doesn't stand for Judaism, then what does he stand for? Nihilism?
Posted by: jim hamlen at November 13, 2005 1:39 PMJim,
One of the guys I'm talking about might be the smartest as well as most moral man I ever met. Hes a well known lawyer whose father was an Orthodox rabbi and to honor him, he kept a Kosher home until his father died. He does stand up for Judaism and is outwardly religious although no longer Orthodox, but who can tell what goes on in his head.
He has a wonderful family, performs good works is a funny wonderful person to be around. A stalwart Democrat then and nothing that has happened over the years has caused him to budge one iota.
Peter:
Open inquiry in science classes?
You need to read much, much, more about the Discovery Institute.
If you really care to find out how devoted ID/Creationists are to "open inquiry," perhaps you should read this.
OJ -- thanks for posting Halkin's article.
Im an American Reform Jew and actively involved in my Manhattan synagogue. I'm not afraid of evangelical Christians who promote ethical monotheism. I am afraid of terrorists who invoke Allah and want to kill or subjugate everyone who doesn't believe as they do.
Jews like Abe Foxman don't have a clue about evangelical Christians beyond the negative stereotypes.
Earlier this year I decided to step beyond the stereotypes and began to attend a weekly mens conversation group sponsored by a Christian fellowship called Priority Associates.
(http://www.priorityassociates.org/) Priority defines its mission is "to empower professionals to plant catalytic workplace movements across New York City so everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus."
While Christian, Priority welcomes and respects people who are not. I endorse how Priority helps people discover the role God plays in their lives and what that means in how one chooses to act in his or her personal life and at work.
I believe, as Jewish theologian Dennis Prager says, that "Jews and Christians need each other and Judaism and Christianity need each other. It is the greatness of Judeo-Christian values that they combine the best of both religious traditions and cast aside some of their weaker aspects.For example, the Christian emphasis on faith above works led often to faith without works. Meanwhile, the Jewish emphasis on works above faith has led to many Jews abandoning God and valuing only works -- meaning, more often than not, the embracing of destructive secular radical faiths.Judeo-Christian values combine the two religions' strengths -- the Jewish emphasis on moral works in this world with the Christian emphasis on keeping God at the center of one's values and works."
In 2000 under the auspices of the Baltimorebased Institute on Christian and Jewish Studies, an interdenominational group of Jewish scholars issued "Dabru Emet" (Hebrew for "Speak the Truth"), a Jewish statement on Christians and Christianity. Among its eight points were these four:
* Jews and Christians worship the same God. Before the rise of Christianity, Jews were the only worshipers of the God of Israel. But Christians also worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, creator of heaven and earth. While Christian worship is not a viable religious choice for Jews, as Jewish theologians we rejoice that, through Christianity, hundreds of millions of people have entered into relationship with the God of Israel.
* Jews and Christians seek authority from the same bookthe Bible (what Jews call "Tanakh" and Christians call the "Old Testament"). Turning to it for religious orientation, spiritual enrichment, and communal education, we each take away similar lessons: God created and sustains the universe; God established a covenant with the people Israel; God's revealed word guides Israel to a life of righteousness; and God will ultimately redeem Israel and the whole world. Yet Jews and Christians interpret the Bible differently on many points. Such differences must always be respected.
* Jews and Christians accept the moral principles of Torah. Central to the moral principles of Torah is the inalienable sanctity and dignity of every human being. All of us were created in the image of God. This shared moral emphasis can be the basis of an improved relationship between our two communities. It can also be the basis of a powerful witness to all humanity for improving the lives of our fellow human beings and for standing against the immoralities and idolatries that harm and degrade us. Such witness is especially needed after the unprecedented horrors of the past century.
* The humanly irreconcilable difference between Jews and Christians will not be settled until God redeems the entire world as promised in Scripture. Christians know and serve God through Jesus Christ and the Christian tradition. Jews know and serve God through Torah and the Jewish tradition. That difference will not be settled by one community insisting that it has interpreted Scripture more accurately than the other, nor by exercising political power over the other. Jews can respect Christians' faithfulness to their revelation just as we expect Christians to respect our faithfulness to our revelation. Neither Jew nor Christian should be pressed into affirming the teaching of the other community.
David S. Ariel, President of the Siegal College of Judaic Studies in Cleveland, writes, "Jews believe n the eventual fulfillment of an elusive dream of a perfect world. Christians believe that the world has already been saved by the crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus."
For me Jesus was a great teacher, not the Son of God whose death redeemed me. Though I know my friends in Priority would be delighted if I came to think otherwise, I cannot accept the foundation tenets of Christianity:
* As a Jew, I do not believe in Original Sin. I believe each of us was born innocent and each of us makes the moral choice to sin or not to sin. Each of us has within us a force pulling us to do good and a force pulling us to evil, and life is a battle between the two.
* As a Jew, I do not believe that Jesus's death atones for my sins. For my sins against God only I can ask His forgiveness and strive to act better. For my sins against people, only I can ask forgiveness from them and strive to act better.
* As a Jew, I do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, because he did not fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah's coming will bring world peace.
* As a Jew, I do not believe God can become human. God is perfect, man is not. Man cannot fathom God's form. "You cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live." (Exodus 33:20)
In Priority's vision statement, its associates seek to "engage (their) spiritually seeking co-workers and friends in a dialogue about God and to share (their) faith with gentleness and respect." Priority does not sell hard or warn that you will be damned if you don't accept Jesus as your personal savior. If they did, there would be no dialogue, only impasse, and I for one would walk away.
Priority emphasizes the workplace because New York City professionals tend to define ourselves by our job/career, and we spend so much of our time at work. Priority creates the opportunity for men to get together in small fellowship groups to do something that men rarely do -- to have conversations about what's important in life. We focus on the purpose of our lives to be God's junior partner on earth, to act with the ethical and moral standards that God wants from us, to be grateful for our blessings, to make this world a better place, to bring us closer to God. What's discussed in the group stays in the group in confidence.
I was a typical middle class suburban Jewish kid of the 1960's who went to Jewish religious school, attended religious services regularly until I became Bar Mitzvah at age 13, and then dropped almost all affiliation with organized Judaism for thirty years. As Priority Associates seeks to reach the "Disenfranchised Christian Believer," I was a Disenfranchised Jewish Believer. Ten years ago I realized that something very important was missing for me, I rediscovered my Judaism, and my life is considerably richer for it.
Ive found the conversations through Priority to be powerful spiritual experiences where we learn, where our personal relationship with God deepens, where our commitment to serve God grows stronger.
Jews believe there is no one true path to God. The great 20th Century Jewish philosopher Martin Buber wrote, "Rabbi Baer of Radoshitz once said to his teacher, the 'Seer' of Lublin: 'Show me one general way to the service of God.'The zaddik (righteous man) replied: 'It is impossible to tell men what way they should take.Everyone should carefully observe what way his heart draws him to, and then choose this way with all his strength."
My heart draws me to God through Judaism. In fact, I've just begun an intensive two year advanced Jewish Studies course through my synagogue, and I love it. At the same time I embrace Priority, because I like how it helps Christians find their path to God, and its respect for Judaism appreciates that Christians and Jews in fellowship can grow as individuals in a shared reverence for God.
Abe Foxman does not speak for me.
Abe Foxman is a representative of the mind set that Philip Roth exemplified in his novel last year "The Plot against America." Charles Lindberg wins the 1940 election, allies with the Nazis and begins to oppress the Jews, but FDR comes back to save them.
This is the stuff of old folks who no longer have a grip on the modern world, and who try to see everything through the ideas that were current when they were younger. One of which was that Nazism was Christian and conservative. WWII in Eastern Europe wasn't left vs right, it was Russian left vs German left.
But, Foxman and his donor base still believe in the old pieties. Experience won't change them they are too old and stuck in their ways for that.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 14, 2005 1:48 AM