A rabbi's warning to U.S. Christians

I am certainly not a Churchill. I am not even a Revel. I am having enough trouble just trying to be a Lapin. But I am issuing a very serious warning about deep consequences, just as they did. It is a warning about the earliest stages of what could become a cataract of disasters if not resisted now.

During the 1930s, Winston Churchill desperately tried to persuade the English people and their government to see that Hitler meant to end their way of life. The British ignored Churchill, which gave Hitler nearly 10 years to build up his military forces. It wasn't until Hitler actually drew blood that the British realized they had a war on their hands. It turned out to be a far longer and more destructive war than it needed to be had Churchill's early warning been heeded.

In 1983, a brave French writer, Jean-Francois Revel, wrote a book called "How Democracies Perish." In this remarkable volume, he described how communism's aim is world conquest. For decades he had been trying to warn of communism's very real threat. Yet in January 1982, a high State Department official said: "We Americans are not solving problems, we are the problem." (Some things never change.) A good portion of the planet fell to communism, which brought misery and death to millions because we failed to recognize in time that others meant to harm us.

Heaven knows there was enough warning during the 1980s of the intention of part of the Islamic world to take yet another crack at world domination. Yet instead of seeing each deadly assault on our interests around the world as a test of our resolve, we ignored it. We failed the test and lost 3,000 Americans in two unforgettable hours.

I am not going to argue that what is happening now is on the same scale as the examples I cite above, but a serious war is being waged against a group of Americans. I am certain that if we lose this war, the consequences for American civilization will be dire.

Phase one of this war I describe is a propaganda blitzkrieg that is eerily reminiscent of how effectively the Goebbels propaganda machine softened up the German people for what was to come.

There is no better term than propaganda blitzkrieg to describe what has been unleashed against Christian conservatives recently.

Consider the long list of anti-Christian books that have been published in recent months. Here are just a few samples of more than 30 similar titles, all from mainstream publishers:

"Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America"

What is truly alarming is that there are more of these books for sale at your local large book store warning against the perils of fervent Christianity than those warning against the perils of fervent Islam. Does anyone seriously think America is more seriously jeopardized by Christian conservatives than by Islamic zealots? (Yep, that loonytunes loudmouth, Rosie O'DonnelI, said something to that effect on the popular TV show, "The View" - RJ) fear that many Americans believe just that in the same way that many pre-World War II Westerners considered Churchill a bigger threat than Hitler.

Some may say that today's proliferation of anti-Christian print propaganda is nothing to become worried about. To them I ask two questions:

First, would you be so sanguine if the target of this loathsome library were Jewish? Just try changing the titles in some of the books I mention above to reflect anti-Semitism instead of rampant anti-Christianism and you'll see what I mean.

Second, major movements that changed the way Americans felt and acted came about through books, often only one book. Think of Rachel Carson's 1962 error-filled "Silent Spring" that resulted in the pointless banning of the insecticide DDT and many unnecessary deaths. Other books that caused upheavals in our nation were Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," many of Ayn Rand's books and of course "Uncle Tom's Cabin." ("Population Bomb" by Paul Ehrlich is another...I confess reading it as student at university & being mightily impressed by it....but since I'm older & bit wiser, I know now it was a lot of propaganda & hot air & unproven assumptions....the truth is the opposite - RJ)

No, I would advise you not to underestimate the power of books to alter the behavior of the American public, and I fear for an America influenced to detest Christianity by this hate-filled catalog.

It is not just books but popular entertainment also that beams the most lurid anti-Christian propaganda into the hearts and minds of viewers. One need only think of who the real targets of the recent hit movie "Borat" are. The brilliant Jewish moviemaker Sacha Baron Cohen, as his title character, using borderline dishonest wiles, lures some innocent but unsophisticated country folk, obviously Christians, to join him in his outrageously anti-Semitic antics. Cohen then triumphantly claims to have exposed anti-Semitism. In fact, he has revealed nothing other than the latent anti-Christianism of America's social, economic and academic secular elites.

Even the recent PBS documentary, "Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence," managed to do more attacking Christianity than defending Judaism.

Richard Dawkins, an Oxford University professor, is one of the generals in the anti-Christian army of the secular left. American academia treats him with reverence and hangs on his every word when he insists that "religious myths ought not to be tolerated."

For those with a slightly more tolerant outlook, he asks, "It's one thing to say people should be free to believe whatever they like, but should they be free to impose their beliefs on their children?" He suggests that the state should intervene to protect children from their parents' religious beliefs. Needless to say, he means Christian beliefs, of course. Muslim beliefs add to England's charmingly diverse cultural landscape.

The war is against those who regard the Bible to be God's revelation to humanity and the Ten Commandments to be His set of rules for all time. Phase one in this war is to make Christianity, well, sort of socially unacceptable. Something only foolish, poor and ugly people could turn to.

We have seen how a carefully constructed campaign pretty much made it socially unacceptable to drink and drive. For years, there had been stringent laws against drunk driving. They achieved little. In the end, the practice was all but eliminated by groups allied with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and their effective ways of changing the way Americans thought about it.

We have seen how a carefully constructed campaign has pretty much made it socially unacceptable to smoke. In the face of a relentless campaign (dare one call it propaganda?), Americans became docile and forfeited the right to make their own decisions. Nobody was willing to stand up to the no-smoking tyrants. Nobody even asked whether health was sufficient grounds for freedom to be reduced. Now, entire cities and even states have banned smoking, not only in public places but even in privately owned restaurants.

Tyranny comes when citizens are seduced into trading freedom for the promise of safety and security.

Considerably more intellectual energy is being pumped into the propaganda campaign against Christianity than was ever delivered to the anti-smoking or anti-drunk-driving campaigns. Fervent zealots of secularism are flinging themselves into this anti-Christian war with enormous fanaticism.

If they succeed, Christianity will be driven underground, and its benign influence on the character of America will be lost. In its place we shall see a sinister secularism that menaces Bible believers of all faiths. Once the voice of the Bible has been silenced, the war on Western Civilization can begin and we shall see a long night of barbarism descend on the West.

Without a vibrant and vital Christianity, America is doomed, and without America, the West is doomed.

Which is why I, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, devoted to Jewish survival, the Torah and Israel am so terrified of American Christianity caving in.

Many of us Jews are ready to stand with you. But you must lead. You must replace your timidity with nerve and your diffidence with daring and determination. You are under attack. Now is the time to resist it.

A very interesting list:

"long list of anti-Christian books that have been published in recent monthsall from mainstream publishers:"

The author of this fine article should have included the names of the authors of these vile books.

"American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America"

"The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right's Plans for the Rest of Us"

"The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason"

"Piety & Politics: The Right-wing Assault on Religious Freedom"

"Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism"

"Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America"

"Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right"

Did I say that, RC?

I think my set-in-concrete position is "fatalistic, but chirpy."

There is hope, but it's not rational hope. That's okay, because I'm not rational :-). Anoreth will marry the cute Cuban boy from church and have 14 children, and Patrick will colonize the moons of Jupiter. I'll get a tasteful monument in the churchyard in Missouri, and a very lively memorial service with belly dancers.

You're invited!

We'll see whether Bush "gets it" when/if the Democratic Congress sends him a "hate crime" bill that outlaws the preaching of the Christian position on homosexuality. If Bush "gets it" that there are forces in America that want to outlaw conservative Christianity, then he'll veto that hate crime bill.

Well, then. Like Lapin, I'm Jewish. Like Lapin, I understand the connections between Christian belief and American culture. I agree with your statements. I guess I will soon have to make a choice to be either a rebel in the service of free men and women or be a slave to the state. That's one hell of a thing to look forward to when you're going to be 51 years old in a week, but those are the cards I've been dealt.

I think the Biblical phrase "Bold as lions" would apply here.

"I'll get a tasteful monument in the churchyard in Missouri, and a very lively memorial service with belly dancers. You're invited!"

Wouldn't miss it for the world, assuming I'm still above ground myself, lol.

The money for the expensive seafood dinner and the best local belly dance troupe will be set aside in my will.

Seriously, I think the Chastisement will come in my lifetime (I'm 40), and we'll have to die for the Lord or give up our faith.

I'm ready to die for the Lord. When my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I said "My desire is depart and be with Christ, for that is far better," and I haven't seen any reason to backtrack.

I hope my kids don't have to live without indoor plumbing ... but my grandparents managed it, so it's not like that's decisive, in the Big Picture! :-).

Mohammed was an antiChrist (one against Christ), he used the word of Jesus (rewritten), denied His divinity, His death, and His resurrection. Mohammed led the flock astray; a false prophet.

And his followers dream of an Islamic empire, where the kufir are enslaved for labor and sexual purposes. No more thought given to their (our) slaughter than the killing of a cow or a fish. Radical Imam spout these very words yet there is no global outcry.

Does it have a Biblical/Apocalyptic meaning? I don't know. I do know that Mohammed is an antiChrist figure. No other major religion acknowledges the existence of Jesus while at the same time denying Him.

Slavery still exists in the world today among Islamic cultures (there was a Saudi couple convicted in Colorado who'd kept a slave in the US for 5 years).

Imam say that the world of Mohammed is no different than the world of today. Just because slavery is "unpopular", it is not illegal in the Islamic world. We are not to question the wisdom of the koran. That said slaves must be seized in jihad/holy war, non-muslim, and taken to an Islamic territory before they are divided up does not change the widely held Islamic belief that slavery is still permissible.

The stupid sheeple don't get it.

"Richard Dawkins, an Oxford University professor, is one of the generals in the anti-Christian army of the secular left. American academia treats him with reverence and hangs on his every word when he insists that "religious myths ought not to be tolerated." "

This scumbag is like a god on FR. It's pathetic. Ayn Rand, with the morals of an alley cat in heat are touted here as the way to go. It's all senseless trash and people eat it up.

Re your post 10, you note the cowardice of some secular people here in the USA. Agreed. I, on the other hand, can see certain groups of Christians taking up arms (which they already have) and defending themselves.

There is a new book out titled "Prayers for the Assassin." I bought it and have begun reading it. It is set in the year 2040. As forecast, the Muslims have conquered America, well, most of it. You see, most of the states of the old Confederacy (plus a section of southern Missouri) have beaten the Muslims back and established their own country, The Bible Belt.

New York and Washington, DC have been made uninhabitable by nuclear bombs. The rest of the country is The Islamic Republic of America. The capital, naturally, is Seattle.

Farfetched? Not entirely. I can see the Southerners refusing to accept the rule of Muslims, and I can see certain peoples in other parts of the USA armed and ready to do battle, rushing to join them.

>>>...compel good police and prosecutors to sadly shake their heads enforcing something that they don't agree with but feel compelled to comply with out of duty and honor.<<<

I'm reading "The Coming of the Third Reich" (Richard Evans). You could be describing "good" Germans who just went along to get along as the Nazis passed laws curtailing democracy and Jewish freedoms.

I don't fear those who are not Christians, even if they will persecute us. We are called to love and care for the lost, even if we may suffer persecution.

The people I fear are those who pretend they are Christians, while having an agenda to wipe out belief in Jesus and replace it with a self-indulgent secularism with the trappings of Christianity. In this latter category I would put many of the clergy and self-appointed "leaders" of our mainline denominations, as well as phony Christian groups like the National Council of Churches.

I also fear those who falsely teach that following Jesus will bring wealth and prosperity, i.e., the Prosperity Gospel televangelists.

These people are the real wolves among the sheep.

"...Slavery still exists in the world today among Islamic cultures (there was a Saudi couple convicted in Colorado who'd kept a slave in the US for 5 years).

Imam say that the world of Mohammed is no different than the world of today. Just because slavery is "unpopular", it is not illegal in the Islamic world. We are not to question the wisdom of the koran. That said slaves must be seized in jihad/holy war, non-muslim, and taken to an Islamic territory before they are divided up does not change the widely held Islamic belief that slavery is still permissible...."

Well, I don't know why this was posted to me, but I have news for the Islamic world. I have the great good fortune to live in a country that lists as a right "the right to keep and bear arms." I have a powerful feeling that a gun which will bring down a moose in one shot will do an equally good job on an Islamic slave trader.

he [Dawkins] asks, "It's one thing to say people should be free to believe whatever they like, but should they be free to impose their beliefs on their children?"

Does Dawkins even have childen? If he does, he shows incredible ignorance of the striving of adolescents for independence. Considering that virtually every child starts to question the beliefs of their parents by the time they are in their mid-teens, claiming that parents "impose" beliefs on children is a bit of a bogus contention. My parents tried to "impose" liberal secularlism on me, and by college, I had rejected it for conservative Christianity. And is Dawkins concerned about the brainwashing of children that goes on in public schools on a number of subjects?

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