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US Jews feel threatened by religious right
Reuters ^
| 12/15/05
| Michael Conlon
Posted on 12/15/2005 6:57:56 PM PST by freedom44
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. Jewish leaders say they are increasingly worried that Christian conservatives want to turn America politically and culturally into a country that tolerates only their brand of Christianity.
"There is a feeling on all sides that something is changing," said Abraham Foxman, director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League.
"The polls indicate a very serious thing -- that over 60 percent of the American people feel that religion and Christianity are under attack," he said on Thursday in an interview.
"Some are saying we are attacking (Christianity). This whole movement is not anti-Semitic or motivated by anti-Semitism. But sometimes unintended consequences are much more serious than intended" he added.
Foxman recently arranged a meeting in New York involving six Jewish organizations to discuss the problem. He said that while participants did not agree on the exact level of the problem, they felt a strategy was needed.
"It's not a war room strategy," he added. "It's to understand what's out there."
He said Jews are a people of faith but are opposed to anyone who would say only they know the truth and want to impose it on everyone else.
While every December brings disputes over what to call the "holiday season" and its trappings, the level of lobbying by those who fear Christmas is becoming something generic has been particularly high this year.
But the issues raised by Foxman and others goes much deeper into American society, ranging from challenges to teaching evolution to bans on abortion and same-sex marriage or deciding
what kind of people who should serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Every room (from bedroom to classroom) in the American mansion is under assault to impose either de facto or de jure a Christian theocracy -- I call them Christocrats," said Rabbi James Rudin, former head of interreligious activities for the American Jewish Committee.
"They are people who believe there should be a legally mandated Christian nation, where the concept of separation of church and state is weakened or abandoned," he added.
Rudin said he has met pastors "who say that Jesus Christ is the ultimate leader of America and that God's law trumps the Constitution ... I'm very concerned."
While far from all evangelical Christians hold those views, he said, the influence of those who do is strong.
Rudin, whose book "The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right's Plans for the Rest of Us" will be published in January by Avalon, said those with a theocratic agenda are not anti-Semites, and in fact some of them are among the strongest supporters of the state of Israel.
But he said they are Christians who see secular humanists and globalists as their enemies and who feel they are being attacked.
Mathew (cq) Staver, general counsel of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, a group which backs conservative Christian causes in court and which has been particularly active in Christmas-related issues, says "there is absolutely no effort that I'm aware of to theocratize America or put down other faiths to expand Christianity."
He credits the increased activity surrounding Christmas issues this year to three years of building an organization over the matter.
"People have said enough is enough," he said, citing such incidents as naming Boston's Christmas tree a "holiday tree" and the publication of a sales catalog by a major retailer which featured Kwanza and Hanukkah gifts but made no mention of Christmas.
President George W. Bush, who describes himself as a born-again Christian, also faced criticism recently for sending out cards wishing people a happy "holiday" season.
"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights told the Washington Post.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: adl; atheists; bs; chickenlittles; evangelicals; liberalsaredesperate; liberalsgoneinsane; mediabias; paranoia; poppycock; secularpseudojews; theocracy
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To: freedom44
ADL is an OFFENSIVE weapon and has never had a self protective mode.
121
posted on
12/15/2005 8:35:07 PM PST
by
cynicom
To: MarkL
"Being Jewish, I find it terribly sad that I'm unable to donate to any Jewish charities,..."
There are some Chabad charities.
[Noachide finds cover.] [g]
122
posted on
12/15/2005 8:38:17 PM PST
by
familyop
("Let us try" sounds better, don't you think? "Essayons" is so...Latin.)
To: GatorGirl
same God...
sorry, the eyes weren't working--it's late--off to bed I go!
123
posted on
12/15/2005 8:40:23 PM PST
by
GatorGirl
(Merry Christmas!)
To: freedom44
How many Jews are mugged or assaulted outside of Christian churches when the congregation is exiting?
It strikes me the peril lies elsewhere, like in the Islamic slums of France, where the Jews are regularly assaulted.
To: MillerCreek
"And, also, Abe Foxman and the Jewish Anti-Defamation League have done more to harass and dishonestly demean many people -- and, thus, harm the Jewish people by public opinion response..."
That's so true, as is your comment on multiplying Muslim sites. My guess is that the ADL, at least in part, seeks to divide the votes and secular political efforts of conservative Christians from conservative Jews.
125
posted on
12/15/2005 8:45:48 PM PST
by
familyop
("Let us try" sounds better, don't you think? "Essayons" is so...Latin.)
To: familyop
So, in that sense, Foxman is an anti-semitic.
To: lawdude
"You may want to rethink. IIRC, They vote about 70-30 dem!"
I'll rephrase that to "most who are Orthodox..." Most Catholics in decades past voted Democrat, but about half of them are voting Republican more recently. Hopefully and likely, with the trend as it's going, the same will occur within Orthodox Judaism.
127
posted on
12/15/2005 9:01:21 PM PST
by
familyop
("Let us try" sounds better, don't you think? "Essayons" is so...Latin.)
To: narby
IMO the problem is that Darwin's book is called Origin of the Species. His theory is replete with species building on similar species, but does NOT address the origin of the these species.
It is Volume 2, and cannot stand alone. Needed is Volume 1, with NDA advances, is what all the hubbub is about. There's a debate and students should participate.
128
posted on
12/15/2005 9:02:29 PM PST
by
duckln
To: MarkL
Commendable, Mark. It's too bad things are that way, but I salute you for your principle.
To: freedom44; All
I think there are people in some religion don't want claim their Christinty or Judism they want be secular so they feel threated by religoius part of their population
AM I RIGHT?? LOL!
130
posted on
12/15/2005 9:15:04 PM PST
by
SevenofNine
("Not everybody in, it, for truth, justice, and the American way,"= Det Lennie Briscoe)
To: familyop
You got remember Family the trend in Cathocism is changing
Who are voting Republican in last few elections
Hispanics Cathoics old school Cathoics for Demo party are dying OUT BIG TIME
So I see trend there LOL!
131
posted on
12/15/2005 9:19:37 PM PST
by
SevenofNine
("Not everybody in, it, for truth, justice, and the American way,"= Det Lennie Briscoe)
To: aft_lizard
"Let Jackie Mason at them he will set them straight." I believe he calls them, "self hating" Jews.
But we know them as "secular/ humanist" non believing individuals, who happen to be of Jewish heritage.
132
posted on
12/15/2005 9:21:32 PM PST
by
Hillarys nightmare
(So Proud to be living in "Jesus Land" ! Don't you wish everyone did?)
To: freedom44
I feel threatened by the religious left myself. To each their own paranoia I guess.
133
posted on
12/15/2005 9:22:54 PM PST
by
Torie
To: freedom44
Foxman's quarrel is not with Christianity specifically, but with religion - including Judaism.
To: freedom44
I got up til the point when they quoted Abe Foxman, at which point I realized the whole article was BS.
135
posted on
12/15/2005 9:24:14 PM PST
by
Optimus Prime
(Do liberals even qualify as sentient beings?)
To: freedom44
Sheesh. They're concerned about some "threat" from the most ardent group of Israel supporters on the planet? Everytime I think I can't be surprised by a new display of absurdity devoid of all logic, I am.
Hey, anyone know the scripture that talks about how good will be called evil and evil will be called good?
MM
136
posted on
12/15/2005 9:31:14 PM PST
by
MississippiMan
(Behold now behemoth...he moves his tail like a cedar. Job 40:17)
To: SevenofNine
That's something to consider! ...same with Orthodox Jews. They're supposed to have kids whenever the urge happens. [g]
137
posted on
12/15/2005 9:35:27 PM PST
by
familyop
("Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." --President George Bush)
To: Mr. Mojo; Sabramerican
Yep, Foxman is quoted at length every damn time. ....as if he's the official Jewish spokesman.No surprise. Just like when they parade Jesse Jackson as the spokesman for Blacks. Liberal tools.
138
posted on
12/15/2005 9:36:25 PM PST
by
Lijahsbubbe
(does anyone miss Ted Koppel?)
To: freedom44
The author of this drivel is an idiot. Right wing fundamental Christians love Jews and will defend them with their lives. We believe in the covenant between God and Abram in
Gen. 12:3
139
posted on
12/15/2005 9:41:52 PM PST
by
DocRock
To: California Patriot; This Just In; black_diamond; Al Simmons; conservative physics; Mike10542; ...
Its helpful to understand the communist/liberal Meme that Foxman is maintaining.
Edvard Radzinsky in his book "Stalin" argues that while at one time Stalin hoped Jewish financial capital would help rebuild the Soviet Union after the WWII, Stalin hated the prospect of suborning himself to the
Baruch Plan for nuclear controls--presented in 1946. Stalin's particular animus toward the Jews from that time forward was that the Baruch Plan had way too many Jewish signatures on it.
This refusal lead to a total break by Stalin who after fomenting the Doctor's plot hysteria and breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel, was within days of preparing to exile the Soviet Jews to the Gulag (as was done previously with various other ethnic minorities such as the Crimean Tatars, Chechens, etc.), and initiate another great purge along the lines of 1938 to once again prepare the Soviet Union for war.
The important thing to recall is that the Doctor's Plot happened at the same time as the McCarthy anti communist business from 1950-54
Stalin already had the concentration camps set up. And some of the preliminary accusations had gone out for the Doctor's Plot when he died in 1953.
At the same time the Rosenburgs were tried and executed for treason in the USA in 1953--and this less than a decade after the Holocaust. This naturally caused fear and suspicion in the US Jewish community. This fear and suspicion was played upon by knowledgeable communists and leftists--large numbers of whom were jewish. These folk not only knew about what Stalin had done in the 1930's and was about to do with the doctor's plot--before he died-- but also saw the Rosenburg trials as show trials american style ... that is, a prelude to an american pogrom.
What Stalin had planned to do-- in a brilliant piece of jujitsu --leftists and communists imputed to Americans on the right. But it was done soto voce. Basically a blood libel was perpetrated on Americans without their knowing it.
While the American public outside NY/LA were generally given the view that the McCarthy era was an age when innocent men were unjustly tried by suspicious anti semites like McCarthy & Nixon--the NY/LA Jewish establishment was given a different story. They were given to understand that the democrats/liberals had prevented the US from visiting a holocaust on them. And that therefor American Jews owed their loyalty to the liberal democrats because the liberal democrats were the protectors of the Jews.
And this Meme went on untouched for decades after McCarthy.
This dual track story line didn't crack until the early 1990's when the kgb/nkvd/gru opened up their files on the WWII-McCarthy Period. In 1995 the US's NSA agency opened up their Venona files. Both Russian and American spy agency files showed that McCarthy was right. The US government --as well as the Manhattan Project--had been at one time soaked with Russian Spies. The Rosenburgs were guilty. While McCarthy was wrong in all the details he got the general outline of the story right. Why did he get the outline right and the detail wrong. The reason is McCarthy's relationship to Hoover was the same as Hoover's relationship to the NSA.(The NSA told the FBI about the Venona intercepts but insisted that the FBI could not use NSA intercepts as evidence in court. The FBI had to develop their own leads. As a result most of the spies escaped. The FBI did not get their man. In 1950 J Edgar Hoover began weekly meetings with Joseph McCarthy. Those meetings ended in 1954. The beginning and end of those meetings coincided with the beginning and end of McCarthy star turn in the national spot light. To this day the FBI denies that Hoover told McCarthy anything about the Venona Cables and maybe Hoover said nothing explicit to McCarthy for which Hoover could be liable in court.)
Needless to say, an American style shoah was never in the cards.
The reason that hollywood hated Ronald Reagan so much was that he was an anti communist in hollywood during the McCarthy period. (He was among the first wave of FDR democrats to switch parties.) Reagan was blacklisted from Hollywood. He couldn't get work there after McCarthy. However, his experiences in Hollywood served him well when he went into public service. He always understood the jujitsu of media talk of the age. Something that cannot be said of Nixon.
Actor George Clooney's is directing a McCarthy topic film now open in theatres. The film called "Good Night and Good Luck", in which Clooney also stars, is a look at the impact of McCarthyism on 1950s America. This movie keeps up the part of the meme known to the general american public about the McCarthy era:innocent men were unjustly tried by suspicious anti semites
Mr. Foxman keeps up the other side of the meme.
When I hear American based Moslems talking about McCarthyism being visited on them. I have to laugh. They don't know that they have pronounced themselves guilty in the eyes of many Americans.
As for the democrats, part of the reason for the loss of their inner coherence has been that part their foundational raison d'être steming from the McCarthy era was revealed to be based on a lie. So now the core of the democratic party is the sodomites. Those folks are not just confusing. They are confused.
140
posted on
12/15/2005 9:47:50 PM PST
by
ckilmer
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