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.
It just demonstrates that they don't understand Christianity.
Let us give thanks to our common God for the forty percent of American Jews who do not believe this nonsense.
Which Jews?
assimilated secular Jewish liberals?maybe
not Jewish Jews.
To use a Catholic word: "Bingo! We have a winner!"
Sursum Corda
Yeah, go ask Dennis Prager or Michael Medved how threatened they feel by the Religious Right.
Abe Foxman is an idiot.
How these people can be so willingly blind to the public statements as well as the private ones of leftists is beyond me.
"The polls indicate a very serious thing -- that over 60 percent of the American people feel that religion and Christianity are under attack"
I agree and I'm not even a Christian.
The "religious right" includes Orthodox Jews
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Well, look on the bright side: this accusation of anti-Semitism gives us an excuse to beat up some Neo-Nazis.
Right you are, Abe; there are a lot of us out here who are tired of putting up with your secularist anti-American sh*t.
Let Jackie Mason at them he will set them straight.
IMO This is ridiculous and a slander on Christians - Again. American Jews have much more to fear from secularists and some of their own faith than any Christians.
Thanks i was about to ping this to you.
Well, aren't you just so clever Mr. Rudin........
Can anyone tell me in a few short words why there is even a liberal Jew? Of all the groups in the world, I would think they would all be of the right wing persuasion. I don't get it.
Thought so.
"Second, most of them are conservative and happy enough with truly morally conservative Christians."
You may want to rethink. IIRC, They vote about 70-30 dem!
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
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