ADL Says Supreme Court Decision on Vouchers "Step Backwards" for Church-State Separation

ADL.org ^

[RCW2001]

ADL Says Supreme Court Decision on Vouchers "Step Backwards" for Church-State Separation

New York, NY, June 27, 2002... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed disappointment with today's Supreme Court ruling permitting governments to continue to pay for private religious education, calling it "a step backwards for religious liberty." The League pledged to continue to oppose vouchers on policy and state constitutional grounds.

Glen A. Tobias, ADL National Chairman, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

The Supreme Court's decision to allow state funds to be given to private religious schools is a disappointment and a step backwards for religious liberty in America. However, our opposition to vouchers has never been limited to federal constitutional grounds alone, and we will continue to oppose them on policy and state constitutional grounds.

We view this decision as extremely limited in its impact. The ruling is narrow and applies only to the specific fact pattern presented in Cleveland. While voucher supporters were hoping for a green light for the use of vouchers in a wide range of contexts, that is not what this decision does.

We are confident that legislators and voters will continue to oppose vouchers on policy grounds. Indeed, wherever Americans have had an opportunity to vote on vouchers, they have rejected them outright. Americans support free and fair public education and are uneasy about government funding for religious schooling.

ADL filed an amicus brief in Harris-Simmons vs. Zelman, urging the Supreme Court to uphold earlier decisions by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court, which had rejected vouchers as unconstitutional. ADL had argued that separation of church and state is essential to religious liberty in America.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

[P-Marlowe]

This decision has nothing to do with Jews. Jews are free to send their kids to Jewish schools or whatever. In a time when there is increasing acceptance of Anti-Jewish sentiment, especially among blacks and muslims, a stand like this by the ADL is bound to do nothing more than create additional anti-Jewish sentiment among even more mainstream Americans.

American Evangelical Christians are the only true friends that the Jews and Israel have in the entire World. When are they going to wake up to this fact?

[LarryLied]

Why don't you check it out Mr. Jew hunter? Why on earth would you think Simon Weisenthal Center would comment on this voucher decision by the Supreme Court?

Because the Simon Wiesenthal Center has a political agenda. David Klinghoffer, an orthodox Jew, writes in NRO:

For years, the Christian Right supported Israel with more passion than many Jews could muster. But rather than thank Christians and seek to deepen that support, groups like the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center acted as private police agencies, rooting out any hints of Christian "intolerance." Intolerance was defined as expressing certainty either about moral matters (homosexuality, abortion) or about certain theological questions (like, "Who goes to Heaven?" or "Who killed Jesus?").

When Christian leaders committed "intolerance" they could count on being publicly humiliated by the likes of Abraham Foxman of the ADL or Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Wiesenthal Center.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/703202/posts?page=10

Alouette writes: "the current Jewish leadership in Russia is far more conservative than the U.S. On his last trip to Russia, President Bush met with Jewish leaders of the Federation of Jewish Communities, and snubbed the old, KGB-appointed 'Judenrat'"

Isn't that wonderful? I bet many have a feeling of hope and excitement in Russia. Times may be tough but they know there is a future. Even those who lived well under the old system must have felt their souls ache for what they had to do.

[LarryLied]

Think this is petty and mean-spirited? Check out what Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) did yesterday:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/707506/posts?page=10#10

The hypocrisy will knock you over.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[dennisw]

Why not admit that you VERY STUPIDLY lumped the Simon Weisenthal Center with the others?

But just like an ignorant Muslim you admit nothing but (lamely) try to throw something back on me. LaughableLarryLied. LOL!

[dennisw]

http://www.adl.org/

The ADL is not perfect. Why not go to the ADL website and look at all the good things they do. The school voucher stuff is minor compared to the way they stand for Israel and do other good things. And how about this one?  >>>>>>

 

Press Release	Religious Freedom/Church-State
ADL Says Appeals Court Ruling on "One Nation Under God" Was Wrong New York, NY, June 27, 2002 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today issued the following statement in response to the federal appeals court ruling which deemed the phrase "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. Glen A. Tobias, ADL National Chairman, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said: The decision is wrong. It goes against the culture and traditions of this country, which was founded on principles respectful of faith. The statement, "one nation under God" does not proclaim nor endorse any religion. And we hope that it will be reversed on appeal, to return to the American people a constitutional ability to express themselves in a Pledge of Allegiance which includes a recognition of God. The controversy over the Pledge of Allegiance is unfortunate. It threatens to trivialize church-state separation issues and divert our attention from much more important First Amendment challenges - such as vouchers, school prayer initiatives and "charitable choice." At this time of national crisis, it is important to keep perspective. We believe there are more important challenges where our efforts should be focused.     The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

[Alouette]

Isn't that wonderful? I bet many have a feeling of hope and excitement in Russia.

I hope that you are not being sarcastic. The Federation of Jewish Communities is a 180-degree turnaround from the old, KPG-approved apparat of the Soviet era. They represent a return to traditional, religious Jewish values.

Naturally the liberal "pluralistic" Jewish orgs here in the U.S. still support the decrepit, antiquated, failing KGB structure because the FJC is sponsored by (Oh Horror!) Chabad!!! The Chabad Rebbes are heroes to Russian Jews because of their courageous resistance to the Stalin regime.

Federation of Jewish Communities of CIS

[LarryLied]

The ADL is not perfect. Why not go to the ADL website and look at all the good things they do.

I've been there many times. All I can say to you is Jews and everyone who loves privacy and freedom of speech better hope Christians never organize a group which does to Jews what the ADL does to Christians and conservatives. I will readily admit there are Christians would like to do just that. But they are a minority. They have no national standing and whenever they try to grow, the rest of us smack them down. That is what so many of us wish Jews would do to the ADL. It cannot be reformed by outsiders. If will take Jews realizing the ADL does much more harm than good and that it is in their best interest to reign them in. Good luck if you try. You'll need it.

[LarryLied]

Why not admit that you VERY STUPIDLY lumped the Simon Weisenthal Center with the others?

I assume you didn't see my rely #62 before you wrote that. I didn't lump the Simon Weisenthal Center in with the ADL, an orthodox Jew writing for the National Review Online did. I don't come up with this stuff on my own nor do I go to some sleazy web site run by a malcontent living in a trailer park in the Mojave desert.If I say something on this website, I got the information from a credible source. A few times in the past, I have been fooled but now I check information out pretty closely.

[LarryLied]

I hope that you are not being sarcastic. The Federation of Jewish Communities is a 180-degree turnaround from the old, KPG-approved apparat of the Soviet era.

LOL...when I wrote that, in the back of my mind I thought you might take it that way. No I was not being sarcastic. What happened in the Soviet Union was one of the greatest tragedies in history. For all involved. When the chains come off, it is wonderful.

[Alouette]

If will take Jews realizing the ADL does much more harm than good

Well looky here, what a surprise, here are some Jews who don't agree with the ADL:

Rabbi calls ADL "Jews own worst enemy" (Toward Tradition)

Johnny Hart and the "R" Word (Jewish World Review)

Defense of Paul Weyrich (Toogood Reports)

ADL Stumbles Again! (Jewish-history.com)

[Alouette]

KPG KGB-approved

[Illbay]

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is like most other "civil rights" orgs in this country: They have long since departed from their original mission in favor of political correctness and support of Left-wing ideology.

That you would blindly and slavishly support them is par for the course for you, dennisw.

[maryz]

All the schools in the 1770s and 1780s had some type of religious orientation or instruction with Christianity, of course, forming that context.

Didn't many (even most) states, too, have established churches? The prohibition against establishment applied only to the federal government ("Congress shall make no law . . .").

[dennisw]

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is like most other "civil rights" orgs in this country: They have long since departed from their original mission in favor of political correctness and support of Left-wing ideology.

You obviously haven't a friggin' clue what they do. But since when has ignorance/lack of information stopped you from posting here? Go to the Weisenthal website and you might learn a thing or two about the good they do in this world.

[maryz]

I am Jewish and I can't figure out why the ADL thinks that school vouchers might not be good for the Jews.

I'm not Jewish, but I studied Hebrew for 10 years at a Jewish school, where I learned of the important Jewish principal that no child should be deprived of a Jewish education because of inability to pay. (This school practiced what it preached, too.) Has the ADL ever heard of this principal?

I think there was an article in the WSJ in the past month or two about the growing popularity of Jewish day schools.

[Whilom]

Ah, yes, the mindless optimism of someone on the tracks when the speeding train of an idea whose time has come bears down upon him.

[LarryLied]

Didn't many (even most) states, too, have established churches?

From the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780:

It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. . .

To promote their happiness and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic or religious societies to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily. . .

The Supreme Court didn't knock those laws down.

[A2J]

ADL Says Supreme Court Decision on Vouchers "Step Backwards" for Church-State Separation

What a bunch of shmucks.