http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1563455/posts
Six Questions for Jews--From Christians
David Klinghoffer
These are troubled times for Jewish-Christian relations. In November,
two of the most influential American Jewish leaders, representing large
swaths of the Jewish community, gave major speeches vilifying
politically conservative Christians. As an Orthodox Jew who has long
worked with Evangelicals, Catholics, and other serious Christians, I
would like to propose an ameliorative measure aimed at furthering
inter-religious peace and friendship: Let every Christian gently ask a
Jewish friend for a moment of his time. Tell him you've been
following the news about some of the statements issuing from Jewish
organizations in regard to conservative Christians. Tell him you're
confused and concerned. In a spirit of affection and respect, ask your
friend if he would be willing to answer six simple but puzzling
questions.
Preface this by giving the relevant recent background information.
Mention that Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the liberal Union for
Reform Judaism, the country's largest Jewish denomination, called
Christians and other religious conservatives "zealots" and
"bigots." Harshly attacking opposition to gay marriage, Yoffie
remarked, "We cannot forget that when Hitler came to power in 1933,
one of the first things that he did was ban gay organizations."
Yoffie, whose movement includes 1.5 million members, spoke on the heels
of comments from Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham
Foxman. "Today," Foxman said, "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 save us!" Foxman warned that Evangelicals in particular
have "built infrastructures throughout the country," intending
"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."
In view of these provocations, here are the questions I'd suggest
that Christians ask:
=B7 Is it not true that Jewish leaders have better things to worry
about than the spiritual fate of SpongeBob SquarePants? Let's say,
about radical Islam? Or secularism? At a time when radical Muslims
threaten Jews and others around the world, why vilify American
Christians?
Yoffie and Foxman spoke out at a time when fellow Jews were worried
about disturbing news from across the Muslim world. In France, Arab
youths rioted-the same youths who since 2000 have been harassing
French Jews, burning synagogues, and desecrating Jewish cemeteries. In
Egypt, television viewers had just enjoyed a month-long dramatization
of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The president of Iran called on
Muslims to "wipe Israel off the map." Meanwhile, the number of Jews
lost to any form of Christianity is minuscule compared to the number
lost to nothing, to secularism. If the ADL's institutional purpose is
to safeguard the existence of the Jewish people, if the Reform movement
cares about Jewish souls as well as Jewish bodies, why has neither
group ever campaigned against the threat posed by secularism?
=B7 If conservative Christians were less politically powerful, would
this help or hurt the security of the state of Israel?
No nation has been a better friend to the Jewish state than the United
States, and for this, our country has earned the enmity of
Israel-haters around the globe. In shaping American policy, domestic
Christian pro-Israel sentiment has been at least as influential as
Jewish support. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that some of
them really are looking forward to Armageddon, in the manner of the
Left Behind books, with a global war centered upon Israel playing a key
role in the unfolding of events at the End of Days. However distasteful
you might find that view, please consider: If these same Israel-loving
conservative American Christians all retired from political activism
now, would Israel be better off or worse? Safer from attack or less so?
Would America be a more faithful defender of the Jewish state or a less
faithful one?
One prominent religious conservative, Donald E. Wildmon, chairman of
the American Family Association, has said forthrightly that attacks on
conservative Christians endanger Israel's safety. In a December 5
radio interview, Wildmon said of Foxman's latest salvos, "You know,
he's got himself kind of in a bind, because the strongest supporters
Israel has are members of the religious right, the people he's
fighting. He's got himself in a bind here. Because the more he says
that 'you people are destroying this country,' you know, some
people are going to begin to get fed up with this and say, 'Well, all
right then. If that's the way you feel, then we just won't support
Israel anymore.'"
=B7 Practically, what positive ends could anti-Christian attacks
possibly accomplish?
Presumably Foxman and Yoffie, in provoking Christian conservatives, had
in mind some positive and practical goal of benefit to the Jewish
community. They hoped to accomplish a goal beyond provocation. But what
that goal could be is hard to discern. When the Anti-Defamation League
and other liberal groups campaigned against Mel Gibson's Passion of
the Christ, Gibson refused to change his film. Yet the anti-Semitism
the ADL warned the movie would spur never even began to materialize.
Clearly that ADL campaign benefited no one-except possibly the ADL.
What are the chances that the latest insults will convince Christians
to give up their political goals and moral principles? If the chances
are slim, why risk alienating friends and fellow citizens?
=B7 If evangelicals seek to "Christianize America," a phrase
implying legal coercion, when is the last time anyone tried to
Christianize you?
Whenever I ask fellow Jews to explain their support of leaders such as
Yoffie and Foxman, the most frequent response I get is that these men
defend us against those who would pressure Jews to convert to
Christianity. Yet no one I know can point to a personal experience of
having been pressured to accept Jesus. Is it possible that Jews think
that "Christianizing" is rampant only because the Yoffies and the
Foxmans tell us so? True, Foxman can always trot out a quotation from
someone in the fever swamps that are supposed to somehow represent the
perspective of conservative Christians as a whole. Thus, he points out,
something called the Alliance Defense Fund says "court victories are
vital steps to...reclaim the legal system for Jesus Christ." But in a
big country like America, you can always find some organization that
articulates any political or other philosophy that one can possibly
imagine. Quote that marginal group and-bingo!-you've now
"proven" that its bizarre ideology represents a significant threat
just because it has been written down somewhere and nailed up on a
website. But honestly, does this tell us anything about the sentiments
of the majority of American Christians?
=B7 How do you explain the fact that "bigoted" Christian political
positions mirror the traditional views of your own religion, Judaism?
Judaism, as understood for millennia, mostly agrees with conservative
Christian views on abortion, euthanasia, religion in public life, and
other issues. If it's "Nazi"-like to oppose gay marriage, as
Rabbi Yoffie argues, then Jewish tradition must also be Hitlerian. The
Hebrew Bible forbids homosexual intercourse, and Jewish rabbinic
thought warns against tampering with the institution of marriage.
Indeed, a classical rabbinic midrash explains that one of the reasons
God was so disgusted with the original inhabitants of the land of
Canaan, and caused the land to disgorge them in favor of the children
of Israel, was that the Canaanites wrote marriage contracts for members
of the same sex. Why are these views evidence of "zealotry" when
held by Christians but not so when held by every generation of Jews
universally down to about a hundred years ago?
=B7 Have you considered the economics behind these anti-Christian
attacks?
A self-perpetuating loop of disinformation feeds Jewish fears: Jewish
leaders scare us with the bogeyman of the Christian Right. That causes
Jews to open their wallet. If questioned about this, Jews explain that
they need to support the Yoffies and the Foxmans because, after all,
look at what the Christian Right is up to! The fact that Foxman's
organization has $52 million in yearly expenses, including Foxman's
own $412,000 in total compensation (according to publicly available
2003 tax information), is not irrelevant. The dynamics of a non-profit
organization make it imperative that the group continually prove to
funders that it remains relevant. Some non-profits demonstrate their
relevance by offering thoughtful commentary on current events or other
vital information. But are anti-Christian provocations the best way to
spend tens of millions of dollars? Remember that we live in a time of
massive Jewish assimilation into the wider secular culture-a
disappearance of Jewish families driven in large part by Jewish
cultural impoverishment and ignorance of Jewish faith and tradition.
Imagine if Abraham Foxman's salary alone were spent on sending Jewish
kids to Jewish schools. Given the goal of preserving the Jewish people,
would that be a better or worse allocation of resources?
These are fair questions, and millions of thoughtful Christians must
have wondered about them since the early 1990s when Jewish groups like
the ADL started lambasting religious conservatives. There is nothing
threatening about a Christian politely requesting some clarification.
So go ahead, Christians, ask away. Frankly I would be curious to know
what answers you get.
But beyond satisfying curiosity, can the disinformation loop actually
be broken? I believe there is value in Christians-as distinct from
me, a fellow Jew-politely questioning their Jewish friends. When the
questions come from outside the seemingly airtight locked bubble of
Jewish-American culture, perhaps the startling fact of actually being
confronted by a real Christian will force Jews to rethink our
community's reflexive support of irresponsible leaders. It might just
work.
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