Friday, November 25, 2005
David Brog writes a timely piece (because I've been mulling this issue for days now) in OpinionJournal concerning the puzzling decision of ADL to pick Christian Fundamentalism and Church/State separation as this year's most pressing issue: Biting the Hand - Why is the ADL going after evangelical Christians? Of all the threats the Jewish community has facing it, this is what the ADL chooses to focus on at this time?
It's been nagging at me especially since seeing Marc Levin's pathetic film, Protocols of Zion (see here, here and here) and taking note of his failed efforts to pin modern (and ancient) anti-Semitism on American Evangelicals. Sorry, but these people are not out problem. There are other much more serious threats out there.
It's not that we don't need to continue to pay attention to Church/State issues, we do, but this is where the ADL things we need to shine the spotlight? Come on.
The fact is, it's about the dough. Most American Jews, and thus most of ADL's donation base, live in liberal echo chambers where their formative prioritizing experience remains having had to sing Christmas Carols in their fifth grade chorus. Horrifying as that experience may have been, we have bigger problems facing us now, and it's time for some of the big Jewish groups to face them, and stop antagonizing unnecessarily the people who should be our natural allies.
Brog:
Mr. Foxman is an intelligent and experienced man. Thus one must marvel at his ability to scan the nation and determine that the key challenge facing American Jews comes from socially conservative Christians. The fate of beloved cartoon characters aside, there are very serious threats facing American Jews today, and they have nothing to do with social conservatives...
If the Jewish groups still need to turn to anti-Christian scare-mongering for cash, it's because they themselves haven't been doing a proper job in educating our people on current events. So in that way it becomes an ongoing cycle of irrelevency -- the big orgs pander for cash by harping on the wrong issues, thereby blowing those out of proportion but ensuring they have to continue to do so in order to keep the cash flowing.
This is the difference between reaction and leadership, and leadership is totally absent.
LOL...... now it's a 'pathetic' film....
It gets worse every time I think about it.
BTW, there's an article (shallow, fauning) about it in today's Jewish Advocate. Apparently some Palestinians are complaining that it doesn't "show their side," whatever that means. It's never enough.
Maybe when Jews speak out against those speaking in their name things will change.
On a slightly different track there is this letter on WND
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47582
"This letter is being sent in response to your article "Leftist Jews urged Rice's tough line."
" ... who buy their way to the top of Jewish organizations, with entree to the president of the United States and the secretary of state, and use their influence to sell their fellow Jews in Israel just to be accepted here in America, just like the German Jews did in the 1930s."
It is time that to stop the act of one Jew being imposed on all Jews.
If Foxman is so concerned about conservative Christians, he should be really concerned about liberal Christians and their ever-shrinking flock at the National Council of Churches (NCC). You don't find conservative Christians calling the state of Israel fascist, but you hear the NCC implying such in just about everthing it publishes.
Agreed on the points you make in your post.
For me I can't think of a more frustrating issue today than this one. This is in the spirit of declaring Defense Hawks as the greatest threat to America and world security. Make no mistake, without Evangelical Christians the security for Jews and Israel would be lacking and a critical level of support for Israel would be missing.
Jewish conservative support is not done for political gain but conviction for the only minority constituencies Republicans in the past received a clear majority of support from were Muslims and Arab Americans. Bush pissed this away supporting policies that brought him barely 30% of the Jewish vote and the ADL shows further support by kicking them in the teeth for it all, way to go Abe.
We Jews have long shown an inability to recognize the difference between our true friends and enemies. Would most recognize that John Ashcroft is a true friend while Mama Sheehan and her band of idiotarians enemies? I doubt it.