ADL Thinks Real Hard, Identifies Religious Threat to American Jews - Christians!
We've always thought that the Anti-Defamation League is an aptly-named organization: they're not really designed to target genuine anti-Semitism as much as they're good at protecting Jewish kids from "defamation" (although not, God forbid, Jewish day schools). It's a self-esteem racket - the perfect identity politics group. And as an identity group, reflexively and myopically targets the old enemies of the Left:
Institutionalized Christianity in the U.S. has grown so extremist that it poses a tangible danger to the principle of separation of church and state and threatens to undermine the religious tolerance that characterizes the country, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, warned in his address to the League's national commission, meeting in New York City over the weekend...
He noted that churches and organizations of this sort have always been active in America, but they had never before been so aggressive and determined. "They intend 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," Foxman charged. "No effort is made to hide their goals or their ambitions, and their vision of America is far different from ours."
In fairness, that doesn't sound so fantastic - more power for evangelical groups very probably would result in some censorship and maybe even some organized prayers in public places. The problems would indeed range from the inconvenient to the distasteful. And of course, with more evangelical power might very probably come more anti-Semitism: it would be foolish to deny that there is a stream of virulent anti-Semitism just under the surface of some evangelicalism (e.g. Jews effectively being told to mute their opposition to The Passion lest Christians begin to have second thoughts about evangelical support for Israel). But - gut check - how likely are these threats to materialize? Does Foxman perceive a world in which Christianity becomes so powerful in the United States that, for instance, synagogues are closed or Jews are forced to pray in schools to a Christian God?
Of course the doesn't. This is nothing more than Leftist, reflexive protection of the separation of Church and State. And like so many of the Left's reflexes, it's counter-productive even to Leftist causes (e.g. the Left's antipathy towards States Rights even though today the states are the only levels in which proposals like gay marriage have a change). The next threat to Judaism and to Israel won't come from the Right. It will come from violent Islamism - an ideology that, where it has not outright infiltrated the Left, certainly finds many apologists on the Left. It will come from the new, politically correct anti-Semitism - where anti-Zionism is a Trojan Horse for reviving the most vulgar anti-Jewish canards and where Israel is castigated for being too militaristic even as Iran openly declares its intention to nuke five million Jews.
Yes, in a perfect world, Jewish organizations would have the luxury and the resources to target all forms of anti-Semitism and all threats to modern Jewish life. But in this world, where activist organizations have limited funds and limited access to the press, the ADL should be focusing on the most salient threats. Those threats are (a) violent and (b) receive polite hearings in mainstream Leftist circles – among them the editorials of fashionable European newspapers, where questioning the right of Jews to defend themselves has again become an accepted position on the political spectrum.
Institutionalized Christianity in the U.S. has grown so extremist that it poses a tangible danger to the principle of separation of church and state and threatens to undermine the religious tolerance that characterizes the country, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, warned in his address to the League's national commission, meeting in New York City over the weekend...
He noted that churches and organizations of this sort have always been active in America, but they had never before been so aggressive and determined. "They intend 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," Foxman charged. "No effort is made to hide their goals or their ambitions, and their vision of America is far different from ours."
In fairness, that doesn't sound so fantastic - more power for evangelical groups very probably would result in some censorship and maybe even some organized prayers in public places. The problems would indeed range from the inconvenient to the distasteful. And of course, with more evangelical power might very probably come more anti-Semitism: it would be foolish to deny that there is a stream of virulent anti-Semitism just under the surface of some evangelicalism (e.g. Jews effectively being told to mute their opposition to The Passion lest Christians begin to have second thoughts about evangelical support for Israel). But - gut check - how likely are these threats to materialize? Does Foxman perceive a world in which Christianity becomes so powerful in the United States that, for instance, synagogues are closed or Jews are forced to pray in schools to a Christian God?
Of course the doesn't. This is nothing more than Leftist, reflexive protection of the separation of Church and State. And like so many of the Left's reflexes, it's counter-productive even to Leftist causes (e.g. the Left's antipathy towards States Rights even though today the states are the only levels in which proposals like gay marriage have a change). The next threat to Judaism and to Israel won't come from the Right. It will come from violent Islamism - an ideology that, where it has not outright infiltrated the Left, certainly finds many apologists on the Left. It will come from the new, politically correct anti-Semitism - where anti-Zionism is a Trojan Horse for reviving the most vulgar anti-Jewish canards and where Israel is castigated for being too militaristic even as Iran openly declares its intention to nuke five million Jews.
Yes, in a perfect world, Jewish organizations would have the luxury and the resources to target all forms of anti-Semitism and all threats to modern Jewish life. But in this world, where activist organizations have limited funds and limited access to the press, the ADL should be focusing on the most salient threats. Those threats are (a) violent and (b) receive polite hearings in mainstream Leftist circles – among them the editorials of fashionable European newspapers, where questioning the right of Jews to defend themselves has again become an accepted position on the political spectrum.
