Our Battle for the Soul of America

Caucus For America ^ | December 2005 | Aryeh Spero

[TopQuark]

Our Battle for the Soul of America

By Rabbi Aryeh Spero

People of faith look around our country at forms of behavior now accepted and wonder how is it possible that during their own lifetime things have so dramatically deteriorated.

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The truth is the A.C.L.U. never believed in separation of church and state as much as using it as a hammer to dampen Christianity, its symbols, its values. The proof? In the last two years it has taken up the cause of defending Islamic “religious rights” – from wearing full-length burkas at community swimming pools to public school recitings from the Koran representing Islamic figures, to its silence on the issue of five-times-a-day-call- to-prayer loudspeaker announcements from mosques on public streets. The A.C.L.U. says, “those are cultural expressions, not religious.” Yet, Santa Claus, carols, nativity scenes, and crosses in military cemeteries…

The secular Left is purposely elevating Islam as a means to neutralize Christianity. It does so for it knows that the only way to destroy the American we’ve known is by destroying the Christianity, the Judeo-Christian ethic, which created it and made it great. It realizes that what stands in its way of molding America into a libertine European country, and a socialist “utopia” with them at the controlling helm, is Evangelical Christianity.

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There is a 2,500-year-old Midrash (Jewish Bible commentary) that reflects on the civic nature of Biblical Sodom. It states: “In Sodom good was called bad; evil was labeled worthy. Cruelty was forced on those deserving compassion, while compassion was extended to the cruel. The pleas from victims of crime went unheeded because of the ‘rights’ granted perpetrators.” Sodom, as the Bible tells us, was a garden-like city and prosperous. Nonetheless, it was pagan.

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As Elijah said: “Who is for G-d stand up: Come.” Now, before it is too late!

[TopQuark]

Moral clarity, an informative read.

As a Jew, I am also glad to see a true Rabbi --- not one of those Leftist "rabbis" that that have foresaken Jewish values for the Democratic Party's plarform --- stand up against assaults on Christianity in this counry, which are increasing by the day.

“Who is for G-d stand up: Come.” Now, before it is too late!

[MillerCreek]

I agree with you! Hooray for a Rabbi with sincerity to the Word of God (I'm a Christian) versus idolization of popular culture.

Too many among the Reformists are, unfortunately, responsible either directly or indirectly for allowing the ACLU, if not lauding and encouraging it, to become as intimidating (to some) as it has.

I've often wondered why the liberal Judaists cannot recognize from history just what extreme socialist governments have done for them...and it isn't good, for starters.

Seeing people like Steven Spielberg visit Cuba was horrifying (Spielberg is a member of a Reformist Temple in L.A.), and talking about Cuba with fascination afterward equally horrifying, given that Castro has put to death so many people, including Jews, with nothing more than a push of their front door as announcement why.

Yes, the story of Sodom was shocking. The lesson equally wonderful, as to God's abundant love for even the animals there and for the one righteous man and his family, Lot.

We are the salt of the Earth.

[MillerCreek]

I just realized my ending comment there (we are the salt of the earth) might be confusing given the earlier mention of Lot and family (Lot's wife having been turned to a pillar of salt for the last disobediant act from among those from Sodom).

The expression refers to a different 'story', concept, for anyone who might be confused by my clumsy mixed-metaphors.

[TopQuark]

I've often wondered why the liberal Judaists cannot recognize from history just what extreme socialist governments have done for them.

The answer is precisely in your own question: these people are no longer Jews. To be sure, they may have been born to Jewish parents and still retain some cultural traditions. But there is a point beyond which, while leaning Left, one completely forsakes Judaism (or Christianity). All too many Jews in this country --- and most of them are either unaffiliated or belong to Reform Temples -- have gone beyond that point.

They are not different from atheist and other Leftist that were born into Christian families. [This reminds me of how, Many years ago, being much younger, I (a Jew) tried to convince my friend to give Christianity another chance: having grown up in a very religious family and having gone through a Catholic school, he wanted nothing of it; I failed). The principal difference is that atheist Leftists born into Jewish families still beat themselves in the chest, "I am still a Jew," while atheist Leftists from Christian families do not claim, "Hey, I am still a Christian." That's what may be confusing, but make no mistake about it: these Leftists have cultural ties with the Jewish people but cannot be called Judaic.

[TopQuark]

Ping

[MillerCreek]

Thanks for that, and yes, I agree with you. So, as what I also read recently, are Reformists not...please overlook my lack of knowledge about these specifics, I will try to piece together the words here as best I can...are Reformists not Judaists because they are not in devotion, study with the Talmud? That the Reform movement, if that's what it's called, is a cultural one, a "racial" one and not Jewish in the religious sense?

[ZULU]

My guess is this rabbi is an Orthodox Rabbi.

The reformed and conservative rabbis are to Judaism as Methodists, Epsicopalians and Presbyterians to the Christian faith.

[Luke21]

Jews and Christians can do much good together. I am at a loss for why so many secular Jews endorse socialism and wish to do to Christianity what has often been done to them.

[ZULU]

I think a lot of it has to do with the Jewsih experience in eastern Europe and Pogroms by the Czars and other tyrants there.

They associte Christianity with these experiences in Europe and these feelings are culturally transmitted to later generations.

But I believe there is a large movement within the Jewish Community to the right. Look at Krauthammer, Mark Levin, Drudge, Savage, Mancow, and Crystal. Things are changing.

[Dark Skies]

Great article...thx for posting it.

[yoe]

This Rabbi says with such clarity what so many of us feel and I just love this, "weapons of mass cultural destruction (WMCDs)" beautiful!. A wonderful sermon and important read. Thank you.

[Northern Alliance]

I think a lot of it has to do with the Jewsih experience in eastern Europe and Pogroms by the Czars and other tyrants there.

Yes, and the Nazis but even much later in the 50's and 60's there was a lot of overt anti-semitism in North America as well as Europe. When I was a kid there where limits on how many Jews, if any, many universities would accept; many, many organizations and even communities were closed to Jews ("restricted" was the code phrase - sometimes even used in ads and promotional literature); unabashed antisemitism from the Christian religious 'right' although it was not called that those days.

I understood my parents distrust of conservatives which was seen as the political stance of not only conservative but also extremist Christians, and supported the then JADL (Jewish Anti-Defamation League), now the ADL but then really concerned itself with fighting defamation and persecution of Jews, not the anti-Christian and anti-religious garbage it does now. Also a lot of Jews in the USA and Canada those days were struggling refugees and poor people tend to be on the left of the political spectrum.

However this is a different age and I am mystified as everyone else on why so many Jews continue to support liberal political parties that do not in turn support them and their interests in virtually every area.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Why not just declare the ACLU as an Anti-American organization, pull any federal funding that it is given and run with it in the media.

[Jacquerie]

I fear the ACLU more than islamofascism.

The ACLU works to strangle Christianity with the very constitutional clause that guarantees freedom of religion.

We the people, our congressmen and presidents have allowed a single organization, the ACLU to nearly corrode away a bedrock principle of our way of life. Our Constitution would never have been written without the Christianity of our founding fathers.

The ACLU's goal is to destroy these United States as we used to know it. I don't know for sure what the solution is, but it must begin with exposure of the history and works of the ACLU.

[SJackson]

Our Battle for the Soul of America

By Rabbi Aryeh Spero

People of faith look around our country at forms of behavior now accepted and wonder how is it possible that during their own lifetime things have so dramatically deteriorated.

I refer not simply to the decadent sexual realities that have become so de rigueur but to the political positions and mouthings spewing from politicians who appear to care more about our enemies than the plight of our soldiers, and profess a worldview more internationalist than American.

The elitists in media, academia, Hollywood, government – especially the Courts – have united to reconstitute the Founding Fathers’ vision of a nation conceived in G-d We Trust, One Nation Under G-d, into a secular, hedonistic version of France and Sweden. They seem to be succeeding. Why?

It is because people of faith, along with patriotic Americans, have responded tepidly and not mightily, as is required in such a battle. Many remain silent and complacent because our goodwill and naiveté have stood in the way of our apprehending how those forces have had as their mission – for decades – the erasing of Judeo-Christian influence in American civic life and the diminution of real patriotism that is its twin.

What motivates these elitists is anti-Christianism and anti-historic Americanism. But to destroy America one must first destroy serious Protestantism, for the Judeo-Christian ethic is America’s founding rock. And to destroy America’s unique brand of Christianity, one must first destroy the specific American ethos that spawned it.

Secularists have been successful for, apparently, they are more zealous in their crusade than we have been in our beliefs. Their religion is left/liberalism, fanatic liberalism: today’s neo-paganism. Animated by the fervor of paganism, they have managed, through intimidation, to disparage and squelch true public religiosity while spreading – missionary-like – their creed of secularism, hedonism. Simply answering with love is no match for those using the stick of intimidation, weapons of mass cultural destruction (WMCDs).

We, believing and patriotic Americans, were caught off guard since we assumed that the face arrayed against Christianity and love of country would be an ugly face. But that is not so, for throughout history pagans have most often been charming neighbors. No doubt those false prophets who followed the wicked King Ahab and Jezebel dined in ancient Judea’s finest restaurants, attended the theater, dressed well, were fashionable, and comported themselves with ingratiating, amiable manners. Look at the French!

Were not the ancient pagans who extolled beauty and grace charming? The elites of their day? The face of paganism in ancient high society as well as today’s is often a pleasant one and, therefore, dangerously disarming. Rarely is it the face of Genghis Kahn.

Pagan secularists did not want to kill their neighbors, rather invite them into their multi-cultural, pantheistic circles. Retain your God, they proclaimed, so long as your God assumes his pitiful position among the many gods and cultures. Continue your Americanism and Christianity here in America, the multiculturalists assert, so long as it is not dominant, simply a limp ingredient in the overriding multi-cultural edifice.

It would be silly in a modern society to frame an argument in language speaking of multi-gods, pantheism. The appeal is made, therefore, in terms of multiculturalism, a code-phrase, an undertaking for diminishing the Old-Line Protestant Christianity that produced America’s historic culture.

Diversity in different segments of society is enriching. The intent, however, of professional multiculturalists is to weaken America’s civic culture by relegating its fount, Old Testament Christianity, to a low rung; by ordering Christians of Faith to the back of the bus.

As in any culture war, it is won by those who define and, therefore, command, the moral language. American liberals did this by employing terminology they knew good-willed people – us – would readily accept: compassion, sensitivity, inclusion, tolerance. Especially tolerance, for who wishes to be called intolerant, the deadliest of the neo-pagan seven sins.

Limitless tolerance – a fanatic tolerance – is the very essence of paganism. It accepts everything, including decadence. Out of a desire for appearing good – and we have allowed liberals to decide who in this society is considered “good” -- we’ve been intimidated into accepting that which our forbearers, even non-religious, would never have accepted.

Every person needs a doctrine or set of guiding principles from which to order his life. Historically, ours derived from the Old and New Testament. Rejecting the constraints demanded by the Bible, liberals created their own deities, mirroring, almost to a tee, the virtues assigned to respective pagan gods. They worship these deities with an absolutism surpassing, often, our own to our G-d.

While we’ve allowed ourselves to be intimidated or embarrassed into silence, fanatic liberals have never flinched from relentless public chanting of their deities: “separation of church and state,” “racism,” “non-judgmentalism” – except when judging Christians of Faith.

Sin and virtue in our society have been re-categorized to reflect a hierarchy of liberal values instead of the ones enunciated in the Bible and displayed by America’s past everyday citizens. Liberals have instituted a new type of Replacement Theology, even corrupting mainline Protestant and Catholic denominations. What one hears from the pulpits today in many Jewish temples is akin to what was heard at the Temple of Zeus. It is delivered by clergymen who are modern-day versions of the ancient False Prophets.

America’s liberals have co-opted the moral language. We are to tolerate all lifestyles, except that of the traditional family. Tolerate every “religion,” except Evangelical Christianity. Tolerate every culture, except that of the unique American civilization.

We are to have compassion for America’s enemies but be “ho-hum” about our soldiers and those beheaded by our enemies. We must show compassion to criminals while caring not how victims and society live in fear.

We must be sensitive to the needs of those following Haitian witchcraft, Ramadan and Kwanzaa, but do our best to prohibit nativity scenes and crosses. Sensitivity to every group, not however to white, Christian evangelicals – and their wives.

We must never be racist, but bigotry is welcome when denigrating Southerners. Equality should mean no double standards, yet certain segments of society are exused for behavior that are not tolerated when done by the mainstream. In the name of anti-racism, we are asked to accept reverse racism. For example, affirmative action is forced on a society that clearly wishes to reward merit and character rather than color of skin.

We must be inclusive, except when it comes to excluding principled practicing Christians of Faith who go before the Senate Judiciary Committee as nominees for Federal judgeships.

The A.C.L.U., the legal arm of pagan America, has convinced us all that George Washington fought at Valley Forge to found a nation predicated on “separation of church and state.” Unfortunately, they have succeeded.

The truth is the A.C.L.U. never believed in separation of church and state as much as using it as a hammer to dampen Christianity, its symbols, its values. The proof? In the last two years it has taken up the cause of defending Islamic “religious rights” – from wearing full-length burkas at community swimming pools to public school recitings from the Koran representing Islamic figures, to its silence on the issue of five-times-a-day-call- to-prayer loudspeaker announcements from mosques on public streets. The A.C.L.U. says, “those are cultural expressions, not religious.” Yet, Santa Claus, carols, nativity scenes, and crosses in military cemeteries…

The secular Left is purposely elevating Islam as a means to neutralize Christianity. It does so for it knows that the only way to destroy the American we’ve known is by destroying the Christianity, the Judeo-Christian ethic, which created it and made it great. It realizes that what stands in its way of molding America into a libertine European country, and a socialist “utopia” with them at the controlling helm, is Evangelical Christianity.

Liberals are today rewriting our religious heritage by now referring to "our” Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage, as if George Washington and John Adams spoke Arabic.

When one observes the sheer absurdity of how these terms are today – through political correctness – employed and enforced, the phrase that comes to mind is absolutism, extremism. That liberals don’t question their reckless application of those terms is a sign of their blind faith. They are the religious Left.

When one beholds the mean-spiritedness behind each of these “virtues” created to exclude Christians and true-blue Americanism, the intent is obviously to destroy. What began as the goal of marginalizing Christianity has evolved into a desire to vanquish, from within, John Adams's America. For the two are symbiotic. For the neo-Communists to control all power, they know they must first topple the twin pillars.

The Jews and Christians of antiquity knew paganism for what it was and fought it. We, however, have been blindsided, and suckered. We have compartmentalized our lives by retreating into the private all the while allowing the purveyors of secularism to reign over the public. We now find that the public domain controls our private realms. In the process, we have almost forfeited America, the America extant from the Pilgrims' arrival until 1963.

In our defense, we had assumed that paganism would attack the church frontally. It did not. Instead, it cleverly came through the door of government, courts, schools, our institutions. The media and press facilitated it, collaborated. We expected paganism to ride at us in blatant anti-religious garb. Instead, it arrived on a Trojan horse, a benighted political horse: liberalism.

We had thought that those living within the geographic boundaries called America were brothers, sometimes with slight differing views. We’ve learned, however, that country is more than geography but a set of core beliefs and values.

Had what is being done to America today from those within its borders been enacted by people outside its shores, we would have recognized it as an invasion with intent to destroy our way of life, and liberties. We would have raised our swords. It is time we recognize that there are battalions living in America who, as if foreigners, share nothing of our American core beliefs and values. They are not brothers. To them, we are an enemy. Even some who hail from American blue-blood families have tossed aside their heritage for internationalism, preferring to be citizens of the world.

We’ve seen this phenomenon before. During ancient Israel’s Second Commonwealth, there arose (circa 185 B.C. – 10 B.C.) an elitist, pagan class called Hellenists. Though some were from Judea’s ancient families, they chose internationalism over the security and indigenous culture of their people, Israel. They abandoned the G-d of Israel for the culture and gods of the world. Internationalism has always been the enemy of David’s God. No wonder a recent poll showed that Evangelicals are by far this nation’s most patriotic.

The Hebrew term for paganism, idol worship, false gods, is avodah zarah. The ancients who engaged in avodah zarah, especially the Canaanites, never worshipped the objects per se but the ideal each object represented: excessive passion, self-indulgence, lust, nature, environment, gluttony, pantheism. These idols, especially in pre-Mosaic Canaan, represented the base in man, not the Divine. The pull and power of idol worship was enormous, as is neo-paganism today. One of the most popular and seductive gods was Baal, the Molech god.

Molech, a fire god, demanded the sacrifice of a mother’s child. It was a fashion of the time, just as is today the sacrifice of one’s fetus to Mother feminism: abortion at any time, for any reason, even partial birth abortion. It is the sacrament.

It has become the sophisticated mantra of our day that “a woman’s right to her own body” constitutes enlightenment. Are we any less guilty of fashion-obsession than were the ancient fashion-conscious idol worshippers? How many in America are, like Elijah of old, willing to endure the out-casting “high society” confers on those standing up to today’s False Prophets of Liberalism?

In Islamic society, “suicide bombing” is the sacrifice more and more mothers are proud to offer to the god Allah. Imams have elevated the purposeful death of a woman’s child for the sake of Allah as a surefire step to social standing and prominence. This, too, is Baal worship, paganism. (This itself affirms how all “holy books” are not equal, and that the true G-d we worship is defined not simply by being One but by His teachings. Their god is not our G-d.)

The fact that many on the Left, in Europe and America, have begun establishing “Endowment/Charity Funds to subsidize these “martyr” mothers is indicative of the symbiosis developing between the Left and Islam. You may ask, what unites these western sophisticates with Middle East barbarians? Anti-Christianity, anti-Americanism, paganism: the devotion to avodah zarah.

Unfortunately, we, too, have become seduced by a form of Molechism. It is the sacrifice of our children to an absurd, neo-morality. In the name of neo-morality we ask our soldiers not to fire until Islamic terrorists first fire on them. We ask our soldiers to go house-to-house in search of terrorists instead of bombing from above. The reason being: to “spare the innocents.”

Look how Israel unnecessarily forfeited 23 soldiers in Jenin by sending them house-to-house in search of Arab terrorists so that “innocents” – who all wished them dead – could be spared from helicopter bombing from above. Many Leftist Israelis, as liberals here in America, felt a “spiritual” joy that their own were sacrificed in behalf of the new “higher” morality.

While historically the U.S. tried to protect non-combatants, when did it become the goal of war to let our own truly innocent die so as to spare the enemy’s “innocents?” The morality the Bible demands for war is quite simple and direct: Do not plunder, rape and ransack for the satisfaction of lust; rather, limit war’s purpose to the defense and security of country. Protecting one’s soldiers was considered paramount. Sacrificing them on the altar of “look how nice we are” was and is never Biblical, instead a form of self-worship.

In fact, a secular newspaper editorialized how wonderful this neo-morality is for without it, the editor asks, “What gives meaning to us in this land?” Well, religious Christians and Jews already have meaning in their lives, thank you. Only a secularist is forced to fashion a neo-morality to supply personal meaning.

Only someone who doesn’t believe in his own country’s way of life and ethos would require ersatz meanings to life. Michael Lerner, one of this country’s most vocal and influential Leftists, Hillary Clinton’s former guru, announced that the United States must create a “Politics of Meaning.” I’m certain that Rev. Pat Robertson and Rev. Jerry Falwell and Brit Hume have no such need!

The ubiquitous “compassion” phrase has been invoked in numerous editorials to justify the unnecessary deaths of our own military men and women so as to spare Moslem “innocents.” Only a twisted pagan view of what constitutes true compassion could make such an assertion. But even good men, religious men, have fallen sway to the new morality and definition of compassion being shoved down our throats. The political correctness police have begun their indoctrination. It is hard to defy this brainwashing even while the heart murmurs “It is not so.”

To me, none of this is genuine compassion, rather a disregard for the sanctity of our young soldiers’ lives. It places a higher value on others than our own. It is perverse internationalism, a disease infecting many in high places.

There is a 2,500-year-old Midrash (Jewish Bible commentary) that reflects on the civic nature of Biblical Sodom. It states: “In Sodom good was called bad; evil was labeled worthy. Cruelty was forced on those deserving compassion, while compassion was extended to the cruel. The pleas from victims of crime went unheeded because of the ‘rights’ granted perpetrators.” Sodom, as the Bible tells us, was a garden-like city and prosperous. Nonetheless, it was pagan.

While paganism boasts of “loving life and all its pleasures,” at its heart it is suicidal, dark, full of self-hate and death-wish. It is cynical, bored. Psychologists might call this “compensation.” Today’s extreme liberalism exhibits that nihilism, imbuing within its adherents a subconscious emotion longing for the death of its own American civilization.

Rarely do societies have a chance to relive the actual Biblical experience. We do! In the form of extreme liberalism, high-society paganism in America and Europe is marching to conquer Biblical values. If we wish to transmit to our children and grandchildren the religious heritage we cherish as well as the Americanism we inherited from our forefathers, we must fight now – in the public domain. We cannot afford to lose. We cannot turn the other check, for our Battle is for the Soul of America.

As Elijah said: “Who is for G-d stand up: Come.” Now, before it is too late!

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

..........................................

Complete article in post 15.

[wintertime]

"Unfortunately, we, too, have become seduced by a form of Molechism. It is the sacrifice of our children to an absurd, neo-morality. "

God-fearing Americans sacrifice their children to the god of Molech every day they send their children to government schools.

[wintertime]

The quote from message 17 is from the article.

[TopQuark]

are Reformists not Judaists because they are not in devotion, study with the Talmud? That the Reform movement, if that's what it's called, is a cultural one, a "racial" one and not Jewish in the religious sense?

The Reform movement originated in Germany, in 1800s. Enlightenment and greater religious tolerance open secular life for German Jews. This created a conflict between the Jewish identity and the need and desire to become a part of a larger, mostly Gentile world.

How does one reconcile that? Well, one may take a conservative position and say, "You are called to serve G-d. If that comes at a cost of your not becoming a lawyer or artist --- so be it. Be a Jew." And many, of course, have taken that position and remained Orthodox.

When great multitudes of people are moving in a new direction, however, there always appears a spiritual "leader" that rationalizes that movement, who says it's OK to do so. And so Reform Judaism was born. It's OK if you violate SOME of the prescriptions for traditional life; it's OK if you don'f fulfill all of over 600 good deeds that a Jew must perform, it's OK if you omit SOME prayers --- what remains still makes you a Jew! So, go into professions, drive on Sabbath (that is a classic: "Isn't it better to drive to the Temple on Sabbath rather than not come at all?") -- and don't worry, you are still a Jew.

Naturally, what starts as SOME omissions and restrictions gradually expands. WHat remains at the present time, in my humble opinion, is largely a cultural movement.

One of G-d's prescriptions to Jews is tikkun olan -- to repair the world, to right the wrong, to mend and repair. As you can imagine, that is easy to confuse with political action. Here is the essential difference. In one of the daily repeated prayers, to wit, "...you shall take of the stranger, the widow and the orphan in your midst for you too were once strangers in the Land of Egypt." Note: THE widow, THE orphan, THE stranger -- never in plural. And it is YOU in the singular --- you personally, not by the hands of the government or some such. Well, that is were the major deviation has occurred: with the good intentions of doing good deeds and repairing the world, these Jews became vulnerable to Leftist ideology that, as you know, also talks about righting the wrongs. But not personally, of course --- through the government; and with respect not to individuals but whole groups of people --- workers, women, homeless, etc.

In sum, some Reform Temples are difficult to differentiate from a social/political action committee. You have an Ivy League student recently answering to "What is it to be a Jew?" with "To be a Jew is to be a good person; it does not matter which church [sic] you go to of whether you go at all." Good intentions...

So, the answer to many of your questions is in the affirmative: some of the fundamental Jewish values, transitions and observance have been lost in the Reform movement. The Orthodox, of course, carry the flag. And there is a movement in between --- Conservative Temples.

This is just a brief sketch of what little I know; I am no expert on theology.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

I just love this, "weapons of mass cultural destruction (WMCDs)"

Nuclear Option Ping

Slapping the donkey...

If you want to be added or removed from this list, please notify me...

Originally, the Nuclear Option Ping List started out as a practical joke. With all the vitriolic response I received from certain un-named individuals, I figured it would be a great idea to do it for real...

I have observed here on Free Republic, a never ending flaming of religious folks and conservatives by people who promote things such as drug abuse, homosexuality, the ritual murder of abortion and other garbage.

Not being an orthodox or ecumenical atheist, it has really stretched my patience. I do not think policemen are jack-booted thugs, nor do I look at people who want to protect their families from filthy scum as brownshirts.

The purpose of this is to alert people to the cultural Marxism run amok... Drugs, sex perverts, pornography (in film and in music), marijuana, liquor, bashing the religious people, destroying social institutions (like marriage and the Boy Scouts), etc., etc.,... ad nausea...

The druggies like the sex perverts can only perpetuate an ever increasing market for their filth by molesting the minds and bodies of the young ones... this is the only way they get new Demo-rat voters... CHEMICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE!

It is no coincidence Islamic pagans hate Israel, Jews, Christians and Western Civilization. The entire basis of Western Civilization is Mosaic Law, something both the Neo-Pagan Left and the pagan Islamic thugs cannot abide and wish to destroy.

The very idea that human beings have individual rights not subject to the whims of a monarch, but subject to the laws of Yahweh, is directly from Moses.

Historically, this is proven over and over again with the succsessive conflicts between the forces of paganism and the Judaic culture. It is being played out here and all over the world today...

Observing this as an atheist, I prefer the paradigm of a Judaic culture to the chaotic death cult of New Age neo-pagan absurdity.

[TopQuark]

why so many secular Jews endorse socialism and wish to do to Christianity what has often been done to them.

Because they are no longer Jews --- in the sense that they have forsaken Jewish values --- and are morally bankrupt. People with a holes inside often try to fill them with action and fail, of course: action must be morally purposeful and directed from within.

You can certainly see Jewish names among the atheist Leftists that attack Christianity. Any such attack offends you, and rightfully so. But you are making a mistake if you think that these people are attacking Christianity: they are attacking religion, ALL religion. Witness the Soviet commissars that were born into Jewish families: they burned synagogues with the same glee in their eyes as when they burned churches. They burned Jewish Temples and punished unconverted Jews with even greater fervor than Christians --- to prove that they are communists and no longer Jews themselves.

There are no atheist that are against just one religion: they just start with the most convenient/vulnerable one. Christianity is almost entirely defeated in Europe, and certainly not by Jews -- there are hardly any left after the Holocaust. It is the atheists and secularists that are born into Christian families that have done the destruction. Mitterrand refused even to acknowledge Christianity in the European constitution as one of the common cultural roots of Europe.

Now the same war has moved to this continent. It is fought by the same contingent of secularists, some from Christian families, some from Jewish. But it is not waged by Jews against Christians! On hte contrary, a Christian is the closest friend of a Jew, especially in this country. We have the same values, we are concerned by the same developments in our society. And we disagree on very little --- whether Messiah's coming will be the first or the second. It's really not that much if you consider all the rest, which we do share.

Secularists --- that is the adversary for both of us, a Christian and a Jew alike.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Thank-you, ping away... see #20...

[Carry_Okie]

We have the same values, we are concerned by the same developments in our society. And we disagree on very little --- whether Messiah's coming will be the first or the second. It's really not that much if you consider all the rest, which we do share.

These folks even keep the same Shabbat.

[Dante3]

Yes.

[MillerCreek]

Thanks for that, it was most informative!

I read just a few weeks ago by generalized surfing on the internet -- arriving at sites by accident while looking into other links -- similar but more specific to yours comments by a Rabbi who was explaining this very issue, and in relationship to the faith itself, identifying the Reformist movement as not Judaism (and he elaborated from his learned perspective far beyond that).

I've often heard and read many who claim to be Jewish and yet have no religious beliefs and are not applying themselves to any process of learning as to instruction as to academic, religious source, and yet continue to identify as "Jewish" -- which is, I assume, a racist identification but then again, the term, "Jewish" isn't a racial type. So, there's confusion there because mostly it's from atheists who make an effort to claim to be Jewish and yet are not affiliated with anything Jewish as to the faith.

I've met many in Reformist groups who DO identify with their faith but it's oddly misshapen from what I read that Orthodox Jews are devoted to.

So, it seems it is often an expression used to lay claim to a culture, "to be Jewish," as you explained also.

Thanks.

[Orca]

Excellent article by Rabbi Spero. Thanks for posting it.

Jews and Christians have a common heritage, although we differ on the person and character of Christ. Our common heritage of the same God and respect for other human beings allows us to discuss and disagree over our differences in a civilized manner. At the same time, we are friends. We can work together, eat together, play together because we are human beings created by the same God who commands us to respect one another and love one another. Our American form of government is built on these ideals.

Our common heritage also unites us in opposition to those who would destroy everything we value. The ACLU with their lawsuits is just as much our enemy as the Nazis, the Communists and the Islamofascists with their guns and bombs. The ACLU masks its intent with a superficial reverence to the ideals of freedom; but it is a sham because they only value our freedoms in so far as they can use them against us. For the ACLU and their violent allies, freedom of speech is only applicable to them. They would use that freedom to take it away from the rest of us. Rabbi Spero's article is a good step towards alerting us to the subversive, dark side of the ACLU. They are no friends to American liberties. Jew and Christian alike should be united against them.

[mvpel]

We're Jewish as well, and I was just discussing this issue with my wife last night, after seeing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. There were church groups there, and the audience was full of children and their parents.

The Christian themes in the movie were evident, and I think it may prove to be a very decisive blow in the culture wars by its establishing a framework for understanding of the Christian faith by youngsters, and an avenue for parents to teach their children. Likewise, the themes of family loyalty, personal heroism, fighting against evil, self-defense against a murderous enemy, forgiveness, and so on, will undoubtedly reverberate in the minds of youngsters for years, and generations, to come.

[MillerCreek]

That older legacy originated in the U.S. from the fact that the Jews were (also) the Bolsheviks, that Marx was Jewish...there was a long standing caution as to many Jews influencing most of the U.S. culture out of fear and resistence to communism.

And, it was associated with, also, Jews. As in, to be Jewish was to be communist, was to be a Marxist.

We now know and have for a while known that to be inaccurate but the cultural impact was in earlier decades in the U.S. based upon just that.

And, we see even today that many of the most ardent pro-Marxist to outright Marxist in the U.S. Left are Jewish, so there was and remains some truth to that.

I think it's more a case of the Jews realizing that socialism has authored the most ardently destructive, persecuting governments on the planet and certainly has not been a protector nor nurturer of Jews, per se.

And, just as was earlier written here on this thread, that some people wrongly assume that governmental management of social problems, delivery of social regulations and so much more -- as Karl Marx among others also urged and as have many socialists/communists/Marxists -- is not the sincere interpretation of a religious devotion, actually avoids personal responsibility in the essence of the options.

[Grateful One]

Seeing people like Steven Spielberg visit Cuba........

How do we describe one who touts his upcoming movie about high-tech spying in the future, after he prostrates himself before the Gulag warden of Cuba, where "Big Brother" could be YOUR brother?

[MillerCreek]

Yeah, my sentiments, exactly. I hope Mr. and his Mrs. enjoyed the fruit basket/s from Castro.

That last part was almost sarcasm, mostly disappointment by me.

[doug from upland]

Moral clarity, indeed. This Catholic is your brother in this struggle.

[TopQuark]

Thank you Doug; your words allays warm my heart (probably because yours is so big). It's good to see you again.

You may be sure that I stand by you, too.

Just in case I don't get to see you in next few days --- Merry Christmas! May G-d bless you and your family in the coming year and many more years to come.

[doug from upland]

May the Festival of Lights find you and your family well, and may the God we share bring you His blessings.

[VOA]

bump

[little jeremiah]

Thanks, will read it later and looks like interesting stuff on the thread too.

Maybe I'll post some verses from the Bhagavad Gita describing the demoniac mentality. You'd like them, I think.

[familyop]

Rabbi Spero wrote a great outreach article. Almost all people who today call themselves "Protestants" have no idea how much their churches have diverged from Protestant beliefs over the past 400+ years. There are really nearly no Protestants remaining in our USA.

To read the history, one might start with the efforts of Puritans to readmit Jews to England after the previous expulsion (down the page to "Resettlement Period: Maranos in England"). ...very interesting history that is withheld from us in public schools and most private schools.

[TopQuark]

You are most welcome; I enjoyed your comments and thoughts, too.

Have a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!

[familyop]

Sir Francis Dashwood wrote:
"The entire basis of Western Civilization is Mosaic Law, something both the Neo-Pagan Left and the pagan Islamic thugs cannot abide and wish to destroy."

That is very correct! See my previous comment and the following from the Library of Congress [My emphasis in bold type below]:

---

To designate March 26, 1991, as `Education Day, U.S.A.'. (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)

--H.J.Res.104--

H.J.Res.104

One Hundred Second Congress of the United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday, the third day of January,

one thousand nine hundred and ninety-one

Joint Resolution

To designate March 26, 1991, as `Education Day, U.S.A.'.

Whereas Congress recognizes the historical tradition of ethical values and principles which are the basis of civilized society and upon which our great Nation was founded;

Whereas these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws;

Whereas without these ethical values and principles the edifice of civilization stands in serious peril of returning to chaos;

Whereas society is profoundly concerned with the recent weakening of these principles that has resulted in crises that beleaguer and threaten the fabric of civilized society;

Whereas the justified preoccupation with these crises must not let the citizens of this Nation lose sight of their responsibility to transmit these historical ethical values from our distinguished past to the generations of the future;

Whereas the Lubavitch movement has fostered and promoted these ethical values and principles throughout the world;

Whereas Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the Lubavitch movement, is universally respected and revered and his eighty-ninth birthday falls on March 26, 1991;

Whereas in tribute to this great spiritual leader, `the rebbe', this, his ninetieth year will be seen as one of `education and giving', the year in which we turn to education and charity to return the world to the moral and ethical values contained in the Seven Noahide Laws; and

Whereas this will be reflected in an international scroll of honor signed by the President of the United States and other heads of state: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That March 26, 1991, the start of the ninetieth year of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, leader of the worldwide Lubavitch movement, is designated as `Education Day, U.S.A.'. The President is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.

[familyop]

Hi, LJ! ...hope you and yours have a merry Christmas.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[little jeremiah]

Thank, and Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

This is especially true since the Ten Commandments are prominently displayed at the U.S. Supreme Court...

Follow the progression on this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1538122/posts?q=1&&page=101,

...then ask yourself if the agent provocateurs of the Left are among us here... they can be found in places such as the drug, RINO, evolution and pervert threads to sow seeds of discord... that is their only purpose here... some may even be elites from MSM, they are very desperate...

[familyop]

Yes. They work among us to try to push the likes of Giuliani, Rice, McCain to finish the long term division of our Republican Party for decades. It is no wonder that Hillary Clinton spoke with such certainty and gloating about running in 2008. She must have had a plan involving the many shadows and types of pagans in our midst. The elites of various political labels value their social preferences more than they do capitalist economy and will convert their corporate offices to work within distributivism (the socialism behind pretenses of "paleo-conservatism" with its lie about property rights) as quickly as suits them.

They won't be able to stop the preparation of the nations for what is to come, though.

[Convert from ECUSA]

Excellent article - ping!

[Esther Ruth]

Yes -Excellent!!!

[Salem]

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[Fred Hayek]

"They associte Christianity with these experiences in Europe and these feelings are culturally transmitted to later generations."

Yet some recognize that Christianity in America took a different direction compared to Europe (except Britain for a while, yet the fire has gone out there), as acknowledged by Rabbi Daniel Lapin.

[Paved Paradise]

"while compassion was extended to the cruel"

UNBELIEVABLE! This is exactly what happened recently with the protests for Tookie Williams (the convicted Crips founder and murderer of four). People were all up in arms that this man was going to be executed after much evidence and a jury convicted him. Meanwhile, do you ever see them take up the cause for the murdered police officers, or how about this - have you ever seen ANY of these celebrities rally around the families of murdered children (such as Polly Klaas, etc.)???

It makes me sick. "Come, O Redeemer Come."

[Alexander Rubin]

Amen.