A Very Mixed Marriage

MSNBC.Com / Newsweek ^ | June 2, 2003 issue | By Howard Fineman and Tamara Lipper, Newsweek

[Bobby777]

Evangelical Christians lining up to fight for Israel may be an unmovable obstacle to Bush’s ‘road map’

June 2 issue — It’s a landmark in the history of strange bedfellows: Tom DeLay says kaddish. It happened last February, the day the space shuttle Columbia fell apart. Among the dead astronauts was an Israeli, Ilan Ramon. In Florida, at the Boca Raton Resort, some big machers had gathered to hear a speech by House Republican leader DeLay, an evangelical Christian from Sugar Land, Texas. Mixing Churchill and the Bible, DeLay talked of a destiny shared by America and Israel. He asked for “divine assistance” in protecting both. In closing, to the astonishment of his audience, he recited—in Hebrew—the last lines of the Jewish prayer for the dead. The crowd, many in tears, joined in. (DeLay had been coached by a Jewish former staffer.) “It was quite a moment,” said Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist who was there.

QUITE AN UNDERSTATEMENT. Though they welcomed him as an ardent supporter of Israel, many in the audience at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference were wary of DeLay’s view on a host of social issues—he’s pro-life, anti-gay-rights, pro-voucher, pro-gun, pro-school-prayer. Nor are they fond of his occasional declaration that what America needs most is more Christians in office. “Some would argue that it’s a mistake for Jews to get into bed with the religious right,” said Jess Hordes of the Anti-Defamation League.

[Bobby777]

ping to my FR friends ...

[ricpic]

I don't get the strange bedfellows analogy. Evangelical Christians and Orthodox Jews agree on just about every bedrock social issue.
It's Secular Jews who have a problem with Christians. And with Orthodox Jews for that matter. Borscht belt humor and a fondness for bagels with lox and cream cheese doesn't make you a Jew.

[johns4]

I'd bet the Evangelicals probably don't know much about Judaism, and don't study it much. I'm sure few of them have ever travelled to the Holy Land. I wonder how much they'd know about Israeli history and culture. It just seems opportunistic in the way the've jumped on board the Israeli scene. They invited themselves to this party. If I was an Israeli I'd be pretty dubious about these new-found and far-off "friends." Who are these Evangelicals and why do they need this strategy right now?

[Bobby777]

I thought the same thing ... I think they mean the liberal aspects of some of those organizations ... as you state, Christian Evangelicals and Conservative / Orthodox Jews have much in common, regarding social issues and of course, Judaism / Christianity ...

[Mind-numbed Robot]

(DeLay had been coached by a Jewish former staffer.)

Dang! Now you have blown his cover. I am sure he was trying to deceive them into thinking he was Jewish.

[johns4]

The Evangelicals have as a basis for their beliefs the idea that the second coming of Christ must be preceded by a certain type of Jewish State, I believe. This idea doesn't really have anything to do with the current State of Israel or its problems with the Arabs.

[Bobby777]

As an Evangelical, I'd say I agree to the right of return of the Israelis and the establishment of Israel back in their land ... and a signficant part of the Arab and European world doesn't want Israel to exist ... and condones or tacitly approves of the horror caused by the Intifada ... a preview of 9/11/2001 that started 9/2000 ...

architect: Yasser Arafat and friends

[circles]

The fact is most Americans who identify themselves as Jewish have no real religious beliefs whatsoever, and to them, Judaism is just a club.

[Slyfox]

DeLay’s view on a host of social issues—he’s pro-life, anti-gay-rights, pro-voucher, pro-gun, pro-school-prayer...

I guess that prett'near makes that old DeLay feller a bonafide, durn-tooting, enemy of the state.

[Bobby777]

I don't know what Mr. DeLay believes on the subject ... I'd have to look it up ... if anybody has it, please add it to the thread ...

[bzrd]

As an evangelical Christian, I have two reasons to support Israel...at least two reasons. Number one, I understand the Jews place in the fulfillment of GOD's plan. Though I think it foolish to try and "help" GOD with his sovereignty over human history.

I will grant that there are some of my stripe who do...but I am not one of them.

Secondly, I support Israel because they have a legitimate cliam to the land that they "occupy". And I think any objective observor of the whole mid-East, Palestinian affair, would have to do the same.

As an aside, regarding the oft-cited claim that we evangelicals [and some orthodox Jews] are trying to "hurry things along", in eschatological terms...my advice to anyone who is trying to slow it down...would be to lay off of Israel.

Many are apparently unwilling to...how come nobody questions their agenda?

Brian.

[volchef]

Well, I don't know if it's true for all, but it certainly is for my husband. He sees being Jewish as a cultual heritage not as a religion. Maybe it's the fact that so many reform Jews are so liberal that they've ousted the religion part because it's more PC to be a "people".

(I and my children, btw, are Christian and hubby is fine with that)

[A_perfect_lady]

“Some would argue that it’s a mistake for Jews to get into bed with the religious right,”

It's a pretty chaste bed, dudes, go ahead. You're perfectly safe.

[circles]

I don't think you'll get a lot of rebuttal to your husband's beliefs. I'm welcome to hear whatever rebuttal there is, however.

[MeekOneGOP]

[dufekin]

Get a load of this:

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/135/oped/Israel_s_unshakable_allies+.shtml

Israel's unshakable allies


By Jeff Jacoby, 5/15/2003
THE BOSTON GLOBE (Massachusetts--but a conservative columnist)

PAT ROBERTSON has long been a bogeyman to many American Jews.


When the Anti-Defamation League published ''The Religious Right: The Assault on Tolerance and Pluralism in America'' in 1994, a third of its 193 pages were devoted to Robertson and the Christian Coalition. ''Robertson's repeated references to America as a Christian nation,'' it said, ''insults not merely Jews but all who value religious freedom.''

Writing in The Forward a year or so later, Leonard Fein, a prominent Jewish activist, allowed as how ''it would be frightfully upsetting, but not very surprising,'' were the Christian Coalition to propose ''that Jews ought not be hired as teachers in the public schools.'' Going even further, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism denounced the Christian Coalition in 1997 for trying to ''diminish fundamental constitutional liberties'' by ''undermining the Constitution'' and ''blurring - or erasing - the precious separation of church and state.''

So when Robertson agreed to speak at Temple Beth Sholom in Framingham last month, it came as no surprise that a number of local Jews complained. ''It's scary,'' Renee Abramson told the MetroWest Daily News. ''I mean, this guy uses his show to wage war on whomever he chooses.'' Outside the synagogue, Robertson was greeted by protesters carrying signs that read ''Jews saying No to the Christian Right'' and ''Robertson is no friend to the Jewish people.''

But those inside the synagogue seemed to regard Robertson as a friend. They repeatedly interrupted him with applause and gave him a ovation when he finished. That may have been because they heard him say things like this:

''I had a praying mother who was an evangelical Christian, and I can remember her always saying ... we must love and support the Jewish people.''

And this:

''I went back to the Mount of Olives'' - during a 1974 visit to Israel - ''and I said before God and the assembled group: `I am making a personal vow. However difficult it may be for me, however unpopular it may be for me, I and those with me are going to stand with Israel in her time of distress and we will be a faithful friend of Israel from this moment on.'''

And this:

''The love that evangelicals have for Israel does not depend on [politics or foreign policy]. We are part of the heritage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and we share the same faith and the same principles and the same commandments and the same heroes as the people of Israel.''

Remarkable? Not at all. American evangelicals and fundamentalists - the so-called ''religious right'' - are among the most tolerant and respectful friends the Jewish people have. And when it comes to support and sympathy for Israel, America's beleaguered ally in the Middle East, Christian conservatives are if anything even more ardent and unshakable than American Jews.

Skeptics sometimes claim that evangelicals support Israel only because they believe it will hasten Jesus' Second Coming. But when that challenge was put to Robertson, he didn't hesitate. ''I'm sure some people think that - but I'm not one of them,'' he replied. ''I think there's a visceral, heartfelt love in the heart of evangelicals for Israel and the Jewish people.''

Indeed, evangelical solidarity has become a hallmark of pro-Israel activism. For instance, this weekend's important Interfaith Zionist Leadership Summit in Washington, a project of Boston's Zionist House, is being cosponsored by a phalanx of conservative Christian organizations. In addition to the Christian Coalition and the Christian Broadcasting Network, the list includes the Apostolic Congress, Christian Friends of Israeli Communities, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, and the Religious Roundtable. Among the speakers are such prominent American evangelicals as Gary Bauer and Janet Parshall.

Likewise, hundreds of Christians will be taking part in Sunday's ''Adopt-A-Family'' walkathon in Framingham to raise funds for Israeli families victimized by terrorism. A project of the same synagogue that hosted Robertson, the walkathon is cosponsored by 17 Jewish organizations - but also by nine Christian ones, including Grace Evangelical Christian Church of Framingham, Christian Renewal Church of Salem, and New England Aftercare Ministries.

Evangelicals are not the only Christians who support Israel or reach out to Jews, of course. (Three Catholic churches are involved in the Framingham walkathon, for example, and one of the sponsors of the Washington summit is the Episcopal-Jewish Alliance.) And no doubt there are some on the Christian right who are indifferent or even hostile toward Jews and the Jewish state.

But there is no denying the obvious: Devotion to Israel and warmth toward Jews are powerful forces in evangelical life. At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world, the friendship of the Christian right is something every Jew should cheer.

[Maven]

In closing, to the astonishment of his audience, he recited—in Hebrew—the last lines of the Jewish prayer for the dead.

I'm not surprised they were astonished. I would be, too, as the Mourner's Kaddish is in Aramaic....

Maven

[foreverfree]

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