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Posted on 12/11/2001 6:43:38 PM PST by Mercuria

If there ever was an "Exhibit A"-type of illustration for the wisdom of "separation of church and state" in modern times (and I don't mean in a "let's revise the meaning of the First Amendment" kind of way) it would be terse, simple, to the point: it would say, see "Taliban".

And although there are many, many times when I'm glad that the pioneers of America were predominantly Christians, I'm glad at this point in time that that particular religion is not in actual rule here today.

In fact, were I to define what I believe is the religious ethos that dominates the foundation of this Republic, it would have to be "Judeo-Christianity", a religion that, to its benefit, doesn't exist in any organizational form, although I would offer that it is enshrined in the phrase "Liberty and Justice for all"; the Liberty of the New Covenant and the unwavering Justice of the Hebrew tradition, the former, on its own, insufficient for governance, and the latter too easily made overbearing. It's the post-assault, after-the-affront turning-of-the-other-cheek-just-long-enough-to-get-a-good-grip-on-the-retaliatory-club.

The one and only good reason to act "Christian" is for the eternal reward promised for the struggle -- and struggle it is. It is not a recommended way to run a country when faced with the reality that there are those who would like to do unto to you things from the unkind to the unspeakable.

Christianity may preserve the Soul and Spirit, it may sanctify one-on-one interrelation, but it doesn't do much for terrestrial perpetuation. It wasn't really designed to.

The Christian doctrine of expansion is based upon the recounting of its beauty and simplicity. Jesus instructed his followers to shake the dust off of their feet when that message was disregarded. Nuclear, chemical and biological fallout are, however, a little too clingy for such advice to do much good.

The Judeo-Christian amalgamation is, however, ballsier. It has teeth. It has the definitive morality of the Big Cosmic Lawgiver tempered with the laissez-faire approach of the Prince of Peace. It has its enemies, but it also has the wherewithal to take them on.

Its enemies aren't just of the foreign cotton-fiber-headgear type, either. It has adversaries which inhabit the same rooms and J. Crew sweater-sets, those who pronounce themselves as progressive in the face of tradition's archaicness, who shun its firmness of values with a relativism that while perhaps over cocktails seems innocuous, but is ultimately arrogant, dangerous and destructive.

Outside the borders of our nation we now see the face clearly of an enemy that only wants to see us gone. It's the honesty that I appreciate. The subversive nature of the domestic enemy is far more treacherous, equally lethal, just better at lying. The secularism struggling to become the dominant religion, if seemingly as un"organized" as the founding one, has, with a big "nothing" at its core, the desire for everything the old guard has accomplished, but by seizure, by theft, without the work and foundation-building without which nothing of worth is sustainable.

A good friend of mine, a casual if unconscious adherer of the new nothing, recently received a bonus from work of hundreds of thousands of dollars. O, how happy he was that the government had helped themselves to a substantial portion of it, how good it made him feel that the experts were to do great things with that which he had no clue how to manage or distribute. No causes. No heart-tugging charities. Nothing.

Speaking with a high school student several weeks ago I was amazed at his romance with the idea of the "common good" -- even at the expense of the individual, although this averred comparison had him glancing more often at his shoes than at me. Brought to the realization that his philosophy required force and what might become common misery wasn't in harmony with his rainbow colored dream, ultimately a big brightly-hued nothing.

A lady I recently met was upset about not being able to afford a seat at Temple for a big Jewish holiday. Not being a regular member, not having freely offered up tithes throughout the year, she felt excluded from her community and faith. But she had left it before it left her; she was seized by the freedom of nothing and suddenly found herself with nothing of true value in return.

The battles go on both abroad and at home. Both of them need to be won. In the aftermath of the all-too-visual and all-too-explosive attack of this past September both enemies have become more visible. But I have also seen the tears and heart and charity of the "Christian" in us. And, thankfully, I have seen the feistiness of the "Jew" we are too. Together that really makes us something, which right now is everything, lest we give it all up for absolutely nothing, or less, in return.

Mercurial Times exclusive commentary. Reprints must credit the author and Mercurial Times.

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