FW: Jewish Conservatives Join Forces With Christian Evangelicals

["Craven, Jim" <jcraven@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Subject: Jewish Conservatives Join Forces With Christian Evangelicals
>
> Date: Sat, 3 Aug 2002 02:11:26 -0700
>
>
>
>  http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6099
> Pat Robertson's Reward
> Jewish Conservatives Join Forces With Christian Evangelicals
>
> Bill Berkowitz is a long time political observer and columnist.
>
>
> On Sunday, July 14, televangelist Pat Robertson was presented with
> the State of Israel Friendship Award at the annual "Salute to
> Israel" dinner held by the Chicago chapter of the Zionist
> Organization of America (ZOA). According to a ZOA spokesperson,
> Robertson, through his Christian Broadcasting Network and his
> daily program, "The 700 Club," has consistently supported Israel
> during this latest wave of tension and turmoil in the Middle East.
>
> In a pre-dinner press release, Morton Klein, National President of
> ZOA, said "As Israel continues to face grave dangers from
> Palestinian Arab terrorists devoted to the destruction of the
> State of Israel, we are honoring Pat Robertson as a major
> Christian leader who strongly supports Israel and its religious,
> historical and legal right to the holy land. Our organization
> continues to be dedicated to spreading the message that a
> Palestinian Arab state is a grave danger to the State of Israel."
>
> One of Stand for Israel's primary activities will be to counter
> what they see as media bias against Israel -- a long held belief
> shared by both Israelis and Christian right activists.
>
>
>
> Some critics were flabbergasted by the ZOA's choice, questioning
> how the organization could disregard Robertson's past anti-Semitic
> statements and writings. "We wouldn't do it," Abraham Foxman, the
> national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), told the
> New York City-based newspaper, The Forward. "He's not deserving,
> but I have no objections to other groups honoring him."
>
> Foxman's ADL has been monitoring Robertson's work for a number of
> years. The stormy relationship between Foxman and Robertson
> reached hurricane status after the publication of a 1994 ADL
> report titled "The Religious Right and the Assault on Tolerance &
> Pluralism in America." Author David Cantor wrote: "Robertson's
> repeated references to America as a 'Christian nation' and to
> American governance as a 'Christian order' insults not merely Jews
> but all who value religious freedom." The report set off a bitter
> debate between Jewish conservatives who leaped to defend Robertson
> and those who believed Cantor was on target.
>
> According to The Forward, "In April [of this year], Foxman sent
> Robertson a letter protesting the network's broadcast of an Easter
> cartoon 'saturated with sinister caricatures of Jews reminiscent
> of the anti-Semitic stereotypes promulgated only in the darkest
> periods of Christianity.' In a letter written in reply, Robertson
> described Foxman as the Democratic Party's 'principal secret
> agent' whose 'focus is not the defense of worldwide Jewry, but the
> domestic political agenda of the Democratic Party.'"
>
> ZOA doesn't appear to be concerned about infighting between
> conservative and liberal Jews. "We wanted to give our thanks to
> one of our Christian friends," the Chicago chapter's executive
> director, A. Yami Isaacs, said. "We chose Dr. Robertson, based
> primarily on 'The 700 Club' and its presentation of the situation
> in Israel, and on his benevolent work in Israel." The ZOA claims
> it is "the oldest and one of the largest pro-Israel organizations
> in the U.S.," with a membership of over 50,000 in chapters
> throughout the country.
>
> The ZOA award is not Robertson's first from Jewish organizations.
> According to PatRobertson.com, the televangelist has received "the
> Millennium Jerusalem 2000 Council Award by the State of Israel
> Jerusalem Heritage Study Programs, Defender of Israel Award in
> 1994 by the Christians' Israel Public Action Campaign, and the
> Distinguished Merit of Citation Award in 1979 by the National
> Conference of Christians and Jews."
>
>
>
>
> Jewish Conservatives and Christian Evangelicals Join Forces
> American Zionists and evangelical Christians have a history of
> strategic cooperation at least as long as the history of Israel.
> As violence and tension between Israel and Palestinians have
> mounted, cooperation between the groups has intensified -- several
> new initiatives involving Jewish conservatives and Christian
> evangelicals have been launched in the past few months. In
> late-May, Rabbi Yehiel Eckstein, president of the International
> Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), and Ralph Reed, former
> executive director of the Christian Coalition and current
> Republican Party chairman of Georgia, joined forces for a new
> project, "Stand for Israel."
>
> The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported that "Stand for Israel"
> hoped to become a "Christian version of the pro-Israel lobby on
> Capitol Hill, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
> (AIPAC)." One of the group's primary activities will be to counter
> what they see as media bias against Israel -- a long held belief
> shared by both Israelis and Christian right activists.
>
> In early July, AgapePress, a Christian news service, reported on a
> new venture aimed at linking conservative Jews with Christian
> evangelicals. The organization, called the American Alliance of
> Jews and Christians (AAJC), is headed by Rabbi Lapin and Gary
> Bauer, the failed presidential candidate who is currently
> president of American Values. According to a press release from
> Toward Tradition, the Washington, D.C.-based AAJC will be "a
> unique synthesis of Jewish authenticity and Christian grassroots
> muscle." Bauer believes the new project will help to ensure the
> alliance between America and Israel while at the same time build a
> movement of Jews and Christians for traditional values.
>
> If Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the president of the conservative Jewish
> organization, Toward Tradition, has his way, the ZOA affair will
> only be the first of a new series of Jewish-sponsored events
> honoring Christian evangelicals. In a June 21, article in The
> Forward, titled "Born-Again Allies," Rabbi Lapin argues that it is
> time for Jews to take action to concretely thank Christian
> evangelicals for their support of Israel -- or risk losing that
> support.
>
> Rabbi Lapin praises President Bush, and Texas Republican
> Congressmen Tom DeLay and Dick Armey for their support of Israel.
> The newly resurgent friendship between Christians and Jews may
> obligate Jews to reciprocate. "At very least," he writes, "we have
> an obligation to desist from thinking of ourselves as the parole
> officer for the Rev. Billy Graham, who was recently humiliated for
> offensive remarks made long ago. We should also stop acting as the
> watchdogs over Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and many other
> Christian leaders, all of whom are devotedly pro-Israel and who
> are guilty of nothing more than frankly stating their religious
> beliefs, some of which we as Jews do not hold."
>
> David Klinghoffer, editorial director of Toward Tradition and
> author of the book "The Lord Will Gather Me In," echoes Rabbi
> Lapin's suggestion in a late-June piece in National Review online:
> "At a minimum, Christians can reasonably ask that groups like the
> ADL, the American Jewish Congress, and Wiesenthal Center lay off a
> bit. In exchange for their vital support of Israel, at least until
> the Mideast crisis has subsided, let [Abe] Foxman et al. declare a
> moratorium on bashing Christians."
>
>
>
>
> The "End Times" Elephant
> The elephant in the room, the issue Jewish conservatives prefer to
> ignore or gloss over, is the question of "end times" theology.
> Rabbi Lapin glides over this controversial issue in his column and
> Klinghofer appears to underestimate how significant it is to
> Christian evangelicals.
>
> Veteran journalist and author Frederick Clarkson, in his book
> Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy,
> (Common Courage Press, 1997), points out that "most evangelicals
> in [the 20th] century have been pre-millenialists, that is,
> Christians who believe it is not possible to reform this world
> until Jesus returns (the Second Coming), which will be followed by
> a 1000-year rule of Jesus and the Christians.... The key episode
> in pre-millennial theology is an event called 'the rapture' in
> which all the saved Christians, dead and alive, are brought up
> into the clouds with Jesus prior, during or after (depending of
> the school of theology) a period called 'the tribulation.'"
>
> In recent years -- and more so since September 11 -- the "end
> times" has taken on an almost religio/pop-culture status. It has
> been popularized in a number of Christian novels, particularly the
> profoundly popular best-selling "Left Behind" series, co-authored
> by longtime religious-right leader the Rev. Tim LaHaye and Jerry
> B. Jenkins. The "end times" was featured recently in a Time
> magazine cover story titled, "The Bible & the Apocalypse: Why more
> Americans are reading and talking about The End of The World"
> (July 1, 2002).
>
> How seriously do American Christians consider the "end times"?
> According to Time: 36 percent of Americans believe "the Bible is
> the word of God and is to be taken literally"; 59 percent believe
> "the prophecies in the Book of Revelation will come true"; 35
> percent "say they are paying closer attention to news events and
> how they relate to the coming end of the world since the terrorist
> attacks of Sept. 11"; and 36 percent "support Israel...because
> they believe in biblical prophecies that Jews must control Israel
> before Christ will come again."
>
> Sara Diamond, in her seminal book on the Christian Right,
> Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right (South End
> Press, 1989), maintains that "Israel holds obvious special
> religious significance" for Christians. Diamond notes that
> historically the relationship between Israel and U.S. Christian
> fundamentalists was not always smooth sailing. That changed
> dramatically, however, when "popular broadcast ministries,
> especially those focused on studies of the 'end-times,' drew
> evangelicals to pay closer attention to Middle East politics."
> Christian fundamentalists are fond of relating Bible passages to
> historical and current events. The establishment of the state of
> Israel in 1948, the influx of Jews from the Soviet Union, the 1967
> Six Day War in which, Sara Diamond points out, "Israel captured
> Jerusalem and began its occupation of the territories known in the
> Bible as Judea and Sumaria," all feed into the current wave of
> support for Israel among Christian fundamentalists.
>
> Twenty-First Century Politics
>
>
> Traditional Jewish religious practices are as threatened by modern
> tastes and practices as are those of conservative Christians.
>
>
> "End-times" Biblical interpretations are not the only thing that
> links the Christian Right with the Jewish community. Jean
> Hardisty, author of Mobilizing Resentment: Conservative Resurgence
> from the John Birch Society to the Promise Keepers (Beacon Press,
> 1999), contends that Christian and Jewish fundamentalists in the
> U.S. have much more in common than one might think. "Many
> conservative Jews, especially those whose religious practices are
> orthodox, feel a similar sense of alienation from secular society
> [as Christian fundamentalists]. Traditional Jewish religious
> practices are as threatened by modern tastes and practices as are
> those of conservative Christians."
>
> According to Hardisty, Rabbi Daniel Lapin "argues that the proper
> practice of Jewish faith dictates a belief in moral values that
> are more closely aligned with those of conservative Christians
> than with those of liberals, whose 'secular humanism' runs against
> the grain of all religious practice."
>
> Over the past several years, Jewish religious conservatives have
> become coveted guests at Christian and conservative public
> gatherings.
>
> The ZOA's Morton Klein told The Foward that he has not been asked
> to support the social agenda of Christian organizations in
> exchange for their support of Israel. "No Christian leader -- and
> I talk to almost all of them -- has ever asked me, 'If I speak out
> in favor of Israel, will you support me on this?'" Klein said.
> "Never."
>
> One would think, however, that all the "rapture" and "end times"
> talk would raise red flags for Jews. After all, when the day of
> reckoning comes, they will be amongst those left behind. To
> disregard evangelicals beliefs in the "end-times" would be
> "playing with fire," Harvey Cox, professor of divinity at Harvard
> University, told Time. "I'd be awfully cautious of this alliance
> if I were on the Israeli side." Cox's admonition was echoed by
> Gershom Gorenberg, a Jewish expert on the Christian end times. "In
> my view," he said, "any theology that continues to deny the
> validity of Judaism and to fantasize about looking forward to the
> conversion or destruction of the Jews is one that should arouse a
> great deal of caution among Jews."
>
> =========
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