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February 18, 2007
by Rabbi Daniel Lapin
Their attacks are probably intended to discredit my voice of censure. Because many of these organizations are nominally Jewish, their fury knows no bounds. After all, they feel threatened by a rabbi who refutes the canard that Judaism equals secularism. Defending this deceitful equation that Judaism and secularism are equivalent, some Jews feel a need to wrongly assure folks that Judaism doesn't believe in an afterlife or that Judaism doesn't believe in heaven. Not surprisingly, a majority of so-called Jewish organizations react angrily when I insist that they are shaped more by the values of secular fundamentalism than they are by the Torah's defining of Judaism. What to people mean when they say, "….a Jewish organization." What makes an organization Jewish? Does it go to temple? How would you circumcise an organization? With some organizations, I'd be tempted to experiment, but that is another topic. For now, I want to explain to you why I subject myself and my family to almost constant unpleasantness. When friends ask me why I fight, my answer is always the same. I fight to preserve America as the sole hope for decency and civilization in a mad world. I fight to protect that which has made America the world's most remarkable haven of tranquility and prosperity. I fight so my grandchildren and yours can live quite differently from the way most other people in the world exist. As I have often pointed out, the most prevalent form of bigotry in America today is not homophobia, racism, or anti-Semitism. It is anti-Christianism. In the same way that American Christians have done so much to fight anti-Semitism, it is only honorable for American Jews to protest anti-Christianism. It is particularly appropriate for Jews to fight anti-Christianism because, with few exceptions, the social and political values advocated by American Christianity are derived directly from Judaism's biblical values. Without those values infusing our culture, life becomes indescribably more squalid, expensive, and dangerous. If many of my fellow citizens do not restrain themselves from criminal conduct, the quality of my life declines. An evening stroll through the neighborhood becomes a frightening experience. My cost of living goes up as commerce compensates for shoplifting, fraud, and robbery. Mounting regulations rob me of my freedoms as government futilely attempts to control the anti-social behavior of those who have lost the ability to control themselves. If many of my fellow citizens strip the sacred out of sex, the quality of my life declines. My struggle to reach for the stars, already difficult, becomes infinitely harder as the culture around me shackles me to the barnyard. I struggle to raise my children innocently for a life of refinement and spiritual aspiration while hormonal hysteria competes for their attention. One can tell people by the language they use and the language around us becomes ever more vulgar and obscene. One can tell much by how people dress and my daughters are made to feel like freaks because they don't expose their belly buttons, breasts, or thighs. If many of my fellow citizens replace courage with cowardice, the quality of my life declines. They may cloak their cowardice in virtue by speaking of pacifism or wishing to save lives but their abject fear nonetheless empowers tyranny. Their fear of confronting evil means they see only victims, never villains. They see only the deprived and never the depraved. They make it all but impossible for government to fulfill its primary purpose -- defending citizens from violence. It is cowardice when government fails to empower the military to protect us from violence perpetrated by outside enemies. It is cowardice again when our criminal justice system fails to protect us from violence inflicted by conscienceless psychopaths. Crime, sex, and cowardice are all natural. They are found in nature. Animals seize one another's food, they respond instinctively to the sexual impulse, and, given the choice, they run rather than fight. I think that God may have hoped for better from humanity. We all live more happily when we live among people who do not act upon their natures but resist them. The quality of all our lives is enhanced when we each conquer our natures. It is only Judeo-Christian culture that encourages us to conquer our natures. If we hope to deter crime only through police, why, there cannot be enough police officers to prevent crime. For in the final analysis, who will police the police? In similar vein, all the sex-ed classes in public education are inadequate to prevent young human bodies from responding instinctively to the sexual impulse. With regard to cowardice, the rarity of courage reminds us of how banal is cowardice. It is the natural reflexive response to frightening challenge. In other words, it seems to me that our only hope of escaping increasing crime is either increased rates of incarceration or alternatively if we each recover our own capability to reject the lure of crime. Not because we might get caught by a policeman but because we loathe the idea of sullying our souls. It used to be that way. I'm sure you remember a time when Americans seldom locked their doors. Our only hope for replacing public depravity and animalism is if we all raise children who revel in modesty and who take pride in saving themselves for marriage. No government program can accomplish this. Only Judeo-Christian values can. Our only hope for recovering national courage is if we once again find meaning in masculinity and we view cowardly behavior as shameful rather than as newsworthy. However government cannot bring about any of these changes. But God can. I think there may be only one hope for restoring and maintaining the quality of life which originally made America such a magnet for the world's downtrodden seeking a better life. That one hope is applying the Biblical blueprint for civilization. I say "Biblical" because only the Bible is built on the lesson of the Garden of Eden. Man is placed in this world to do battle with nature -- all nature, especially his own. Left to itself, the earth will bring forth weeds and thistles but man must make it yield food. Left to itself, the jungle will overwhelm the city but man must defend civilization. Left to himself, man will follow his nature toward crime, animalistic sex, and cowardice. It is our God-given duty to resist. As Kathryn Hepburn said to Humphrey Bogart in that wonderful movie, African Queen, "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above." That is what I am fighting for and if my children understand this, it would be enough for me. However, I am blessed with armies of allies. Blacks, whites, and all other colors, Jews and Christians, rich and poor, men and women -- all of us have identified the smear of secularism that jeopardizes the very quality of our lives. We also recognize that a similar diversity of Americans see things very differently. If they win, we lose. We can't both win. That is why I fight. And I hope you're alongside me too.
Radio talk show host, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, is president of Toward Tradition, a bridge-building organization providing a voice for all Americans who defend the Judeo-Christian values vital for our nation's survival. Visit their website at http://www.towardtradition.org. © 2005 by Rabbi Daniel Lapin and reproduced here with permission.
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My
friends know how often I get attacked by those
organizations I have criticized. Generally
speaking, these organizations exist for the purpose
of promoting secular fundamentalism as America's
new religion. I consider their work to be the
equivalent of a demented passenger drilling holes
in the hull of the ferry boat that should be
carrying us to safety.
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