- Several weeks ago, an ultraorthodox rabbi issued an ugly
threat to Washington state's Sea-Tac Airport: either display an 8-foot,
electrically lit menorah alongside Christmas trees or face a federal lawsuit.
-
- In a recent press release, the Anti-Defamation League
of B'nai B'rith whitewashes such coercion. Ignoring the rabbi's threat
to sue, it claims his motives were innocent and high-minded. The resulting
"surge of anti-Semitism," ADL says, was the fault of inaccurate
information. ADL says the rabbi's organization, Chabad Lubavitch, only
wants the menorah displayed equally with the trees. What's wrong with equal
opportunity on religious holidays? 1
-
- This raises a timely and important question. Religious
Jews constitute less than one percent of the American population. What
legal rights do they, and other religious minorities, have to demand that
their symbols be given equal public exposure with those of Christianity?
-
- Research has clearly proven that America was founded
as a Christian nation and largely remains so today. 2 Approximately 77
percent of Americans consider themselves Christian. Yet ADL denies that
America was founded on Christian principles; they have worked aggressively
to redefine America as a pluralist society whose separation of church and
state forbids public preference of one religion's symbols or observances.
-
- Hypocritically, ADL doesn't insist that Israel (the only
nation to whom it is loyal) also be so multi-cultural and enlightened.
ADL would be appalled if Christian (Messianic) Jews in Israel were granted
the right to display crosses alongside menorahs at Tel-Aviv Airport. Sixty
years ago, Arab Christians constituted 20 percent of Israel's population.
As a result of massive expulsion in 1948, followed by policies of discrimination
and outright persecution, the Christian community withered to about 2 percent.
(See, "Christians
in Israel: An Endangered Species" and "The
Simple Explanation for Mid-East Strife") That is roughly equivalent
to the Jewish population in America.
-
- It would be unthinkable for such a tiny minority in Israel
to demand equal representation in public display of crosses or nativity
scenes. Zionism unashamedly considers Israel's national identity to be
Jewish. Israel is like Spain, Kuwait, or India, dominated by Catholic,
Moslem, or Hindu culture respectively. In all religiously oriented nations,
the symbols of the dominant ancestral religion are given public and even
political preference-except in America. ADL and Jewish media insist that
America not exalt its Christian heritage. (See, "Is
Dr. Kennedy a 'Christian Supremacist?'")
-
- Why is America so different from Israel? How has a tiny
two percent of the American population attained such power that they can
demand equal display of their symbols? There's an easy answer. Even Christians
have been trained by Jewish media to believe: "Jews have suffered
so bitterly at the hands of Christians for nearly 2000 years, that it's
our Biblical duty to grant them disproportionate privilege in our society."
This privilege includes protection from all criticism. Because of evangelicals'
apologetic indulgence, Jews have soared to dominate media, business, international
banking, and even the agendas of the American administration, House, and
Senate. In fact, it is undeniable that high-ranking "neo-con"
Jews are primarily responsible for goading America into war in the Mid-East
to make the region safe for Israel's further expansion. 3
-
- As a result of such power, Jewish symbols sometimes don't
just enjoy equality with Christian symbols in public, but actual preference.
In 1989, a majority of the Supreme Court ruled that an 18-foot Lubavitcher
menorah displayed at a downtown Pittsburgh county courthouse did not violate
church-state separation, while a nativity scene did. 4 The menorah was
permitted, while the Christian symbol was removed.
-
- Blind indulgence of Jews has never been Biblical or logical;
today, it increasingly threatens both Christianity and our republic. While
none can claim Christians now persecute Jews in America, there is a worldwide
trend, especially through Jewish "anti-hate" laws, to persecute
Christians. In more than 55 nations, ADL/B'nai B'rith hate laws militate
against Christian values and silence their free expression. Ensconced in
positions of impregnable power, evil Jewish "thought police"
possess ominous potential for even greater persecution in the years ahead.
(See, "Global
Hate Crimes Gestapo Being Created" and "The
Real Motive Behind the 'Department of Global Anti-Semitism'")
-
- Judaism: One of Many Minority Religions
-
- Should the Seattle airport abandon America's Christian
identity in favor of ADL's "multiculturalism?" Religious Jews
are just one of many minority religious sects in America, including Buddhists,
Taoists, Scientologists, Native American spiritualists, and Satanists.
Members of some of these groups, such as New-Age and Islam, greatly outnumber
religious Jews. If Judaism can demand equal visibility with Christianity
at Christmas, what keeps these other groups from also claiming "discrimination"
if they are excluded? What keeps them from threatening to sue the Port
of Seattle next year?
-
- America must stand on a proven fact: despite the ravages
of secularism, America still possesses a religious identity. It is Christian.
And it is only because of our Christian heritage that Jews and other minorities
enjoy the right to freely practice their own religion. Such minorities
should be grateful for the Christian heritage to which they owe their freedom,
rather than wishing to minimize that legacy.
-
- If public institutions and businesses don't insist on
their right to display Christian symbols, they will actually open the floodgates
to discrimination lawsuits. 5 In the end, such organizations, out of self-protection,
will remove such symbols altogether-declaring all public places to be religion-free,
secular zones. This is what initially happened at Sea-Tac last week. This
is ADL's ultimate objective-a society where the uniting force of a Christian
national identity has been eroded and secularism alone is allowed.
-
- In Canada, even Christmas trees are being removed from
public places! This week, Judge Marion Cohen (Jewish) ordered the removal
of a small artificial tree from a provincial courthouse, saying it might
alienate non-Christians; as in America, Christians comprise more than 70
percent of the Canadian population, yet activist Jews are stripping even
their most innocuous symbols from public life.
-
- Back in Washington state, the Sea-Tac authorities say
they'll consult with the ultraorthodox rabbi and other religious groups
about a broader presentation of diverse religious symbols next Christmas.
Such tedious and expensive experiments, undertaken to please activist Jews,
will inevitably be abandoned in favor of secularism.
-
- How should Sea-Tac authorities and others respond when
"God's chosen people" again demand that America's Christian identity
be denied to please them-on penalty of federal court? Answer: they should
respect the overwhelming majority of Americans, who insist that Christmas
remain unashamedly Christian.
-
- They should stand and fight.
-
-
- Endnotes:
-
- 1 ADL Response to the Port of Seattle Decision to Remove
Christmas Trees, press release, Anti-Defamation League, Dec. 2006.
- 2 Many Christian/conservative organizations, and especially
Dr. D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries, have produced scores of
books documenting statements by America's founding fathers and Supreme
Court justices affirming the fact that America is a Christian nation. See
also http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/chr_heritage.html.
- 3 See Michael Collins' Piper, The High Priests of War,
2004, Walt and Mearsheimer, The Israel Lobby, 2006.
- 4 County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union,
Greater Pittsburgh Chapter (1989).
- 5 No public institution or business should be forced
by law to provide display of religious symbols. However, as a goodwill
gesture, areas adjacent to major Christmas displays might be allocated
for such religious expression. An equitable rule would be that a particular
religion should be allowed display in proportion to their numbers in the
American population. Thus, religious Jews along with Buddhists or Hindus
would be granted about 2 percent of display space each, with Christians
allowed 77 percent. On the other hand, such a project opens up the real
possibility that homosexual religious groups, Satanists and witches, etc.
would also demand space for their symbols, threatening discrimination lawsuits
if they were not included. The above proposal, though high-minded, reminds
us of the wisdom and relative legal safety of standing by the time-proven
standard that Christmas is properly a time to emphasize Christian symbols
and values, not every other kind.
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National
Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative watchdog group.
-
- DON'T LET THE FEDERAL HATE BILL END FREE
SPEECH!
-
- Come to www.truthtellers.org to print out
a powerful flyer warning about impending federal hate crimes legislation.
-
- To read the hate bill for yourself, with
commentary in red by Rev. Pike, click http://truthtellers.org/alerts/s1145commentary.html
- Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2005 [S. 1145]).
-
- TALK SHOW HOSTS: Interview NPN director Rev.
Ted Pike on the danger of the federal hate law. Call 503-631-3808.
-
- http://www.truthtellers.org/
-
-
- NATIONAL PRAYER NETWORK, P.O. Box 828, Clackamas, OR
97015
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