AMERICA: VICTIM OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY THEFT
By Rev. Ted Pike
19 Dec 06
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. That is roughly
equivalent to the Jewish population in America. (See, "Christians
in Israel: An Endangered Species" and "The
Simple Explanation for Mid-East Strife")
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.
