- Mar 16, 2012
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Ooooh prove it wrong, Achmed.Zionism and the Jews going back to their ancestral and religious holy land goes back to the founding fathers of this country. In fact they identified with the Jews in this cause.Well, that would be what an antisemite would tend to say, now wouldn't it?What in the devil does Judeo-Christian mean? It is a Jew invented construct to make it appear that the people who fundamentally reject the core principle of Christianity are somehow similar in any way to Christians.
The term Judeo-Christian groups Judaism and Christianity, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism or due to perceived parallels or commonalities shared between those two religions.
The concept of "Judeo-Christian values" in an ethical (rather than theological or liturgical) sense was used by George Orwellin 1939, and has become part of "American civil religion" since the 1940s.
History of the term
The term is used, as "Judæo Christian", at least as far back as in a letter from Alexander M'Caul dated October 17, 1821.[2]The term in this case referred to Jewish converts to Christianity.[3] The term is used similarly by Joseph Wolff in 1829, referring to a style of church that would keep with some Jewish traditions in order to convert Jews.[4]
The American Christian Conservative right generaly uses the term to make themselves sound more inclusive than they really are and it's also a "code word" for supporting Zionist Israel, which is a core value of Conservative Christian Zionists in the US and elsewhere. The term is politically charged and therefore worthless in any serious discussion, much like this cherry-picked Wikipedia article above.
Roots of the U.S.-Israel Relationship
Jewish Influence in Early America
The mutual admiration between Israel and the United States is hardly a recent phenomenon.
The profound influence of Jewish tradition on America's Founding Fathers can be seen in the Constitution of the United States. Such influence should come as no surprise given John Adams' view expressed in a letter to Thomas Jefferson:
"I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize man than any other nation."
According to Woodrow Wilson, the ancient Jewish nation provided a model for the American colonists:
Recalling the previous experiences of the colonists in applying the Mosaic Code to the order of their internal life, it is not to be wondered at that the various passages in the Bible that serve to undermine royal authority, stripping the Crown of its cloak of divinity, held up before the pioneer Americans the Hebrew Commonwealth as a model government. In the spirit and essence of our Constitution, the influence of the Hebrew Commonwealth was paramount in that it was not only the highest authority for the principle, "that rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God," but also because it was in itself a divine precedent for a pure democracy, as distinguished from monarchy, aristocracy or any other form of government.
Jews also contributed directly to the American Revolution. President Calvin Coolidge paid tribute to their role in the War of Independence:
"The Jews themselves, of whom a considerable number were already scattered throughout the colonies, were true to the teachings of their prophets. The Jewish faith is predominantly the faith of liberty "
One original design for the official Seal for the United States, submitted by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, depicted the Israelites crossing the Red Sea with Pharaoh in pursuit and Mosesstanding on the other side. The motto was to have been: "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God." Another seal was chosen, but the Liberty Bell does bear an inscription from the Old Testament:
"And Proclaim Freedom Throughout The Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof" (Leviticus25:10).
Although it took some 2,000 years to resurrect Hebrew as a spoken language in early twentieth century Palestine, Hebrew was actually a prerequisite for early American scholars. Many universities even required it in their curriculum. Hebrew was compulsory at Harvard until 1787 and, to this day, Yale's insignia bears the Hebrew phrase, Urim V'Thummim (oracle learning).
America's Support for Zionism
American support for the age-old aspirations of the Jewish people to return to their homeland dates from the Colonial period when John Adams wrote: "I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation for, as I believe, the most enlightened men of it have participated in the amelioration of the philosophy of the age." John Quincy Adams wrote to Major Mordecai Manuel Noah that he believed in the "rebuilding of Judea as an independent nation."
Not long after the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln met a Canadian Christian Zionist, Henry Wentworth Monk, who expressed hope that Jews who were suffering oppression in Russia and Turkey be emancipated "by restoring them to their national home in Palestine." Lincoln said this was "a noble dream and one shared by many Americans." The President said his chiropodist was a Jew who "has so many times ‘put me upon my feet’ that I would have no objection to giving his countrymen ‘a leg up.’"
In 1883, Emma Lazarus, the poet whose words are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, wrote that Palestine should be as "a Home for the Homeless, a Goal for the Wanderer and an Asylum for the persecuted and a nation of the denationalized."
In 1891, pogroms incited by Czar Alexander III provoked an outcry by many prominent Americans, including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Speaker of the House. Rev. William E. Blackstone and Cardinal Gibbons presented a petition signed by those who were concerned about the fate of the Jews in Russia to President Benjamin Harrison and Secretary of State James Blaine. They called for the first international conference "to consider the Israelite claim to Palestine as their ancient home, and to promote in any other just and proper way the alleviation of their suffering condition."
Why not give Palestine back to the Jews again? According to God's distribution of nations, it is their home—an inalienable possession from which they were expelled by force. Under their cultivation was a remarkable fruitful land, sustaining millions of Israelites, who industrially tilled its hillsides and valleys. They were agriculturists and producers...the center of civilization and religion.
We believe this is an appropriate time for all nations, and especially the Christian nations of Europe, to show kindness to Israel...let us now restore to them the land of which they were so cruelly despoiled by our Roman ancestors.
Oooh, Jewish Virtual Library...it must be true. Another peice of over simplified cherry picking from Rude-eee.