New Christian Right Poses Serious Dilemma for U.S. Jews

Participants in a panel discussion on “The New Christian Right and the Jews” in America agreed that the vehement support of Israel on the part of right-wing Christian fundamentalists on the one hand and their reactionary, anti-liberal political and social views on the other hand, pose a serious dilemma for American Jews. But the panelists disagreed on how this dilemma should be approached.

The panel was part of the 1980 National Editors Conference of the Jewish Student Press Service held at American Jewish Congress headquarters here this week. The participants were Annette Daum, Interreligious Affairs Director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC), and Kenneth Jacobson, Middle East Affairs Director of the Anti-Defamtion League of B’nai B’rith. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Henry Feingold, professor of American Jewish history at City University of New York.

According to Jacobson, the fundamentalist Christian right and especially the Moral Majority movement headed by Rev. Jerry Falwell, demonstrates an “extremely strong pro-Zionist position” that American Jewry should cultivate and encourage.

But at the same time, he noted, the Jewish community should be aware that the motive of the Moral Majority in supporting Israel ” is not so pure from our point of view” because, he said, they see the ingathering of all the Jews in Israel as a precondition for the second coming of the Messiah.

CITES NEED FOR CLOSE EXAMINATION

Jacobson said that although this pro-Zionist stand should be cultivated, it poses a dilemma for American Jews because of the social policies of the new Christian right. He noted that these policies alienate supporters of Israel from other segments of society. As a case in point, he recalled that that outgoing Sen. Frank Church (D. Idaho), a staunch supporter

of Israel, refused to accept the Jabotinsky Award from Premier Menachem Begin last Nov. because Begin also bestowed it on Falwell.

Jacobson maintained that the need to cultivate the relationship between American Jewry and the fundamentalists is important in view of the little measure of support Israel enjoys in the rest of the world. He added, however, “American Jews have to examine on a multiplicity of levels their relations with the Moral Majority and not on the issue of support of Israel alone.” He said Jews should consider the impact the views of the Moral Majority will have on Jewish life in America in years to come.

WARNS OF INHERENT DANGER

A different approach was advocated by Daum who called on American Jews to come out “in the open” against the Moral Majority despite their support of Israel. She warned that if the opinions and views of the Moral Majority are translated into political power, America will face “a new repressive era” which, she warned, would be “dangerous to the Jews.”

Daum said, “We should appreciate the support (of the Moral Majority for Israel) but yet we should not give them awards. We are going to end with egg on our faces. We have to fight them in the open. ” She added that the American Jewish community is against the agenda of the Moral Majority on social, educational and economic issues.

Feingold said the fundamentalist Christians are “wonderfully Zionist” but they have a different approach to power than the Jews who believe in complete separation of church and state.