US Jews feel threatened by religious right
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. Jewish leaders say they are increasingly worried that Christian conservatives want to turn America politically and culturally into a country that tolerates only their brand of Christianity.
"There is a feeling on all sides that something is changing," said Abraham Foxman, director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League.
"The polls indicate a very serious thing -- that over 60 percent of the American people feel that religion and Christianity are under attack," he said on Thursday in an interview.
"Some are saying we are attacking (Christianity). This whole movement is not anti-Semitic or motivated by anti-Semitism. But sometimes unintended consequences are much more serious than intended" he added.
More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051215/us_nm/religion_jews_dcResurgence Of Religious Right Among Top Concerns
"The resurgence of conservative Christianity was one of the key issues affecting American Jewry in the past year, according to a new report.
The attempt by evangelical groups to “reclaim America for Christianity” was named as “a key domestic challenge to the Jewish community” in the Anti-Defamation League’s annual top-ten list.
The increased role played by religion in the country’s public sphere was reflected elsewhere on the hate watchdog’s list, highlighting the intense public debate on America’s legally-enshrined separation of church and state.
The list points out that a special report commissioned in June supported claims of “a pernicious climate of religious intolerance” at a Colarado Air Force base and that a new Congressional petition backing the right of chaplains to use specifically Christian language proved the problem was still current."
More:
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/world/?content_id=2333Rev. Donald Wildmon threatens Jews who criticize the Christian right
According to one prominent Christian evangelical, support for Israel may go on the chopping block if Jewish leaders persist in publicly criticizing the religious right.
Don Wildmon, president of the evangelical American Family Association, had sharp words for the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, during the December 5 broadcast of his daily radio program: "The more (Foxman) says that 'you people are destroying this country,' (the more) some people are going to begin to get fed up with this and say, 'Well, all right then. If that's the way you feel, then we just won't support Israel anymore.' "
Wildmon's comment is the latest thrust in an ongoing duel between liberal Jewish leaders and the religious right after Foxman condemned what he called a campaign "to Christianize America" in a November 3 speech at the ADL's national commission meeting. Foxman specifically mentioned reports of alleged religious coercion at the U.S. Air Force Academy and continued pressure for federal funding of faith-based initiatives as sources of concern.
More:
http://www.forward.com/articles/7059