Call to combat ‘Christian Right’ creates outrage

NEW YORK — A battle cry by a major American Jewish leader to rally against the Christian Right is being met by some of his peers with skepticism and, in a few cases, outrage. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said the Jewish community must counter what he called a sophisticated approach by the religious right to dismantle the separation of church and state. “We are facing an emerging Christian Right leadership that intends to ‘Christianize’ all aspects of American life,” Foxman said at the group’s national commission meeting Nov. 3 in New York.

Many Jewish community leaders draw a different conclusion.

For one, the strict separation of church and state is not universally embraced, said Nathan Diament, director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations. “You encourage pluralism by not insisting on secularization of the public square but insisting upon government neutrality,” said Diament, whose office has supported government funding for faith-based institutions.

Others say ADL’s strategy is the wrong approach, especially given the strong support by the evangelical community for Israel when the Jewish state has found few allies.