Judeo-Christian Archives - Dr. Rich Swier

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) signed a law last week requiring that the Ten Commandments be hung in every public classroom in the state. At a time of spiraling anti-Semitism, this welcome embrace of the primary symbol representing Judeo-Christian values should be deeply appreciated by the Jewish community.

Yet unsurprisingly, many Jewish groups were “deeply concerned” by the move, as was the New Orleans Jewish Federation. The Jewish Federation is the name of the umbrella organization representing the local Jewish community. It is fairly common for the largely liberal Jewish establishment to see public displays of religion as a sign of some nefarious Christian agenda.

Sadly, progressive Jewish groups have long been at the forefront of the fight against the Ten Commandments. These groups took great pride back in 2005 in arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court that public displays of the Ten Commandments undermine religious freedom and the pluralistic nature of American society. The Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Congress, Union for Reform Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis and the American Jewish Committee all supplied amicus briefs opposing Ten Commandment displays in McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union in 2005.

Reform Rabbi David Saperstein testified before the House Judiciary Committee, “The principle of separation of church and state is not merely a legal doctrine; it is a practical necessity in a religiously diverse society like ours. Governmental endorsement of religion undermines religious freedom and breeds divisiveness. Displaying the Ten Commandments in public buildings is not about honoring their historical significance; it is about endorsing a particular religious view.”

Liberal Jewish opposition to the public display of the Ten Commandments is predictable but unwise. If American Jews want to remain safe in the United States, we must reverse our community’s official opposition to public displays of the Bible, applaud Governor Landry, and do everything we can to display the Ten Commandments in the rest of the 49 states.

State Representative Michael Bayham (R), who co-authored the bill, defended the measure in an interview with The Washington Post, saying “The Ten Commandments is about civilization and right and wrong; it does not say you have to be this particular faith or that particular faith.”

Tragically, in the two decades since the McCreary case, the religiously diverse and tolerant society that liberal Jews have long championed no longer exists in the United States. Rather than an open minded liberal environment, America has adopted deviant and hateful ideologies at the expense of the Judeo-Christian values that are represented by the Ten Commandments. The result? Skyrocketing anti-Semitism and an uncertain future for American Jews.

American cities are riddled with crime, families are in shambles, and businesses are crumbling, unable to simply prevent shoplifting. States that decline to teach the divine decree against murder invite crime. Nations that do not condemn adultery invite promiscuity. Societies that fail to warn against stealing invite theft. At the ceremonial signing of the bill, Governor Landry explained his motivation, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”

History teaches us that whenever a society deteriorates, Jews become the first scapegoats. It is not difficult to trace the degradation of American morality in recent decades to the violent attacks on Jews that are occurring today in American cities on a daily basis. A return to basic principles is in order, and the Jewish community should lead the way in promoting biblical teachings. As Jews who were chosen by God to teach the world the principles encapsulated succinctly by the Ten Commandments, we should be encouraging more states to follow Louisiana’s lead.

The Ten Commandments are not merely “a particular religious view” but are the universal moral principles that America and Western Civilization were built upon. The public display of the Ten Commandments is a reaffirmation of these sacred values and their importance in maintaining a just and moral society.

American Jews are at a turning point. The liberal establishment that we took great pride in shaping has abandoned us. Thankfully, Christian lawmakers like Governor Landry have not abandoned the Bible. Hopefully, American Jews will learn from our Christian friends and allies that we share the same biblical values and its time our two communities start working closely together.

AUTHOR

Rabbi Tuly Weisz

Rabbi Tuly Weisz is the founder of Israel365.com and the editor of “The Israel Bible,” which are both dedicated to strengthening relationships between Jews and Christians in support of Israel.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Recently I was discussing strategies for educating the public regarding scientific realities concerning a technical matter (e.g., climate, energy, medical), and an ally said: “We need to be careful not to offend anyone!”

OMG!

Let’s unpack that concern and assess its legitimacy.

To begin with, the Left has created a broad collection of new standards (like social justice). If we listen closely, we will see that their communications are now infused with value assessments (e.g., Democrats calling a border wall “immoral”).

This has bled into areas of Science — which should be based on facts, not subjective values. For example, leading Climate Change advocate, Dr. Michael Mann, stated that he is “fighting on the right side of a battle between good and evil.”

In the same vein, carefully consider this official statement from the Dean of Duke’s prestigious Nicholas School of the Environment, on receiving that appointment:

“At a time when we’re so deeply divided as a society, and issues seem to grow more contentious daily, we can no longer treat environmental issues as solely scientific or technical problems. We have to wade into the complex value choices that are at the heart of policy decisions. Science will always be a central and essential input into the decision-making process, but policy decisions require choices. And choices reflect values.”

What is going on here?

Basically. this is part of a larger campaign, where our traditional Judeo-Christian standards (an integral part of America’s foundation) are being attacked, undermined, discarded, and replaced.

They argue that traditional religions are archaic, corrupted, and inappropriate for today’s “enlightened” world. (The trend of this thinking is clear.)

Note: They employ similar arguments against traditional Science!

However, as Carl Jung (the founder of analytical psychology) insightfully observed: “You can take away a man’s gods — but only to give him others in return.” (Ironically this was in one of his greatest books, where a key message was: “the future depends on our ability to resist society’s mass movements.”)

Essentially what is transpiring is that the Left is following Jung’s insight by substituting a secular religion for traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs.

The core belief of this new religion is environmentalism. It doesn’t take much reflection to see that environmentalism has literally evolved into a religion (e.g., see here, here, here, and here).

OK, so what?

Well, the first so what is that we need to appreciate that this is an important element in the campaign to promote world governance (vs individual countries that we have now). The idea is that if we all have the same world belief system, then there will be little resistance to the concept of a world government.

But there are a multitude of unanswered questions about this new global secular religion, like:

Exactly who is it that determines what the acceptable “values” are?
Specifically where are these fundamental “values” published?
Who has the judicial authority to ascertain whether we are properly adhering to these said “values”?
Who has the power to punish the miscreants who do not properly adhere to these said “values”?

OMG. The implications of these matters are literally unfathomable.

Just to make sure that they have covered all the bases, the Left is promoting an alternative to secular religions: relativism. This gives them new power, as “a true relativist can do anything and doesn’t have to respect the views of anyone.”

This brief overview brings us back to the initial question: is it rational to set up criteria that we engage with the Left, and do not offend any of them?

Since they are making up “standards” — usually self-serving, and often on the fly — there is no possible way of not offending them. Of course, that is one of their objectives — so they then can play the victim…

The answer is to do Critical Thinking — and then speak the Truth. If it offends someone, that’s their problem.

Here are other materials by this scientist that you might find interesting:

Check out the Archives of this Critical Thinking substack.

WiseEnergy.org: discusses the Science (or lack thereof) behind our energy options.

C19Science.info: covers the lack of genuine Science behind our COVID-19 policies.

Election-Integrity.info: multiple major reports on the election integrity issue.

Media Balance Newsletter: a free, twice-a-month newsletter that covers what the mainstream media does not do, on issues from COVID to climate, elections to education, renewables to religion, etc. Here are the Newsletter’s 2024 Archives. Please send me an email to get your free copy. When emailing me, please make sure to include your full name and the state where you live. (Of course, you can cancel the Media Balance Newsletter at any time – but why would you?

Tag Archive for: Judeo-Christian

Jews Should Advocate for Public Displays of the Ten Commandments in All 50 States

Rabbi Tuly Weisz