{"id":157,"date":"2008-09-24T11:17:24","date_gmt":"2008-09-24T11:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2008\/09\/the-jewish-vote-a-backlash-aga.html"},"modified":"2008-09-24T11:17:24","modified_gmt":"2008-09-24T11:17:24","slug":"the-jewish-vote-a-backlash-aga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2008\/09\/the-jewish-vote-a-backlash-aga.html","title":{"rendered":"The Jewish Vote – A Backlash Against Christians?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should or shouldn’t Jews vote for John McCain? \u00a0What effect does his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate (apparently instead of Joe Lieberman) whose religious world view is frightening and repellent to most Jewish voters have on their decision? \u00a0This is the subject of on-line discussions that have caught fire recently. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Rabbi Brad Hirshfield argues that making a decision to vote against Palin because of her religious beliefs amounts to religious bigotry against Christians comparable to those who voted against Joe Lieberman because he was a Jew. \u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He writes:\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There are many reasons not to support Sarah Palin, but the fact of her religious affiliation is not one of them. In fact, I am actually a little ashamed of Jews who object to Sara Palin because of what she believes. How did it feel when we heard that people were uncomfortable supporting Joe Lieberman, not because he was a Democrat, but because he was a Jew? In fact, Jews worried about that phenomenon far more than it ever materialized, but that’s another story.”<\/p>\n

On the other hand, an article on Israel News lays out the very particular world views that Palin’s church espouses that points to the problem that the candidate will have with Jewish voters. \u00a0The article features a video recorded at Palin’s home church featuring Jews for Jesus president, David Brickner, who apparently asserts that terrorism is God’s punishment on the Jews for not accepting Christ. \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The article asks:<\/p>\n

“There are some questions that one hopes will be resolved about the incident – was Alaska Governor Palin in attendance at the Wasilla Bible Church* while the current head of Jews For Jesus, David Brickner, asserted that the gruesome deaths, maiming and disfigurement of Israelis caught in Palestinian suicide bombing attacks should rightly be blamed on those victims themselves because of a collective Jewish refusal to accept Jesus en-masse, as a collective people ?”<\/span><\/p>\n


As a Christian minister I do not think it is religious bigotry to challenge this world view of Brickner and the pastor of Wasilla Bible Church who invited him. \u00a0In fact, I think it is a moral obligation of all people of any religion to challenge those who see violence as a revelation of God which conveniently supports their own objectives. \u00a0 Rabbi\u00a0Jonathan Sacks warns: “When religion is invoked as a justification for conflict, religious voices must be raised in protest. We must withhold the robe of sanctity when it is sought as a cloak for violence and bloodshed. If faith is enlisted in the cause of war, there must be an equal and opposite counter-voice in the name of peace. If religion is not part of a solution, it will certainly be part of the problem.” Just as Barack Obama refuted his pastor’s position post 9\/11, so\u00a0David Brickner should be challenged on this dangerous theology – and Governor Palin should be the first to do it. \u00a0Not to win Jewish votes. \u00a0But because it is the right thing to do. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should or shouldn’t Jews vote for John McCain? \u00a0What effect does his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate (apparently instead of Joe Lieberman) whose religious world view is frightening and repellent to most Jewish voters have on their decision? \u00a0This is the subject of on-line discussions that have caught fire recently. \u00a0 Rabbi Brad…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,13,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-08","category-evangelicals","category-jews"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Jewish Vote - A Backlash Against Christians? - Progressive Revival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2008\/09\/the-jewish-vote-a-backlash-aga.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Jewish Vote - A Backlash Against Christians? 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Paul B. Raushenbush is the moderator of the Progressive Revival blog and the Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University. .An ordained American Baptist minister, Rev. Raushenbush speaks and preaches at colleges, churches and institutes around the country including the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., The Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York, and the New America Foundation. Rev. Raushenbush has served at Seattle First Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Chaplaincy at Columbia University and as College and Young Adult Minister at The Riverside Church in New York City. He has appeared on ABC World News Tonight and is a repeated guest on CNN. He has been quoted in The New York Times and The Washington Post and is a contributing editor for Beliefnet.com. His first book, Teen Spirit: One World, Many Faiths (HCI) was released in the Fall of 2004. He is the editor of the 100th Anniversary edition of Walter Rauschenbusch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s book Christianity and the Social Crisis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c In the 21st Century (HarperOne). His work at Princeton includes strengthening the interfaith community on campus. He is the Co-Director of the Program on Religion, Diplomacy and International Relations at The Liechtenstein Institute on Self Determination at Princeton University. Rev. Raushenbush studied religion at Macalester College before attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City where he graduated with distinction.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/praushenbush"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}