Anti-Semitism: to fight it we must teach Judeo-Christian morality
US House overwhelmingly passes Holocaust education act aimed to fight anti-Semitism. The bipartisan bill allocates $10 million dollars for the expansion of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s education programming. However, that is not enough.
The only effective way to fight the anti-Semitism is to begin teaching in schools, colleges and in other public (and of course, religious) institutions the course on Judeo-Christian morality and its crucial role in creating the Western Civilization. Unfortunately, although major Jewish and Christian religious leaders understood it, they are afraid of it since it may force them to reexamine some of their cherished religious tenets.
Here are the major thoughts the teaching of the Judeo-Christian morality should be based upon – best of all, in the framework of teaching the US Constitution or the history of Western Civilization.
The morality is what distinguish the humans from everything else
The morality distinguishes the humans from everything else what surrounds the humans in this world. The morality guides the humans to define what is GOOD and should be supported, and what is BAD and should be suppressed. The humans are grouped into nations distinguished by their unique morality versions, and the moralities’ clash creates either peaceful creative competition or disastrous wars.
The source of human morality named God
Until the (our) God’s overhaul of human morality, the morality was pagan (with numerous false gods) at the core of which was the belief that a lot of GOOD might be in the neighboring tribe, and the best way to get it is to militarily defeat this tribe and capture all available GOOD stuff.
Then, God intervened, and the process began of changing the pagan morality to what is called nowadays in America the Judeo-Christian morality.
What is God
For this discussion, God should be defined not as many orthodox religions define it but simply as the Supreme Power above us the humans that – in some already scientifically proven or still mysterious ways – forces us to follow its guidance.
What is God’s moral guidance
In short, the Golden Rule – do not do to the others what you do not want to be done to you.
In the first written form – the Ten Commandments.
In the detailed spiritual form – the Torah/Bible.
In “the image and likeness of God” – be unique creative individual.
In the form of social collective organization – individual freedoms and responsibilities over government authoritarianism.
In the simple human attitudes – the feelings of spiritual and economic happiness for everybody.
The Jews as the chosen by God to propagate the God’s moral guidance to the others
At the time of God’s delivery of the morality guidance there were many pagan tribes, and one tribe, which is nowadays the Jewish nation, was chosen to propagate God’s moral guidance to other tribes. Why? – Most probable, because this tribe was the best to understand the God’s morality guidance and the best to propagate it.
God first spoke with Abraham of the Jewish tribe (19 century BC), and then delivered the written Ten Commandment to Moses at the Mount Sinai (13 century BC).
From the Torah: As the Children of Israel waited to cross into the Promised Land, Moses leaves them with the following simple instruction, “… Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deut 30:19). – Not death as was with the pagan morality, and this was the beginning of spiritual travel to the Golden Rule!
The God’s selection of the Jews to be the Chosen does not preclude the possibility that in the other parts of the world, let’s say in China or India, another tribe might be selected to be the Chosen for that part of the world.
The non-Jews as the recipients of the God’s morality guidance
After a long period of learning how to live along the lines of God’s morality guidance, the Jews began propagating the God’s morality guidance to the others, and the teachings of Rabbi Joshua for the non-Jews created a version of the God’s morality tailored to the life circumstances and traditions of the non-Jews.
Until this point in time, there was the God’s morality for the Jews – there were no organized institutions of religion – organized to enforce the God’s morality for the Jews! There was no organized religion of Judaism.
However, about two thousand years ago the life under the God’s morality changed. Two things had changed at that time – the Jews were expelled from their native land (the Promised Land) and dispersed all around the world, and the God’s morality for the non-Jews began its own non-Jewish life.
At this time in the history, the organized religions became shaping up – the organized religions of Judaism and Christianity.
In the Exile, the small Jewish communities created the institute of Synagogues and Rabbis to preserve and enforce the God’s morality as well as to tailor the God’s morality guidance to completely new life conditions – that was the beginning of the religion of Judaism.
At the same time the non-Jews used the teaching of Rabbi Joshua to create the institute of Priests and Churches to enforce the God’s morality for their own non-Jewish historic traditions – Rabbi Joshua became Jesus Christ and the non-Jewish organized religion became Christianity.
In other parts of the world, different organized religions were created.
The Judeo-Christian morality as the spiritual foundation of Western Civilization and Judeo-Christian America
The organized religions of Judaism and Christianity played a crucial role in strengthening the God’s morality guidance and tailoring it to various unique human life conditions.
Such tailoring brought the spiritual divisions and numerous streams of Judaism and Christianity were created frequently fighting each other.
However, despite many centuries of hostility between the Jews and the Christians the combined Judeo-Christian unifying national morality was beginning to crystallize, and this morality created the Western Civilization with its unique variety in the Judeo-Christian America.
Unfortunate modern tendency to disregard the role of organized religions of Judaism and Christianity in creating our national morality
The fear of naming our national morality the Judeo-Christian one is unjustified! For many years from the very beginning the Judaism and Christianity were strengthening our morality, and we must respect it even if we can explain nowadays many things better scientifically and philosophically. We must respect our religions in the same way as we respect the wisdom of our forefathers although we know much more.
The USA as any other nation must have its own morality that is its unique identity. Without a unique national identity/morality a nation perishes.
This identity for the USA is the unique American Judeo-Christian morality which is at the foundation of both the American Nation and the religious institutions of Judaism and Christianity.
Other religions and ideologies may function in the nation, but they should function at the community level without harming the national Judeo-Christian morality and the governing system based on this morality.
The Jewish contribution in creating the Western Civilization and Judeo-Christian America
The Jewish contribution in creating the Western civilization and Judeo-Christian America are great indeed in both the national identities/moralities of the nations of Western Judeo-Christian civilization, and in the material wellbeing of these nations that result in the happiness of the great majority. The people of the Judeo-Christian Western civilization live much better than the people in other civilizations and the Judeo-Christian Western world is therefore the immigration magnet for the people from other civilizations.
The anti-Semitism as the ignorance about Jewish contribution in creating the Judeo-Christian America and Western Civilization
The anti-Semitism is rooted in the acknowledgement that the Jews are different and what is different might be frightening for many. The anti-Semites believe that much of their unhappiness is caused by the actions of these different and “all-powerful” Jews. However, the anti-Semites are not aware that what they are happy with in their life is due to a great degree to the efforts of these different and “all-powerful” people. Thus, the education about Jewish contribution to the happiness of the people in the Western Judeo-Christian civilization should be the major tool in fighting the anti-Semitism.
Spasibo, Volodya – great article!