Daniel J. Pipes

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A Spiritual Divide

Reader comment on item: "Jewish" - Not the Same as "Pro-Israel"

Submitted by Fay Voshell (United States), Aug 24, 2009 at 10:54

"Jews are adherents of a faith, not a political movement."

I absolutely agree; and therein lies the difference between those of faith who believe Israel's historical and theological legacy entitles them to the land vs. those who are converted to the religion of secularism and who believe Israel has no special entitlement to the land--or to much of anything else.

The division between the two camps is a matter of spiritual beliefs and committment to those beliefs. Never will the two reach agreement, as the one comes from a position of faith and the legacy of that faith and the other comes from the perspective of a realpolitik which regards Israel as just one among many nations--and a nation that's not particulalry important. For the secularist, Israel's legacy to the West, particularly to Christianity, is not regarded as a reason for favoring Israel; on the contrary, it is a reason for hatred and calumny on the part of those adamantly opposed to all peoples of faith.

For the multi-culturalist secularist, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is seen as having no more significance or importance than any other God or gods. Therefore the legacy of monotheism given to us by the Jews and passed on down through Christianity is of no more value than the gods of Greek and Roman mythology. All gods are suspect and equally repudiated regardless of the demonstrably invaluable legacy belief in the God of Israel has given the West and indeed the world.

Fay Voshell


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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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