THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040013
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By ISRAEL ZOBERMAN
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
One of the poignant lessons of the Jewish people's story is not to take for granted a hospitable environment which confers equality on all its children. That must mean that we have a stake in preserving and enhancing the quality of American life. Eternal vigilance is the nonequitable price that comes along with the precious benefits of a great democratic system of government.
The United States has flourished due in large measure to its built-in pluralism, a complex and delicate texture that would unravel without one essential thread - the traditional separation between church and state as guaranteed in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
That principle has been under attack by powerful forces committed to replacing the enviable American way of life with their own sectarian vision. The Religious Right, potentially embracing 50 million Americans, first flexed its considerable muscle at the 1980 presidential elections and has kept faithful to its promise to try to change America as we know it. The proponents of our nation as an exclusively Christian one have proved to be creative and resourceful.
Let us not take lightly a movement with a sense of mission, particularly one with a mixture of religious and political aspirations that also happens to have friends in some of the highest offices in the land. In spite of its flirtation with the State of Israel, I assume that the Religious Right counts the Jews among those who will yet have to see the light.
There is surely no better place to begin implementing one's radical plan than in the mind of a child. It is no wonder that our public schools have turned into contested arenas, with children becoming pawns in a scheme to recreate American society. I believe that God should, indeed, be present in our public-education system, but not in a subjective manner upholding certain religious approaches clearly identified or nebulous. God is found where caring, sensitivity, concern and learning permeate the classroom, where a student's and teacher's sacred heritage and secular curriculum are not compromised by undue pressure to conform to enforced guidelines of religious expression. Genesis was not intended to be a scientific textbook. Its thrust was and remains to instill an appreciation for revered ideas and principles. The cause of religion in best served when its teachings and guidelines are expounded upon in one's church, synagogue and mosque, where interpretation is offered according to one's traditions.
While we should be candid about our fundamental disagreement with the Religious Right, we are duty-bound to emphasize to its supporters and to ourselves that we also share a common agenda:
The urgent need to strengthen family life, though we part ways on issues of reproductive choice and lifestyles.
The significance of transcendent values and time-tested ideals in a perversely secular and materialistic environment.
The positive contribution religion can and should make to the individual and community.
The obligation to consciously remedy the ills and shortcomings we face.
Working together on these weighty themes which unite us all would hopefully provide us the indispensable platform to discuss differences of purpose and approach. Our opponents need to know that a wrong kind of medication can be fatal to a patient. So it is with improper means employed toward beneficial ends.
We Jews are not alone in our apprehension, joined as we are by concerned fellow Americans across lines of religious and political affiliation. Only through such a wide coalition will we respond most effectively to the challenges confronting the entire American system. A time of crisis is a time of opportunity. May we all dedicate ourselves anew to the kind of America we dare not do without. MEMO: Rabbi Zoberman is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Chaverim in
Virginia Beach.
by CNB