The Biggest Threat to Freedom? The Christian Right, Say Jews

Jewish Leaders Mull Christian Right

from United Press International

New York - U.S. Jewish leaders met in New York Monday to develop a strategy for coping with the Christian conservative movement, which they see as a threat.

Led by Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, and Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the men will assess what Foxman claims is Christians' goal to "Christianize America," The Washington Times reported.

In a Nov. 3 speech at an ADL function in New York, Foxman said the biggest enemies to civil liberties were the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Focus on the Family; the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund; the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association; and the Family Research Council, based in Washington.

"It's absolutely an issue," said Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia.

"They aren't using outright violence themselves," he said of the religious right. "But they are one step down from people who are ready to use the coercive powers of the state to impose their own religious outlook."