The Election and Religion 

By Rabbi David Eidensohn

Looming large is the election. Old America will enter a private and closed booth and become the New America. As Lincoln said in his second annual message to Congress in 1862, “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of Earth.” America, long a haven of toleration and biblical love of another, despite its human flaws and imperfections, stands now almost alone on earth as a nation whose governmental leaders profess respect for biblical religion and family values.

The election’s two battling camps have two distinct idealisms. Each believes that the idealism of the other is a menace. Family people distrust the secular ethic, and secular people fear religion. Each camp thus attempts to sustain itself by denigrating the other. It would therefore seem that the election will determine the success or failure of either camp, but it is not so simple.

A Kerry win will not destroy religion. Clinton did a lot for religion. When people realized how far the country has declined and how shameful its immorality is, religion beckons. Religion thrives under attack, especially when the attacker shatters families and destroys society. The very fact that a sincerely and openly religious person is President of the United States is an incredible thing, for those old enough to realize it. When I was young, such a thing was unthinkable.

Europe is at war with traditional religion. Even the Spanish government is pulling out the stops to reduce the influence of the Church. A visceral contempt of America so prevalent in Europeans is aroused to fury when President Bush proclaims religious values.

People fear religion because religion is a very powerful force, and very hard to defeat. Interestingly enough, the Talmud predicts a time before the Messianic Era when governments (but not individuals) will turn to denial. Governments may turn from religion, but the soul in each individual is alive and thriving. The Communists and Nazis did everything they could to destroy traditional religion, but failed. Despite the present popularity of secularism and the general disdain of religion, one cannot count religion out. It walks with practiced steps over the graves of those who sought to extinguish it.

Even as the American government and culture becomes more secularized and colder to religious values, religion increases. In the community where I live, the increase in religious people in the past generation is enormous. However, the government and visible forces of society are opposed to religion or perversely “neutral.”

Religion will only thrive when the large community of religious people realize who their enemies are. During the twenties and thirties, Stalin slaughtered millions of people, to the cheers of the Left. Stalin was against old fashioned religion, and that mattered. Germany turned to social Darwinism after the First World War, and embraced Hitler, the ultimate evolutionist. When atheists inform society and attack religion, we have gay marriage, Hitler and Stalin. When religious people arouse themselves, we have America, flourishing families, home of the free and religious freedom. If the Gay Lobby wins the next election, our freedom of religion will be circumscribed.

A victory for Kerry will destroy the traditional respect for women, the traditional respect for religion, and the traditional respect for family. America will move into the global climate of hate for religion and gay marriage. Those who are out of the loop, who “don’t get it,” will have a hostile government after them. Tax exemptions for religious organizations that oppose homosexuality will be challenged in hugely expensive law suits. Judges appointed by the New Order will come down hard on the “haters” and “inciters” who believe in the bible and its family values. Public schools, and maybe even private schools, will teach that anyone who is not pro-gay is a hater. We all know what the worst evil in the world is–“hate.”

Actually, we must pity the secular haters of religion. On the one side, especially in Europe, are communities where each week fanatics preach enough hate to fill the Hindenburg. On the other side are Western people of religious persuasion. Each of these groups, enemies of the secularists, has large demographics, whereas secular people have less than minimal replacement children. Thus, ultimately the secular people will disappear, or at least, decline, and the religious communities will triumph.

The secular people have only one solution. They must control or destroy the religious people. When they realize that they can’t control or destroy the Moslem fanatics, they give in to them and hope for the best. With Western religious people, however, they anticipate control or destruction of their enemies. However, even if there were some kind of victory and decision in the struggle between Western people, secular and religious, whoever wins will have to deal with the upsurge of Islam.

Thus, secular Westerners have a poor prognosis. This does not deter them. As long as they can control the culture, the colleges, and the government, they will not worry about the distant future. On the other hand, any victory they win will be shadowed by fear of the future.

The world is a scary place. Other than America, family values are hard to come by. We must vote to ensure that America remains, not only a bastion for family and religion, but also a beacon of liberty and courage to those who oppose the atheists and terror. There was a time, not so long ago, when a President said in his inaugural address, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

President Kennedy meant those words, but Viet Nam crippled our resolve, and emboldened those who bombed us on September 11. President Bush has the courage to revive our tradition. Let the bombers and the family destroyers beware.