Farewell, Forward readers. Owing to the tolerant and genuinely pluralistic editorship of J.J. Goldberg and Oren Rawls, I’ve had the privilege these past five years of speaking to this newspaper’s mostly liberal readership. I have done my best to articulate a religiously and politically conservative worldview rarely heard in the Jewish community.
Now the time has come to make way for other voices on these worthy opinion pages. But before I sign off, I thought I would spend this last column addressing a question I’ve never clarified for you. Namely, why do I fight?
The subject is timely for me. Lately I’ve come in for a fair amount of personal abuse from fellow Jews. (It wasn’t a new experience, so don’t worry about me. It all rolls off by now.)
The occasion was my noting in recent articles the indebtedness of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” to evolutionist arguments traceable to Charles Darwin’s “Descent of Man,” with its talk of how natural selection means the “civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace throughout the world the savage races.”
Hitler’s debt illustrates the way any picture of reality purporting to offer answers to ultimate questions inevitably suggests ethical corollaries. That’s as true of evolutionary theory as it is of Judaism, in very different ways.
This did not go down well with, among others, Forward Arts & Culture columnist Jay Michaelson. On the Web site Jewcy.com he denounced me as a “Jewish Uncle Tom.” Elsewhere I was decried, mostly by Jews, with a wild disregard for truth as a “self-hating Jew,” a “Hitler sympathizer” who thinks “Hitler was right about the Jews,” and who “excuses Christians from their role in the Holocaust.”
Oh brother. At least most conservatives are more civilized in public discourse.
So are Christians, in troubling respects, compared to us Jews. A few days ago, I spoke about the Ten Commandments at a Presbyterian church. I gave a Jewish perspective that challenged my listeners on various sensitive points where Jews and Christians differ, notably on Sabbath observance. Yet the response was entirely genial, welcoming and curious.
Frankly, why do I bother addressing fellow Jews at all, especially liberals? Apart from the obvious reason that I’m Jewish, and thus I care far more about what Jews believe than about Christians, I admit to a tendency to sheer contrariness.
My experience since college has been that a dynamic in liberalism is inclined more than conservatism to insist on uniformity of opinion. When I find everyone agreeing with me, I get nervous and bored. In arguing for Judaism, I can always count on getting an outraged argument from Jews.In this, I’m just following a teaching laid down in Jewish tradition. The wise King Jehoshaphat was able to see through the false pretenses of 400 prophets of Baal, pretending to be believers in Israel’s God.
How? Jehoshaphat observed that the Baal prophets were lockstep in their way of expressing themselves. They all said the same thing. True prophets would be less uniform in their messages (Rashi on 1 Kings 22:7).
More seriously, my children are Jewish and I care about their moral future, as I do about my own. An overwhelming theme of Jewish religious literature is that the way a culture thinks about God will ultimately determine how people influenced by that culture interact with each other, whether with respect and civility or with arrogance and vulgarity.
The increasing secularization of our culture, a phenomenon I’ve written about here many times, makes it harder for us to be as good as we have the potential to be. Remember what I said about a picture of reality necessarily having ethical corollaries.
In the pervasively influential secular worldview, people are nothing more than an aspect of nature. We are limited by nature’s “iron logic,” as a bestselling author concisely put it not long ago.
That author passionately rejected the piece of Jewish “effrontery” that says, “Man’s role is to overcome Nature!” He mourned, “Millions thoughtlessly parrot this Jewish nonsense and end up by really imagining that they themselves represent a kind of conqueror of Nature.”
The author was Hitler, and the book was “Mein Kampf,” which sold 6 million copies by 1940. He would be startled to find that today’s liberalism, Jewish and otherwise, is premised on the rejection of overcoming our nature.
This is clearest in debates where public policy touches upon sexuality. Should government endorse sexual expression of all kinds — among school kids and same-sex couples, for example, all simply acting according to their nature and their hormones — or not? Liberals who favor condom-distribution in schools and state-sponsored gay marriage disagree with conservative who oppose such measures.
But as Jewish sages have taught for millennia, to overcome your nature is why God put you on earth. The message that nature’s “iron logic” should determine our values is one that poses a danger to everyone who is tempted to do wrong — that is, to every single one of us. Myself very much included, we are seduced by naturalism to listen to our worst selves.
When I write on this theme, especially in a Jewish context, I am reminding myself and my children of a Jewish truth that we can’t afford to forget. That is why I fight. Thank you, Forward, for the opportunity to do so unimpeded in your pages.
David Klinghoffer, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, is the author of “Shattered Tablets: Why We Disregard the Ten Commandments at Our Peril” (Doubleday, 2007) and the forthcoming “How Would God Vote? Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Conservative” (Doubleday).
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"I have done my best to articulate a religiously and politically conservative worldview rarely heard in the Jewish community." The Jewish community is drowning in a sea of ever-rightward-shifting rhetoric. Those who hold that the facts contradict the pronouncements of religion are held to be anti-Semites, the thesis that your argument advances. Tolerance is unacceptable; only capitulation to the most extreme and unreasonable dictates, whether in matters of religious opinion or in matters of war, will do, it seems. "At least most conservatives are more civilized in public discourse." You must be thinking of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Ann Coulter. As for your arguments concerning sexuality, I agree with your overall point, but note that many of those who make the biggest shows of religiosity are also the biggest sinners in this regard. I am thinking of evangelical preachers, Catholic priests, and religious Jews. You want to be careful not to walk into an argument where people take advantage of a moral truth to exploit your gullibility. Good luck in arriving at what I, and the majority of Jews, FDR Democrats still, think of as a well-reasoned and balanced view of the proper relation between religion and politics.
I found Klinghoffer's rejection of scientific method and his conflation of Darwinian principals with Hitler not just outside the liberal Jewish world, but outside of the moderate-right Modern Orthodox world. What a shame to implode in order to promote the views of the far-right Christian world. I blog at: http://kvetcher.net
Although conservative, I have never been a fan of Klinghoffer. He's certainly not the brightest candle on the menorah. I thought he did a poor job of articulating the conservative world view. We may never recover from the damage done to our country by the liberal left. From attacks on the family, to promoting indecency and deviancy, the secularization of society, etc. etc. That Jews are mostly liberal is a tragedy for Judaism. NEWS FLASH: This just in, FDR is dead!! So is his democratic party.
Klinghoffer is just pointing out the line of reasoning from philosophical materialism to the belief in the idiotic, man-made concept of "race." Judaism does not deny the facts about evolution; it just denies that it all happened by chance. To deny that Hitler was influenced by Darwinian principles is not the same as saying Darwinists are Nazis. Hitler was influenced by Darwinian principles; it's just a fact. On sexuality, Klinghoffer does not deny that there has been hypocracy. However, there are worst things than being a hypocrite. Just because someone doesn't live up to the ethical/religious standards they advocate does not mean you should throw out the ethical/religious standards. And Klinghoffer has noted previously that this is an even stronger argument for political and religious conservatism. Sexuality in our culture has been poisoned by the Left.
I fully agree with Brad R. and DK. I write only to point out that Klinghoffer's book on Why the Jews Rejected Jesus -- unlike his columns -- is fun, interesting, and meaningful. It can be read without regard to political leanings.
Well, thank goodness we don't have to read this “self-hating, Hitler-sympathizing Jewish Uncle Tom's excuses for Christianity's role in the Holocaust" on this website again. Personally, I don't find Klinghoffer self-hating so much as self-pitying: ain't it hard being a lonely conservative? What power does a conservative opinion maker have in this country--aside from the White House, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the New York Sun, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, the Fox News Network, thousands of web blogs, talk shows, e-mail lists, etc. etc. etc. Now maybe Klinghoffer can devote his time like Charles Krauthammer to the really important issues facing the nation, like whether Barack Obama is a secret Muslim, a Christian worshipping with a fanatical pastor, or a secular liberal elitist. For my part, I say goodbye to him, and good riddance.
I have often raged at some pro-Jewish Evangelicals as frauds and amoral entrepreneurs (French for the guy in-between taking from all sides a bakshish and runnig before all falls down), but always knowing that most, most of the time, sought to be ethical. But, having come to know many pro-Evangelical Jews personally, I could never rage against them. Of course, here I don't include the ex-commie camellia neocons who peddled influence for a handout by calling for World War IV in order to keep strategic weapons industries at Cold War levels; but these were never real Jews, having been non-observant amoral secularists. They can be seen from their affiliation with the dirtiest and craziest of the "pastors"-- tax exempt entrepreneurs-- and their literally "flocks of sheep." Yet, moral Jews , survivors of both Hitler's and Stalin's Holocausts, raised me to always remember that I have a soul, just like evryone else. And, like my dad, they educated me to study science hard in order to discover the simple rules by which, repeating them a zigilion times, we become this self-referencing creatures we call human. Nevertheless, to me Jesus IS the Messiah in that he came to teach us that the moral rules of God can be strived for by us mere mortals....But then I deemed every Jew who schooled me a moral paragon Messiahs for educating me on how to live. In that sense David Klinghoffer has been an inspiration I will very much miss. Another Jew, who to this day shapes my moral decisions is much like Klinghoffer; but he is an old fag living with a Japanese lover...AND STILL he is a very wise moral paragon I always spend much time considering, no matter how opposed my views on this or that issue. He has been my foreign affairs "rabbi" ever since Vietnam. My point is that Messiahs come to us in many forms and we should not pompously judge the gift by the wrapings. Yet, this, it seems to me, is exactly what Klinghoffer tired of, superficial unappreciation of the contents in the gift that is his wisdom-- I understand, but nevertheless I regret his quitting. How then do I tell him that my rage at his columns is not negation of his legitimacy but rather enthusiasm for his brilliant perceptiveness? Who am I to pass judgement on a fellow human blessed by God with insight? Who am I to disregard what he said for blindness to what he does? For even the most brutal killers amongst us lay down their swords to ask themselves: why this way, why can't it be different, better, less bloody? Ariel Sharon was such a man and anyone could see it if looking past the bloody hands-- he was a man of peace deep in his heart! We as biological organism were not meant to succeed. Proof of that is the inevitable end of the game. But we were all given the gift of refection and understanding. But even if we curse God as did Bertrand Russel or Christioher Hitchins, such people amongst us still searched for the moral way to live, never blind or deaff to Klinghoffer. As a Christian I learned two things from my Jewish Messiah, Jesus: (a) do onto others as you would have them do to you and (b) what you do for the least of His creatures you do for Him. To this I would add an ontogenic learning that love for its own sake is the height of human-ness and collaboration instead of cannibalistic competition makes us super ants. Oh, also that we ALWAYS get another chance so long as we refuse to give up on our inner moral selves. So you see, Sage Klinghoffer, your apeal to ethics was not lost on me and surely not on thousands who read your book, SHATTERED TABLETS. We kind of hoped you would always be there. But, slamming a man with our disagreement or with silence but with appreciation nevertheless, invariably means we will lose him for lack of manifest affectionate appreciation. I learned that in criticizing Zionists without taking occaision to explain that I do that because I love them and admire their incredible moral strength, otherwise I wouldn't bother. We are all-- Darwinians born of apes or ecclesiastics born from the loins of God-- all in search of a moral path. Never does my chromosomal ancestry abrogate my moral quest as a servant of God. So, all polarizing aside, Mr. Klinghoffer, please go to rest knowing that you did good-- bad too like all the rest of us too-- but above all else, it was always obvious that you wanted to do good and did. I will deeply miss reading your column and then furiously debating with you in front of the mirror as I brush my teeth. For you are a companion on the bumpy quest for rectitude, the obsession of scientists and theologians alike, whomsover our great, great, great, great, great, great, great....grandmothers were. Shalom, dear friend and go rest knowing that you have put a dent in evil, and have certainly permantly occupied a territory in this one soul at least!
GOOD RIDDANCE TO THIS ANNOYING AND IGNORANT MEDIEVAL CREEP ! ABSOLUTELY THE WORST COLIMNIST IN THE HISTORY OF THE FORWARD. IF HE WANTS TO WRITE IN THE NAME OF JUDAISM, HE SHOULD SPEND A FEW YEARS IN A YESHIVA
Eli, we live in a world where people tie other people's hands and then drill holes in their skulls with power drills, torturung them until death mercifully comes....Why be so cruel with words to a man who did you no wrong? Why not join him in the journey or bid him bon voyage if not. Kindness is the most human of atributes and if anyone deserves it is this man whose only "crime" was to share his contemplations with us so that we may gain from them whatever is there in them. Now he feels to have failed and we both know that, unlike you, many others feel that he is anything but failed. So why kick him in the rear on his way out the door? Could you ever fight your way out of a paper bag or would you want the rest of us to be good samaritians and save your ass? Be kind and tolerant...You will thus make Gos smile at you for being a good Jew....Kindness-- not the amount of body hair-- distinguishes you from gorillas-- take it from me a consumate sinner with rage who more often regrets it deeply than feel satisfied...Words can NEEDLESSLY hurt so why fling them carelessly. Shalon
From Brad R: "The Jewish community is drowning in a sea of ever-rightward-shifting rhetoric." Intellectually speaking, you are a dinosaur (speaking metaphorically) and the Right is where the valuable intellectual discussion is taking place. It seems to me you just seem to be more and more what we in the 1960s used to call the Establishment. Bigotry, sophism, conformism, reaction, anti-intellectualism, anti-free speech, etc.
Would that the use of cliches were the only thing of which I were guilty. However, while I am happy to be called to account for my bad use of language, I am unhappy that you lay at my feet a list of charges for which you fail to produce any evidence. Moreover, I am skeptical that the Right has anything to contribute in the way of intellect.
The connection between Darwinism and the ideology of the Third Reich, and of course, Eugenics, is absolutely undeniable. Only the most lobotomized members of the Liberal-left constituency can be in denial on this most transparent of facts. David, your pieces have always been a breath of fresh air in that playground of the Delusional Left otherwise known as the Forward. As to the question of why so many Jews are drawn to the Democratic party, a party which is so obviously inimical to the traditional values of our people, I can only say, You can take the Jew out of the ghetto, but it appears that, for many, many Jews, you cannot take the Ghetto out of the Jew.
It is indeed true that the racialist pseudosciences out of which Nazism was born did draw from a perverted reading of Darwin's theories of natural selection. Does that, however, mean that these theories are wrong and in themselves evil? Theories of nuclear physics gave us Hiroshima and Chernobyl. Should we abandon them, too? I have loathed Klinghoffer ever since his article last June where he argued that a national health insurance plan was ungodly because we apparently shouldn't seek to cure illness but see it as some kind of message from God. I knew there and then that he wasn't playing with a full deck. I'll miss him, only because I'll miss my biweekly chuckle.
Truths can be used by liars: FIGURES DON'T LIE BUT LIARS FIGURE....Does that mean we should stop science because evil people find evil ways to use it. Remmeber how you all marvelled at men on the moon. Yet, the HAMAS rockets are products of the same science. Should we now stop the Mars project until HAMAS agrees to destroy all its rockets....I never thought I would hear all this crap on a JEWISH marvelous paper like FORWARD! Are all thse loonies Jes for Jesus of something, who started out as Zionists for science and education and lost their way? AGEE IS NOT JESUS, HE IS FROSTY THE SMWOMAN THAT WON'T GO AWAY...MAY HE MELT IN JERUSALEM!
re: Klinghoffer and Darwin One might just as well say that there is an undeniable connection between Newton's Laws of Gravity and the noose of the lynching mob, or the guillotine of the French Revolution. Hitler is fully culpable for his murderous theories.
questions, questions isn't the nature infinitely-valued in its traits? aren't we and the 'gods' part of the one and only reality/nature/universe. nature (the ALL)i say is infinitely-valued. the sun, for instance, can cause cancer and at the same time be enormously benovelent. we, being part of that nature, are also infinitely-valued. and every human being is capable of perpetrating/approbating enormous evils. with better education we can do less evil and more good. alas, education has been hijacked by ruling classes and religion. until we obtain a proper education we are doomed to bleed, destroy, kill, and even destroy the planet in name of ideologies.thank u
Hitler and the Nazis did not accept evolution. They were Bible believing young earth creationists who hung signs in the concentration camps that read: "You're here because you killed our God." The Holocaust was a totally Christian deed - Christianity's proudest and finest hour.