WHAT DOES ‘JUDEO-CHRISTIAN’ MEAN?

By Dennis Prager

Townhall.com

March 30, 2004

The United States is the only nation to define itself as Judeo-Christian—uniting secular government with a society based on religious values.

What does it mean?

1. Early Americans identified strongly with the Jews and Hebrew Bible—not just the New Testament.

o Jefferson wanted the U.S. seal to show Jews leaving Egypt.

o Hebrew was compulsory at Harvard until 1787. Yale adopted a Hebrew insignia.

o “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land…” (Liberty Bell) is from the Torah.

o Many took Hebrew names: Benjamin Franklin, Cotton Mather (kattan = “little one”).

This fostered an Old Testament worldview: justice, law, a judging and loving God, and belief in chosenness—which America applied to itself.

That sense of mission explains why America has died more for others’ liberty than any nation—and why it uniquely protects Israel and Taiwan.

2. Belief in the biblical God, the Ten Commandments, and universal (not relative) morality.

o Those who affirm these lead opposition to redefining marriage, believing the man-woman ideal is irreplaceable for children.

o They ask first what God and Scripture say—not what the UN or hostile nations say.

o They believe war, while tragic, is sometimes a moral duty—as Prophet Joel said:

“Beat your plowshares into swords… Let the weakling say, ‘I am strong!’”

Those who want Judeo-Christian values removed affirm multiculturalism, erase God from public life, and privatize Christmas.

The battle over whether America remains Judeo-Christian or becomes secular like Europe is what this, the Second American Civil War, is about.