But David is also right that most Jews really don't understand evangelicals. Frankly, most evangelicals don't buy in to the rapture stuff. They don't back Israel because of some prophecy about the return of Jesus made possible Jewish return to Israel. Some believe this, certainly, but most don't.

In fact, when I tell evangelicals that I'm Jewish they almost universally get a look of fascination on their faces. Sort of like a “We read the story of your people all the time. Tell me more!” Anti-Semitism that defined Christian attitudes toward Judaism from the age of Paul to the very recent past has given way to a sort of Philo-Semitism. That Israel is on the frontlines against radical Islam probably explains evangelical support for Israel better than any Rapture business.

I've come to see evangelicalism in all its shades while living in East Tennessee. It has some extremist fundamentalist elements, and it has some very progressive and inclusive elements.

All of that said, my increased comfort level with evangelicals has not translated into political conservatism. Instead, I've sought out progressive evangelicals who share many core beliefs with me.

I'll add one more thing that really separates doctrinaire evangelicals from Judaism: the nature of faith. For Jews, faith is like a question. “Israel” means “wrestles with God” – as in, we study and search and probe and seek out what exactly God demands of us, and what makes up God himself. The book is never really closed and we only gain insights by studying and searching until we die. Our intellectual inquisitiveness is probably connected to this notion of faith. For evangelicals, faith is about answers. Life before salvation is the great search. Jesus is the answer. The purpose of prayer is to access the power of Jesus, whose great deeds and love is already known the moment one becomes born again.

Not surprisingly, as a Jew I'm deeply suspicious of faith claims made with any degree of absolute certainty.

I agree also, that the evangelical movement's alignment with the GOP has scared a lot of Jews back over to the Democrats. Having major presidential candidates give speeches at Liberty U and apply for Dobson's blessing gives the impression that the Christian right has a lot of influence over the party, and threatens the long-cherished separation of church and state.

But seriously: Kathy I appreciate your comments, especially about the role of tzedaka (tr. righteousness or charity) in Jewish thought. I would frame the question as follows: Are Jews naturally inclined to see government action as the essential vehicle for helping the poor? Many strands of Jewish thinking have evolved in that direction, although I would say pretty firmly that one should not read a preference for government action into Jewish texts or belief.

Because they are smarter than most… more inquisitive than most… And they are taught from childhood to question things that don't make sense and always work at keeping an open mind.

Do you know what the phrase “the pot calling the kettle black” means? 'Cause it doesn't seem like you do.

“We face another Great Depression” [stimulus] “We're cooking the planet” [climate bill] “We can't afford not to enact the Dem health care legislation” … “crisis” [sic] “crisis” [sic] “crisis” [sic]…

Believe the alternative to reality if you want, but don't say you weren't given the chance not to.

As for the concern about attitudes of Christians, from my perspective it seems that this is a response to a caricaturization, not the reality for the majority of Christian conservatives. Just as roro points out that his brother in law believes that Christians hold stereotypical views of Jews, it seems to me that he does the same toward them. In that regard, I agree with David's statement here: I believe that Jewish fears of evangelical Christianity are so powerful because American Jews don’t know much about evangelicals and don’t have much occasion to interact. And, vice versa with Christians needing to interact more with Jews to overcome any stereotypes that they hold.

That's, like, really really funny, DLS. Pot/kettle/what?

I know where.

Hillary Clinton's radical flirting in the 1990s included mention of the guy found at the link below.

(“Am I your mouthpiece, or what?”)

I bought and gave a liberal (and Jewish) friend of mine in Seattle a hardcopy issue or two…

http://www.tikkun.org/

Compounding the GOP's problem is big business and corporate interests, which put it at a relative disadvantage even among non-liberal members of the public often.

I grew up in a very liberal family, and that's part of why I'm a strong liberal myself, but it's hard to tell how much that's part of the fact that American Jews are so overwhelmingly liberal in the first place.

The only thing I want to add to your analysis is that, in addition to the sense of identification with “the outsider,” and thus with the political party that most represents respect for the outsider, Jews are also drawn to liberalism because of what Green Dreams touched on: the particular set of values that says it is incumbent upon us (as Americans, as Jews, as a society) to provide for the essential needs of those members of society who cannot do so for themselves. Again and again, the Torah speaks of even-handed justice for rich and poor, for not cheating a man of his fair wages (it *was* only men, in the Torah). Feed the hungry, free the oppressed, care for the sick, clothe the naked, stop cheating and perverting justice — these injunctions just permeate the Torah. The Psalms are full of words of comfort for the persecuted, the imprisoned, the scorned, the reviled and hated.

I don't think either major party in our country takes these values to heart as strongly or as fundamentally as the Torah instructed the Jewish people to do, but there is NO doubt which party comes closest or holds those values dearest.

Liberalism's greatest victories in the 1960s in particular have redefined modern mainstream values — civil rights, for example (which so many always believed in). (And as I said, which you seemed to miss: “They're not all a bunch of flaming wingy radicals, after all.”)

The point I was making, that apparently you had misunderstood (maybe I should have specifically used the following word) with reference to the “out” words that in addition to discrimination there was a sense also of (brace yourself, for it's another “out” word, speaking etymologically and otherwise)

exclusion

inherent in discrimination. (The association implication of inferiority from exclusion no doubt lay behind some of the thought in the Brown decision and the “inherently unequal” opinion expressed in it.)

If you're made to feel unwelcome, and this is associated with (indirectly or directly) Party A, and Party B seeks to change this in ways that benefit you, wouldn't you prefer (and come after successive generations to be loyal to) Party B?

March 2007, roughly 70 percent of respondents believe that the government has a responsibility “to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves”—up from 61 percent in 2002. The number saying that the government should guarantee “every citizen enough to eat and a place to sleep” has increased by a similar margin over the past five years (from 63 percent to 69 percent).

Two-thirds of the public (66 percent)—including a majority of those who say they would prefer a smaller government (57 percent)—favor government-funded health insurance for all citizens. Most people also believe that the nation’s corporations are too powerful and fail to strike a fair balance between profits and the public interest. In addition, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) say corporate profits are too high, about the same number who say that “labor unions are necessary to protect the working person” (68 percent).

When it comes to the environment, a large majority (83 percent) support stricter laws and regulations to protect the environment, while 69 percent agree that “we should put more emphasis on fuel conservation than on developing new oil supplies,” and fully 60 percent of people questioned say they would “be willing to pay higher prices in order to protect the environment.”

Regarding so-called social issues, only 28 percent of respondents agree that school boards should have the right to fire teachers who are known to be homosexual, while 66 percent disagree. A 56 percent majority opposes making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion, while 35 percent favor this position.

(It's not merely about preferring the Democratic Party in such an obvious way.)

They're not all a bunch of flaming wingy radicals, after all.