Apocalypse Beck?

In a timely and well written editorial in the current issue of the Weekly Standard, William Kristol, a stalwart conservative, has redrawn battle lines in the war for the soul of conservatism by accusing Glenn Beck of "marginalizing himself" and being overcome by "hysteria" in his latest batch of conspiracy theories. Bill Kristol is right!

I have been watching Glenn's slow decline into hysteria recently attempting understand what I view as his terribly misguided and tragically self-defeating interpretation of recent events in the Middle East. Glenn's obsession with paranoid Islamaphobic theories is a significant distraction from the Tea Party and Libertarian revival in America and its goals of limited governance. It is also a tragic waste of America's opportunity to claim its rightful role as an important catalyst for democratic change in the region. See my recent post on this for an explanation.

Bill Kristol was absolutely right when he asserted at the end of his piece that "the Egyptian people want to exercise their capacity for self-government. American conservatives, heirs to our own bold and far-sighted revolutionaries, should help them."

He was also right when he stated that the "the most hopeful aspects of the current conservative revival is its reclamation of the American constitutionalist tradition." It is this tradition that makes America great and free and make no mistake this is a tradition that was founded by men who often declared the danger of mixing religion and politics as Glenn Beck is doing now.

James Madison declared in an 1822 letter that "An alliance or coalition between Government and religion cannot be too carefully guarded against......Every new and successful example therefore of a PERFECT SEPARATION between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance........religion and government will exist in greater purity, without (rather) than with the aid of government.

James Madison, the progenitor of our Constitution and political philosophy made an important point much more significant than to merely call for a separation of church and state he also declares the need for a separation of civil and ecclesiastical matters. Unfortunately, Beck risks violating this tradition through his stubborn and hysterical interpretation of events in the Middle East.

In his most recent show Beck equates the Islamic "Mahdi" to the Christian anti-Christ.By wading into the murky waters of religion to justify his views while condemning those of his political rivals or even America's enemies Beck is risking violating our founding principles.

Now let me be PERFECTLY CLEAR: I am not criticizing Beck for attacking the danger of radical Islam. He is right to highlight the incredible danger Iran poses to the world. He is also not entirely wrong in pointing out the potential danger that radical interpretations of Mahdist doctrine could pose if its adherents chose to act on their beliefs. However, his reaction to the recent events in Egypt and stubborn and ideologically inconsistent defense of Israel belie his apparent religious bias and makes him guilty of hypocrisy and intellectual laziness.

However, what really makes his rhetoric potentially dangerous is that this type of paranoia feeds a vicious self-perpetuating cycle of ignorance wherein our religiously-based fear of radical Islam only emboldens and strengthens the converse radical fear of Christianity and Judaism held by some Muslims. This happens because when we enter the realm of religion to justify our politics in the public square those whom we disagree with abandon reason and embrace their own religious justifications. In other words, Religion does not require logic or even consistency. It simply is what it is: truth in the eye of the beholder.

This self-perpetuating cycle fueled the Crusades and every other war fought over religion and this cycle will inhibit and may even destroy the potential for a desperately needed secular democratic movement in the Middle East.

This paradigm is largely the reason for Iran's militancy because it was anger and hatred of Israel predicated on religious belief that has fueled an Iranian hatred that is borne of fear. We judge Iran in the context of its most radical leaders yet we fail to apply the same judgement on Israel. While I would not argue they are equivalent....they certainly are not...any discussion of these issues should pay proportional attention to radicals in Israel who also use religion as the justification for racist bigotry and justification for advocating genocide. For instance, high ranking orthodox rabbis in Israel have repeatedly stated over the years that it is permissible under Jewish Law to kill non-Jews. Case and point: In 2009 the Haaretz Newspaper in Israel reported the following

Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro, who heads the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the Yitzhar settlement, wrote in his book "The King's Torah" that even babies and children can be killed if they pose a threat to the nation.

Shapiro based the majority of his teachings on passages quoted from the Bible, to which he adds his opinions and beliefs.

"It is permissable to kill the Righteous among Nations even if they are not responsible for the threatening situation," he wrote, adding: "If we kill a Gentile who has sinned or has violated one of the seven commandments - because we care about the commandments - there is nothing wrong with the murder."

Don't take the newspaper's word for it or mine watch this video of radical Rabbis in Israel saying it in their own words:

A surprisingly balanced report by Al Jazeera English on the same subject.

Other radical religious leaders in Israel have stated that the "only reason goyim [non-jews] were created was to serve Jews." This notion stems from a radical interpretation of the Talmud that cites that the lives of Goyim are equivalent to that of beasts. In October 2010 the Jerusalem post reported:

The sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews, according to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the head of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages and a senior Sephardi adjudicator. “Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world – only to serve the People of Israel,” he said in his weekly Saturday night sermon on the laws regarding the actions non-Jews are permitted to perform on Shabbat. According to Yosef, the lives of non-Jews in Israel are safeguarded by divinity, to prevent losses to Jews. “In Israel, death has no dominion over them... With gentiles, it will be like any person – they need to die, but [God] will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money. This is his servant... That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew,” Yosef said. “Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat. That is why gentiles were created,” he added.

Now for a much more thorough perspective:

In the end, Glenn would be smart to find his way back to a secular argument based on America's constitutional principles of man's inalienable rights to life liberty and property. If we use these arguments to confront radicals wherever they may be and condemn ANY government that denies its people freedom we may find we have allies within the people of Egypt and Iran who eagerly await our support in seeking their freedom.