Jewish Role in Christian Groups Questioned

From annual meetings of the Christian Coalition to the Promise Keepers’ mass rally on the Mall in Washington, no gathering of Christian conservatives is complete without the symbolic presence of a single Jew, usually wearing a prayer shawl.

The gesture, Christian activists say, is meant to convey a sense of inclusion, a sign that despite rhetorical calls for a “Christian nation,” conservative groups seek a reaffirmation of Judeo-Christian values.

But the role Jews and Jewish converts play in many leading Christian conservative organizations goes well beyond symbolism: From the Christian Coalition to the Council for National Policy, the movement’s nerve center, Jews and people who consider themselves Jews but believe Jesus is the messiah are far more prominent than their liberal reputation might indicate.

“There’s been a real transition in the Jewish view of working with conservative Christians, from real disdain to something more like ambivalence,” says Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. “There’s definitely the possibility of being used, of being the token Jew, but there is also a Jewish prejudice toward conservatives as a whole.”

For Christian groups, having Jews in their leadership “is a way of displaying a lack of prejudice,” says Elliott Abrams, the former assistant secretary of state who has written a book that urges conservative Jews to work more closely with evangelical Christians. “You can easily see why the experience of Jews would be helpful if you’re looking to get action on religious persecution.”

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, offers a less charitable view. “It’s a gimmick to say ‘Look, we have Jews who like us,’ ” he says. “As for the Jews who do this, some would call it insecurity, some would call it seeking favor from the Christian majority.” The ADL in 1994 issued a highly critical report calling the Christian right “exclusionist” and a threat to American democracy.

The most powerful outsiders in the Christian right are converts or members of Jews for Jesus, whose members claim to remain Jewish despite believing in Jesus’ divinity--a combination traditional Jewish leaders say is impossible.

In addition to Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the Pat Robertson-founded American Center for Law and Justice, converts from Judaism who are prominent in the Christian right include the Rev. Louis Sheldon, who runs the anti-homosexual Traditional Values Coalition; Howard Phillips, chairman of the U.S. Taxpayers Party and the Conservative Caucus; and the Schenck twins, Paul and Rob, Jews who converted to Christianity as teenagers and went on to become ministers in the Assemblies of God. Paul Schenck worked for Robertson and Sekulow; Rob Schenck is general secretary of the National Clergy Council.

Sekulow and other converts say they are valued in Christian groups because they bring a different, more aggressive style to evangelical politics. But Jewish leaders offer another motive that may drive Christian organizations to enlist help from like-minded Jews.

“Converts are always the most active members of their chosen faith,” says Egon Mayer, a sociologist who is director of the Center for Jewish Studies at New York’s City University Graduate Center. “They have to validate themselves in their own eyes and in the eyes of their new community. In the Jewish community, converts to Judaism are often among the most active in their synagogues.”

Mayer says the move to conservative politics makes sense for converts. “If the contemporary view of Jews is as being liberal,” he says, “one way to distinguish yourself as different from the rest is to become part of the right.”

And if converts feel rejected by Jews, that’s with good reason, Mayer says. “There’s a long tradition of converts being the primary antagonists of the Jews, stretching back to the Spanish Inquisition,” he says.

Jews who have not converted also play important behind-the-scenes roles in major Christian groups: Marshall Wittman served for a time as the Christian Coalition’s top lobbyist; Marshall Breger, who was President Ronald Reagan’s top Jewish advisor, later advised Robertson and spoke at Christian Coalition gatherings; Washington lawyer Jack Abramoff, a former chairman of the College Republicans, recruited Ralph Reed into his first leadership post; Hudson Institute scholar Michael Horowitz has spearheaded the current campaign against anti-Christian persecution in China and elsewhere around the world; Rabbi Daniel Lapin, head of a conservative Jewish group called Towards Tradition, is a regular at the Christian right’s major events; film critic Michael Medved delivers his pitch for moral entertainment to many Christian conservative audiences.

“What’s a nice Jewish boy like me doing in a place like this?” Medved asked at a Christian Coalition annual conference. “We share basic values and those values are far more important than any disagreements. And aside from everything that we share, I recognize that you have been under attack and I believe the nature of that attack has been unfair, illegitimate and, in fact, despicable.”

“This is a natural alliance,” says Armstrong Williams, the conservative talk show host and columnist. “Not only do our faiths have a common heritage, but the Christian groups are the only vehicle available to Jewish conservatives.”