Monday, October 01, 2007

"It's almost Talmudic"

Jews and Muslims criticized McCain's remarks on the U.S. as a "Christian nation."

The American Jewish Committee has criticized McCain for his remarks: "'To argue that America is a Christian nation, or that persons of a particular faith should by reason of their faith not seek high office, puts the very character of our country at stake,' Jeffrey Sinensky, the group's general counsel, said Monday in a statement."

But Joe Lieberman came out in defense of McCain: "I have known John McCain very well for many years and I know that he does not have a bigoted bone in his body. I know that he is fair and just to all Americans regardless of their faith."

Then in response to the criticism of him, McCain made a very strange remark: "It's almost Talmudic. We are a nation that was based on Judeo-Christian values. That means respect for all of human rights and dignity. That's my principle values and ideas, and that's what I think motivated our founding fathers."

What is "almost Talmudic"? The criticism of him? He doesn't seem to be using the word in a very complimentary sense.

Abe Foxman of the ADL also criticized McCain: "“We would have thought that a senator as experienced and respected as John McCain would place himself above such divisive appeals to religious intolerance. His remarks were inaccurate and ill-advised for any candidate seeking to lead a nation as religiously diverse as ours.”

It will be interesting to see if any Christian groups come out in criticism of McCain's remarks.

3 comments:

  1. MCCain is a two faced nutcase. hes trying to get the consevative vote. .... just like bush did. and look what Bush did to this country in the name of his evangelical jerk he calls GOD

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  2. Actually, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs; the National Council of Churches; and other Christian groups--of the kind that value pluralism and religious liberty--were quick to criticize McCain. Along with many other liberal Baptists (and others), I criticized this on my blog, Levellers. http://levellers.wordpress.com

    Unfortunately, the Christian Right Wing still gets more attention in the press, so I am not surprised you missed the criticism.

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  3. I'm very happy to hear about the criticism of McCain - you're right, I didn't see the notice of any of these denunciations. Thank you for bringing them to my attention.

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