Judeo-Christian ethic

[RJLipkin at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/26/2004 5:49:39 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
doughr at udallas.edu writes:
But to Eugene's point about limiting speech, do list members not think
that the term "religious right" is offensive, and meant to be
offensive?  It is certainly used with great regularity.
            I think the issue of suppressing speech distorts this important 
discussion, which, to my mind, should center on the illicit purposes of 
introducing certain terms into public discourse.  The simple irony is the 
juxtaposition of virulent anti-Semitism during the decades of the forties and fifties and 
then a sudden turnaround by the same people who were at best indifferent to 
Jewish sensibilities, and at worst hostile to these sensibilities, who then 
figuratively put their arms around Jews proclaiming through linguistic devices 
like "Judeo-Christian ethic," "you know, my Jewish friends, you're not half bad 
afterall."  I suppose the tragedy in this discussion is that some of us had to 
live this experience and the turnabout to fully appreciate its insidiousness, 
and for some, without experiencing this anti-Semitism in a nation that could 
not or would not live up to its own wonderful ideals, the use of a term like 
"Judeo-Christian ethics" appears benign. It wasn't. 

Bobby


Robert Justin Lipkin
Professor of Law
Widener University School of Law
Delaware
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