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Last update - 13:17 04/10/2007
Yes, Sen. McCain, America is a Christian nation
By Bradley Burston
Tags: Judaism, Islam, Goldwater 

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain sparked outcries from Jewish organizations this week, after saying in an interview that he would rather see America led by a Christian, and that "the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation."

Asked if a Muslim candidate could be a good president, McCain replied, "I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles ... personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith,"

In what was probably intended as a recovery, McCain added in the interview with Beliefnet.com: "But that doesn't mean that I'm sure that someone who is Muslim would not make a good president."
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The video interview, which first appeared on Saturday, stirred strongly negative responses from American Jewish figures.

"Senator McCain's statements were disappointing and disturbing to say the least," wrote Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham H. Foxman in a letter to 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."

Foxman asked McCain to withdraw his "inaccurate and ill-advised" remarks.

The American Jewish Committee was also quick to weigh in. "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," said American Jewish Committee general counsel Jeffrey Sinensky.

Hogwash. Every Jewish kid in America who has ever worn a kippah in public, every Muslim who has worn external evidence of his or her devotion to Islam, knows very well that Senator McCain was right. Every public school child who was raised in a home where Jesus was not believed to be God, and who was made to sing "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!" with devotion and feeling, knows just how right McCain was. Every high school football player who began every game hearing an invocation to the Lord Jesus Christ, cannot help but wonder what all the fuss is about.

You don't have to look very far afield for corroboration. Witness McCain's predecessor in the Senate and as a presidential candidate, Barry Morris Goldwater, whose family name was an adaptation of the original Goldwasser. "Although Jewish on his father's side, Mr. Goldwater was raised in the Episcopalian tradition of his mother," the Washington Post wrote in a 1998 obituary.

"Neither my father nor any of our family ever took any part in the Jewish community," Goldwater wrote in an autobiography. We never felt or talked about being half-Jewish since my mother took us to the Episcopal church. It was only on entering the power circles of Washington that I was reminded I was a Jew. I never got used to being singled out in that way. My answer was always the same.

"I'm proud of my ancestors and heritage. I've simply never practiced the Jewish faith or seen myself or our family primarily of the Jewish culture. In the jargon of today's sociologist, we've been assimilated. We're American."

In a reference to Goldwater's run for the presidency, the American Jewish social commentator Harry Golden once observed, "I have always thought that if a Jew ever became President, he would turn out to be an Episcopalian."

It is fair to say that America zealously guards certain separations of church and state. But it also turns a blind blue eye to others.

So deeply ingrained is the concept of a Christian basis for the American nation, that even when McCain actively embarked on damage control during a campaign swing in New Hampshire, his statement, that the most qualified person could be president, no matter his or her religion, landed poorly:

"It's almost Talmudic," McCain said. "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."


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  1.   This whole episode makes one vomit 15:55  |  S 02/10/07
  2.   No... 16:25  |  G 02/10/07
  3.   FACTS 16:30  |  Chaval 02/10/07
  4.   America a Christian Nation 16:45  |  John Campo 02/10/07
  5.   Israel=Jewish nation;America=Christian nation. So What? 17:39  |  Doron Katz 02/10/07
  6.   America is NOT a Christian Country ... 17:40  |  Marc 02/10/07
  7.   Give McCain a break 17:44  |  unchosen 02/10/07
  8.   And that is why Barrack "Hussein" Obama will never be president. 17:45  |  Pssd off American 02/10/07
  9.   Hopefully, the US will not be like the once great French nation 17:49  |  truth be told 02/10/07
  10.   AJC Got It Wrong 19:03  |  Petunia 02/10/07
  11.   Spirit of religious liberty 19:28  |  Ethel 02/10/07
  12.   America is a Palestinian Nation But you don`y get it 20:01  |  Bandar Michaels 02/10/07
  13.   America is a Christian Nation 20:13  |  Kevin Battenfield 02/10/07
  14.   Never a christian nation 20:25  |  W 02/10/07
  15.   Who Said It 20:42  |  Curmudgeon 02/10/07
  16.   Bandar Michaels, #12, I challenge you... 20:45  |  Jake 02/10/07
  17.   Saying that th US is not Christian.. 22:27  |  Maimon 02/10/07
  18.   Leave McCain alone 23:06  |  Josh 02/10/07
  19.   Was Jesus Christ really a Jew? 23:15  |  George 02/10/07
  20.   I`d rather see a christian as president than a jew 23:22  |  realist 02/10/07
  21.   America 23:25  |  Rachel 02/10/07
  22.   What is the difference between Sen Mccain and King Abdullah? 23:57  |  Omolll 02/10/07
  23.   Samaritan=a do-gooder? 00:43  |  Ethel 03/10/07
  24.   If you are not sure... 01:36  |  Webster 03/10/07
  25.   #14, W, Guess what?? 01:38  |  Arnold 03/10/07
  26.   Ethel, a Samaritan is a resident of Samaria 02:03  |  George 03/10/07
  27.   Omoll of Dallas Texas, The different between 03:50  |  Cristo 03/10/07
  28.   Samaritan 04:37  |  Ethel 03/10/07
  29.   US = Christian nation 04:57  |  Zvi 03/10/07
  30.   I have also studied other religions 05:06  |  Ethel 03/10/07
  31.   The USA IS and Shall Remain Christian! 05:12  |  Yosemite 03/10/07
  32.   McCain is positioning himself 05:15  |  Jason_M 03/10/07
  33.   Jake # 16 you don`t get it 05:21  |  Bandar Michaels 03/10/07
  34.   McCain and Christianity 05:26  |  Douglas Kazdoy 03/10/07
  35.   What do the historical facts tell us? 05:59  |  Denton 03/10/07
  36.   Mr George, re: Jesus a jew, read Matthew1:1-17,Luke 3:23-38 06:32  |  mary for jews. 03/10/07
  37.   to George #19 - be logical 07:08  |  zeev 03/10/07
  38.   Christian or Jewish nation? 07:19  |  American in Paris 03/10/07
  39.   NOT A PROBLEM TO ME 07:28  |  indrajaya 03/10/07
  40.   A Biblical answer for Mary for Jews 08:01  |  George 03/10/07
  41.   Ethel 08:19  |  George 03/10/07
  42.   can jews find better friends than evangelical christians? 08:52  |  FSG 03/10/07
  43.   #19 more exactly did he ev er exist at all ? 09:16  |  victor hardman 03/10/07
  44.   For Zeev of Beersheba 09:20  |  George 03/10/07
  45.   McCain is right 09:33  |  Palestinian Prince 03/10/07
  46.   The GOP is known for bigotry and ignorance. 09:46  |  Devin Leonard 03/10/07
  47.   barry goldwater and the washingtonpost 10:07  |  harzion 03/10/07
  48.   Indrajaya 10:08  |  Yosemite 03/10/07
  49.   America is a Christian Nation (Post No. 13) 10:14  |  Johnny Weintraub 03/10/07
  50.   Christianity killed the Indians 10:15  |  Cherokee 03/10/07
  51.   Mary for Jews. 36. Which lineage is that? 10:29  |  Hubal 03/10/07
  52.   Hope i live to see a none jewish israeli prime minister :P 10:31  |  elijah 03/10/07
  53.   George if yu got any dumber! #19 10:34  |  FOX 03/10/07
  54.   Bro George, you may read Ps 110:1 (pretext of Matthew22:42-45) 10:42  |  mary for jews 03/10/07
  55.   America Christian? 10:46  |  Mark 03/10/07
  56.   more hypocracy by the fanatical jews 10:57  |  VIPER 03/10/07
  57.   For Victor Hardman 10:59  |  George 03/10/07
  58.   50Cherokee is right,America is not a Christian nation,its 10:59  |  lakshmi 03/10/07
  59.   America the Dark 11:01  |  Ikabod 03/10/07
  60.   Samaritan == Jew from Samaria 11:06  |  Efox 03/10/07
  61.   At least Christians only shove Bibles at you. 11:07  |  Efox 03/10/07
  62.   re: Cherokee 11:09  |  Efox 03/10/07
  63.   If Israel is a Jewish country why isn`t US a Christian country? 11:10  |  Michael 03/10/07
  64.   re: W 11:19  |  Efox 03/10/07
  65.   Ethel -Spirit of religious liberty 11:23  |  Davids 03/10/07
  66.   #57 my dear george the gospels were written 100 years after 11:25  |  victor hardman 03/10/07
  67.   re: lakshmi 11:28  |  Efox 03/10/07
  68.   re: elijah 11:29  |  Efox 03/10/07
  69.   For Fox of Karkur 11:31  |  George 03/10/07
  70.   Miriaam the Jewess 11:39  |  Shekinah 03/10/07