Jews can show Christians how to live as a minority: Marmur
2015/11/12 3 Comments
Interesting reflections:
I thought of that encounter recently when I read an article in the American-Jewish online journal Mosaic by Bruce Abramson under the title, “How Jews can help Christians learn to succeed as a minority.” What the Canadian clergy group anticipated long ago has become commonplace today in the United States and in many other countries.
Though Abramson’s interest is in law and public policy, not theology, his insights will be helpful to all who wish to understand what’s happening to mainstream Christianity. In his words, Christians are now facing the reality of being “but one more of America’s many minority groups.” As a result, “the sudden need for an effective defence will take them into terrain that Jews have occupied most of American history.”
Abramson distinguishes between “the classical liberal preference for freedom and the rule of law” and “the progressive preference for equality and justice.” Though the two don’t seem to be mutually exclusive, he appears to opt for the traditional liberal American opposition to government infringing on individual rights over “the progressive preference for ‘positive’ rights like housing, food and health care that someone must provide.” Most Europeans and Canadians are likely to advocate the latter way because it cares for people least able to fend for themselves.
Though the “liberal” stress on individual rights is essential for their survival in the Diaspora, Jews are nowadays also seeking allies to champion “progressive” government programs that provide basic needs for citizens. Theological differences are often set aside in favour of social action advocacy that brings together different religious groups. These groups live their faith as interfaith despite their divergent theologies and join forces to be effective despite their minority status.
When I spoke to the Canadian clergy group I suggested that being a minority shouldn’t alarm them: it may be bad for wielding power but it’s good for practicing religion. Think of the havoc caused by the might of the Church for much of its history, say in persecuting minorities such as Jews, or the devastating effect today in countries where all-powerful Islamic clerics have the last word.
Ironically, contemporary Judaism in Israel is now also struggling with the quest for power by some of its exponents. Orthodoxy that mixes utopian Messianism with radical nationalism is endangering Judaism in the Jewish state. Faith is the foundation of Judaism, but fanaticism is its sworn enemy. Hence the laudable attempts by “liberal” and “progressive” minorities in Israel to champion the separation of religion and state for the sake of the integrity of both.
Seen in this light, the loss of power by religious bodies is the great opportunity for exponents of genuine faith to act as true witnesses to God’s redeeming power. The weakening of ephemeral institutional clout that to some seems so alarming is really religion’s great opportunity to advance the sovereignty of the Kingdom of God on Earth.
About Andrew
Multicultural Meanderings 
Andrew, I read the article and then went back and read the other articles cited and what struck me in all of them was how the category “Christian” and the group “Christian community” did not include Catholics. A perspective that I remember from my childhood growing up Catholic in the United States. Looks like it is alive and well in the 21st century.
Catholics have always been a minority in the US. The church grew to become a very large minority in the era of mass immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. That minority status has shaped the Chuch in America in some interesting ways. Support for the separation of church and state, for example, from a Catholic perspective meant protection from the Protestant majority.It was a relief to Catholics when prayer in public schools ended because it meant that Catholic children could not be forced to recite Protestant prayers in class.
Today the Church in the US and around the world has parishes, schools, hospitals, charities, universities and any number of institutions and organizations. It is a broad and powerful network that transcends borders. And while the state and the larger society can certainly try to influence or change this world via state intervention (or societal disapproval), it’s not clear to me that this is going to have much success. After all, we’ve lived with that disapproval for centuries and we’ve never had that expectation (that mainstream Protestants did have) that the state was on our side. 🙂
Thanks for your comment.
In Canada, Catholics are the majority Christian religion (60 %) so in Marmur’s context, Christian includes Catholic.
But useful reminder of the US situation and its difference with Canada.
Ah, thank you Andrew for your reply. I knew that Mexico was largely Catholic but I had no idea that Canada was too. And I should have had some clue since all my Canadian ancestors were in fact, Catholic. 🙂
What I reacted to were other articles I clicked through to that were written about religious liberty in the US and how it is under attack and the Christians they referred to were “mainline Protestants” and in one Catholics were actually mentioned separately as in “Catholics and Mormons.” So I take your point that the US and Canada have very different contexts to heart and I thank you for pointing that out.
And I note that it is very interesting that, years later, I still have some very strong feelings based on some very vivid memories of growing up as a member of a religious minority. At its worst it can make me resentful and thin-skinned; but at its best, it’s a source of empathy for other religious minorities. Best to cultivate the latter, I think. 🙂