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Choose Your Battlefield
18 November 2004While both Democrats and Republicans claimed victory in terms of the Jewish vote, Nathan Guttman of Haaretz finds that the mostly liberal Jewish community, which voted for Kerry and prioritized social justice, civil rights and the separation of church and state, "lost on all levels." Hannah Rosenthal, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, told Guttman, "'It is never good news for the Jews when a country tries to define itself as a Christian state instead of putting the emphasis on religious freedom and freedom from religion.'" Guttman imagines the next four years as a test for the liberal Jewish community, which must decide if it will fight for the separation of church and state, or work "within the new reality" of faith-based politics to try to preserve individual and minority rights within an increasingly religious politics. While we can't comprehend Guttman's identification of Kerry as representing the "forceful separation" side of the debate, his test rings true not just for liberal Jews, but for all progressives, liberals or Democrats currently choosing their battlefield.
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