United States : Anti-Defamation league rises up against the “Christianization of the country”

Abraham Foxman, the national director of the ADL, has attacked the “ Christian American establishment”, in a speech addressed to a meeting of members of the national commission of the ADL in New York. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported in its November 7 issue, his stated views. The director of the League condemned a coalition ever “better financed, more sophisticated, coordinated and unified” of groups opposed to their stance on the separation between the Church and the State in the United States. “Their aim is to impose their vision of the Christian world. To christianize America, in order to save us!” he said.

 Abraham Foxman cited the organizations – "Focus On Family”, “Alliance Defense Fund”, “The American Family Association”, “Family Research Council”, etc.- responsible, according to him for having established Church networks and set up infrastructures “with the aim of promoting traditional Christian values.” In such a way that institutionalized Christianity in the United States has become so “extremist that it is a real danger for the principle of separation of Church and State”.

 The national director of ADL furthermore specified that these Churches and these organizations have always been very active in the United States, “but they have never been so aggressive and determined… they are trying to christianize every aspect of American life, from the corridors of the government to libraries, from films to recording studios, from sporting venues, to the locker rooms of amateur sportsmen…” And he added : “Their vision if America is very different from ours.”

 Abraham Fox also declared that if the “Christian extremist” milieus find in George W. Bush an “encouraging ally”, their expansion is also due to a crisis in morals in vast sectors of the American population reinforced by consciousness of persecution exerted by liberals against Christianity.

 Foxman presented the results of an opinion poll commissioned by the League. According to this poll, 75% of Americans who attend a religious service once a week think that religion is under attack in the United States. This figure rises to 80% among American evangelists. For 70% of those who attend Church regularly, Christianity is particularly under threat, a proportion which rises to 76% among evangelists. The survey also reveals that 60% of those who are regular churchgoers and 69% of evangelicals are in favor of the introduction of prayer in the public schools of the United States.