The Fraying of the Judeo-Christian Tradition

In recent years, some political leaders have raised concerns that many traditional Catholic and Jewish Americans are demonstrating more loyalty to the Vatican and Israel, respectively, than to American democratic principles. These concerns are not new. The 1930s saw similar anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic sentiments, but these were undermined by the promotion of a Judeo-Christian tradition that was instrumental in developing national unity during Word War II. Today, however, this tradition is at risk.

In the early twentieth century, Catholic and Jewish loyalties to American values and democracy were questioned. In 1928, Al Smith's presidential campaign elicited anti-Catholic diatribes from many Protestant leaders. They justified their opposition because, they believed, the Catholic Church was an "un-American" and "alien culture" that opposed freedom and democracy. Presenting the official position of the National Lutheran Editors' and Managers' Association, Dr. Clarence Reinhold Tappert warned about, "the absolute allegiance [a Catholic] owes to a 'foreign sovereign' who does not only 'claim' supremacy also in secular affairs as a matter of principle and theory but who, time and again, has endeavored to put this claim into practical operation."

At the time, anti-Catholicism was eclipsed by anti-Semitism and claims of dual loyalties. Following Adolf Hitler's ascendency, Jewish efforts to respond to Nazism were seen as putting religious interests before American interests. However, anti-Semitism among the Protestant elite centered much more on the perceived undermining of traditional American culture. The progressive Henry Ford spoke for many when he condemned Jewish efforts: "Frivolity, sensuality, indecency, appalling illiteracy … are the marks of the American Stage as it approaches its degeneracy under Jewish control."

This hostility was particularly intense with respect to Jewish efforts to bring black music to the center of popular culture.  At the turn of the century, a leading music critic Daniel Gregory Mason wrote, "Ragtime … is a rude noise which emerged from the hinterlands of brothels and dives, presented in a negroid manner by Jews [who have] oriental extravagance and sensuous brilliance." Twenty years later, Ford wrote, "Jazz is a Jewish creation. The mush, the slush, the sly suggestion, the abandoned sensuousness of sliding notes are of Jewish origin.  Monkey talk, jungle squeals, grunts and squeaks and gasps suggestive of cave love are camouflaged by a few feverish notes."

In his book "American Judaism: a History," the historian Jonathan Sarna writes, "In the face of worldwide anti-Semitic efforts to stigmatize and destroy Judaism, influential Christians and Jews in America labored to uphold it, pushing Judaism from the margins of American religious life toward its very center."

The persistence of interdenominational intolerance led a group of religious leaders to form the National Conference of Christians and Jews. It organized chapters throughout the nation, stressing a unifying Judeo-Christian tradition, and instituted Brotherhood Day to combat religious prejudice.

Their efforts were given a strong boost when the US entered World War II. Deborah Dash Moore documented how the Armed Forces embraced these views as a means of generating a unified fight force. In order to further this goal, all chaplains had to go through extensive training. The Standard Operating Procedure trained them to respect and surmount formal religious differences, and doctrinal disagreement had to be accommodated and subordinated to the demands of war and military requirements.

The unity of purpose was exemplified by a much publicized wartime tragedy: the sinking of the SS Dorchester. The ship's multi-faith chaplains gave up their lifebelts to evacuating seamen and stood together "arm in arm in prayer" as the ship went down. A 1948 postage stamp commemorated their heroism with the words "interfaith in action."

The unity fostered by the war effort carried over to the postwar period. Brotherhood Day was extended to Brotherhood Week and was widely observed. In addition, the notion of a unifying Judeo-Christian tradition fit well into the anti-Communism that flourished during the Cold War period.  

Unfortunately, dual loyalty claims have resurfaced in the last few years. In 2018, Senator Kamala Harris questioned a Catholic nominee to the Court of Appeals because he was a member of the Knights of Columbus, characterizing it as an extremist group because it follows church doctrine opposing same-sex marriages and abortion. This followed Senator Diane Feinstein's questioning another nominee because "the [Catholic] dogma lives loudly within you and that is a concern."

The loyalty of Jewish supporters of Israel has also been questioned. When some Jewish legislators supported a bill regarding boycotts of Israel, newly elected Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) tweeted that they "forgot what country they represent." A few years earlier, then congressperson Keith Ellison said, "The United States foreign policy in the Middle East is governed by what is good or bad through a country of 7 million people [Israel]. A region of 350 million all turns on a country of 7 million." This did not hurt his standing as Ellison rose to become deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee. 

These current dual loyalty charges are troubling but given increased religious diversity – with Islam and secularism most notable – there are good reasons for sunsetting the use of the term Judeo-Christian tradition. Even if the term disappears, the goal of its wartime use must prevail. We must learn to respect and surmount these differences.

Robert Cherry teaches at Brooklyn College and the author of Jewish and Christian Views on Bodily Pleasure: Their Origins and Relevance to the Twentieth Century (Wipf & Stock, 2018).