CONTENTS

OPINION

24

CLOSE-UP

Without God

DAVID HOLZEL
Local secular Jews have beliefs
that go outside the boundaries
of Judaism's mainstream.

LIFE IN ISRAEL

The Shocking Protests

36

HELEN DAVIS

Demonstrations by Israeli Arabs
have shocked the Jews of Israel.

44

LIFESTYLES

President Reagan annually meets with Lubavitch representatives.

Stating A Strong Historic Case
For Religion In U.S. Politics

JOSHUA 0. HABERMAN

he religious pluralism of America
is unique. Religion does not run
the government in America, but it
shapes the thinking of the people and in
that sense is politically highly effective. In
fact, as Alexis de Tocqueville has argued,
without the religious influence to shape the
underlying moral and political consensus
in America, our democracy could not exist.
I entirely agree with de Tocqueville's
understanding of the role of religion in
America and in American politics. And I
believe it all the more strongly because of
my own experience as a witness to the
growth of the Nazi movement and its
dominance in my native Austria. In Cen-
tral Europe, it was secularism that removed
the religious barriers to the spread of the
Nazi totalitarian ideology. A vital, strong,
Christian community would have resisted
and possibly defeated the Nazis.
Unlike many political observers, I do
not believe that it was Ronald Reagan who
turned the country conservative, but rather
a conservative tide that put Reagan into
power. I see the conservative forces gaining
further momentum regardless of what hap-
pens to Reagan in the next year; and I also
see the role of religion expanding and play-
ing a larger part in conservative politics.
I make these predictions based on my
observations of world trends. There is a pro-
nounced shift toward traditional values
and the growing power of conservative
religious bodies, not just locally or na-
tionally, but world-wide.
This shift is the result of one of the
most traumatic half centuries in human
history, the period from 1914 to the mid-
'60s. Moreover, it has been reinforced by the

T

Rabbi Haberman delivered these remarks before
the Republican Party's National Jewish Coalition
White House Meetings for Rabbinical Leadership.
He is senior rabbi emeritus of Washington Hebrew
Congregation.

current mood of anxiety and pessimism
which is generating a deep, universal crav-
ing for clearer guidelines of human con-
duct, for a return to the old morality. In
other words, I see a growing readiness on
the part of vast masses of people to embrace
those things, religious and political, that
conservatives are best at.
Now, after two world wars and the
Holocaust, with arsenals of nuclear
weapons which could end all life on earth,
optimism has turned into grave apprehen-
sions about the future. We are faced,
moreover, with social problems for which
no solutions seem to be in sight.
The great error of social engineers,
revolutionaries and reformers was to think
in terms of social systems and not in terms
of the individual. But it is the individual
who, multiplied by millions, is the nation.
And the fact is that the modern individual
is lonely, frightened, repelled by bigness in
business, government and science. He is
left with all of his questions unanswered,
and with a feeling that no one cares.
Because it is in the very nature of the
conservative approach to religion to ad-
dress the individual, believing that in-
dividuals shape society much more than
society shapes individuals, religion and
especially conservative religion, is growing
in America.
I predict that people, in their fear of be-
ing overwhelmed by forces they cannot
understand and in their craving for clearer
guidelines, for a greater sense of security,
will flock to those religious movements
which say categorically what is right and
what is wrong, which reaffirm family
values, which restore the old morality with
its work ethics, with its stress on personal
responsibility in education and job perfor-
mance. Moreover, while the liberal forces
in religion are still busy replacing God
with the idol of unlimited personal freedom
and autonomy, the more conservative
religious movements in Christianity as

Continued on Page 10

Moving Dynamo

CARLA JEAN SCHWARTZ
A profile peek at Sondra Berlin.

SPORTS

Contrasting Styles

47

MIKE ROSENBAUM
Justin Duberman and Mike
Nodler forsee different paths
in the world of hockey.

57

ENTERTAINMENT

Dirty Dancing

AVIVA KEMPNER
Writer Eleanor Bergstein's
youthful reminiscences
led to the popular film.

78

RELIGION

Judeo-Christian

HAROLD SCHULWEIS
A plethora of advertising
and hyphenation, cannot join
two separate religions.

YOUTH

It's Show Time!

B'nai B'rith youth
had the talent
at their convention.

DEPARTMENTS

30
32
68
73
74

76
82
90
94
122

Inside Washington
Synagogues
For Women
B'nai B'rith
Business

Seniors
Engagements
Births
Single Life
Obituaries

CANDLELIGHTING

January 15, 1988

5:08 p.m.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

7

