points of view

>> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com

Guest Column

Editorial

For God's Sake!

Our having a secular political climate is a myth.

T

hose Jewish organizations that take it upon
themselves to guard against violations of
the principle of separation of church and
state each time they believe they have witnessed
the slightest constitutional threat must have had a
kanipshin fit watching President Obama's second
inauguration.
Because on close examination, it almost resem-
bled a religious service, and no one — surprise —
protested. Thank you know who.
Consider:
• The president and vice president took the oaths
of office on Bibles. As a matter of fact, Obama used
two Bibles, one of top of the other. He knows he
is facing some tough issues in the next four years,
and he might as well double up. Also, both oaths
end with, "So help me God"
• Myrlie Evers-Williams delivered an invocation.
• The Rev. Luis Leon delivered a benediction.
And boy, how many times he asked us to pray
within his allotted five minutes!
Then there was the prayee-in-chief. He
referred to God three times in his speech
— four times if one counts "Creator" —
closing with:
"Thank you. God bless you, and may
He forever bless these United States of
America:'
As a matter of fact, the president asked
God to bless America at inaugural func-
tions throughout the day. One wondered
if God thought, "Enough already."
(To be fair to Obama, his predecessors
did exactly the same thing, and he fig-
ured, if they got away with it, he could as
well. He probably had his legal advisers
check precedents on this point.)
Obama did all that in front of the Supreme
Court justices, who have ruled in a variety of cases
it is unconstitutional to pray on public property
or use microphones paid for with public funds for
prayers.
Hey, who did they think paid for the mike used
by the president? Moreover, he asked the blessing
from God even though his salary — and that of his
speechwriter — are paid for with taxpayers' dol-
lars.

A National Plot?

What gives here? Why didn't any one of the justices
stop the proceedings? Can the ACLU and its allies
sue the president et al? Can they sue the justices
for being accomplices?
Given their rulings, the justices also seem to
have forgotten that they open their sessions with
a plea that "God save this honorable court:' If that
ain't praying, what is?
Indeed, there may be the opportunity for, per-
haps, hundreds of thousands of lawsuits because
many watching the proceedings probably prayed

38

February 7 • 2013

JIB

We have survived all this
"religion."

on the mall — public property. Oh, heavens!
There is, of course, a point to this sarcasm.
Those who have appointed themselves guardians
of the separation of state and religion constitution-
al principle don't seem to be able to differentiate
between efforts to invoke religion into public pol-
icy and a respectful reference to God and religion
in public political life. We are not, and have never
been, a secular political society.

Just The Facts
A cross or menorah on public property during
Christmas or Chanukah, respectively, is no threat
to our constitutional rights, although it is an issue
that seems to energize Jewish community orga-
nizations. Nor are the many other expressions of
religion that occur regularly during
prayers at graduations or at the meet-
ings of governmental bodies.
Our Founding Persons invoked
the name of God many times in their
deliberations, as did Abraham Lincoln,
although Steven Spielberg didn't in the
film Lincoln, maybe because he is part
of the Hollywood liberal community.
Or it might have been a heretical over-
sight.
We pay clergy in the military
with taxpayer dollars; we construct
churches and synagogues on military
complexes with public funds; we
pledge allegiance using the words "under God;"
our currency states "In God We Trust;" we regu-
larly sing God Bless America.
Presidents always end major speeches by asking
God to bless America; governors pray that God
bless their states; mayors seek God's protection for
their cities. Let us pray He/She finds time for all
that.
When the occasion calls for it, we join in prayer
on public property, particularly during crises. We
assume the staunch, unyielding advocates of the
separation of church and state join in.
And we have survived all this "religion:'
Given that the resources of Jewish community/
political organizations are limited, particularly in
these tough economic times, let us hope they move
to more vital issues.
Let us pray — yes, pray — that they reconsider
their priorities, and let us say, Amen.

❑

Berl Falbaum of West Bloomfield is an author and a

public relations executive. He teaches journalism part-

time at Wayne State University in Detroit and is a

former political reporter.

Michigan Stepping Up To
Fight Iran Atomic Threat

N

o public deals with anyone or any company sub-
stantially linked to Iran's energy sector – petro-
leum, natural gas resources or nuclear power
– will be cut in Michigan, thanks to a new state law. Any
attempt to cut such a deal will bring a stiff fine.
The Iran Economic Sanctions Act,
signed into law by Gov. Snyder on Dec.
28, requires any bid on a public
contract in Michigan to include
proof that it's not tied to an
investment of at least $20 mil-
lion in the Iranian economic sector
providing the main funding for Iran's
daunting nuclear program, which by
some accounts is a matter of months
from having bomb capability.
The new law takes effect April 1.
The governor and state lawmakers made
the right call.
Iran continues its relentless vitriol toward Israel and
the West. It's also the chief backer of Assad-ruled Syria.
If they have the toughness to risk an Israeli and U.S.
military response, the clerics who control the Islamic
Republic certainly would unleash their first atomic bomb
at the Jewish state, America's main Middle East ally.
It's common knowledge that Iran-backed Hezbollah and
Hamas, both U.S.-declared terrorist organizations, are
sworn enemies of Israel.
The Michigan Economic Sanctions Act was necessary
because U.S. government prohibitions on Iran don't
regulate all of Michigan's affairs. The civil penalty is not
more than $250,000 or twice the amount of the con-
tract or proposed contract for which the false certifica-
tion was made, whichever is greater.
Michigan isn't late jumping into sanctions on the
Iranian regime. In 2008, it was one of the first states to
pass Iranian divestment legislation to require the state
from divesting in companies that were heavily invested
in the Iranian energy sector.
Washington should enhance "constraints on supply
of goods Iran needs for its nuclear and missile pro-
grams," the Project on U.S. Middle East Nonproliferation
Strategy, a nonpartisan American initiative, declared
in a new report on the Iranian nuclear program. The
initiative reminds the U.S. and the rest of the civilized
world "Iran poses, by far, the most important immediate
Middle East nuclear proliferation challenge."
It adds, "Iran's advancing nuclear program violates
U.N. Security Council resolutions, threatens interna-
tional peace and security, undermines the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty and threatens to spur prolifera-
tion elsewhere in the region ...
"Sanctions so far have failed to achieve their avowed
objective of inducing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali
Kkamenei and his Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to
agree to permanently circumscribe, and establish the
peaceful nature of, their nuclear program."
Michigan is earnestly doing its part to help bring suf-
ficient economic force to bear on Tehran. If the threat
becomes graver, the state and federal sanctions must
grow stronger.

❑