Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Judeo-Christian means Christian

At least for Shirley Dobson (wife of James Dobson of Focus on the Family) and the National Day of Prayer Task Force, that is. On an application to be a coordinator for the Task Force, it claims:
The National Day of Prayer Task Force was a creation of the National Prayer Committee for the expressed purpose of organizing and promoting prayer observances conforming to a Judeo-Christian system of values.
Sounds open to Jews and Christians, but not Muslims, right? But when you look further at the application, you see that you must be willing to sign the following statement of belief in order to be a coordinator:
I believe that the Holy Bible is the inerrant Word of The Living God. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only One by which I can obtain salvation and have an ongoing relationship with God. I believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, his virgin birth, his sinless life, his miracles, the atoning work of his shed blood, his resurrection and ascension, his intercession and his coming return to power and glory. I believe that those who follow Jesus are family and there should be unity among all who claim his name.
(Via Ed Brayton's Dispatches from the Culture Wars blog, where one commenter points out that they are probably open-minded enough to be willing to accept anyone of any religion or even an atheist, so long as they're willing to sign that statement of belief, and another commenter suggests the alternate term "Christeo-Mormon.")

2 comments:

Eamon Knight said...

As I said over at Ed's place, in Christian Right parlance, "Judeo-Christian" means: "Ignoring the fact that we treated you like shit for centuries, we'll now let you be honorary Christians when it's politically expedient".

Reed said...

Perhaps the Jews for Jesus are behind this new definition?