Within the nation state of Israel, a debate is raging over Israel's identity and just how central Jewishness and Judaism are to the state. The debate has been fueled by several factors:

• The release of new statistics show that an increasing percentage of immigrants are non- Jews. More than half, this study showed, were not Jews according to Jewish law. That is, 53% did not have a Jewish mother or had not undergone a conversion. Since the great wave of immigration began in 1989, about 208,000 of the 1 million immigrants from the former Soviet Union have not been Jewish, according to the official data.
  
  
• There is an increasing demand among the growing Israeli-Arab minority for civil rights.
  
  
• The rise of the younger generation that questions whether Israel should evolve into a "post-Zionist" country and culture
  
  
• An Israeli-Arab legislator named Muhammad Baraka introduced a bill into the Israeli parliament anchoring Israeli law in the assertion that Israel is a democratic and multicultural state. Many in Israel consider such a bill quite subversive because it undermines one of the central tenets of Israel that Israel values one culture above all others.
  

This debate challenges one of Israel's foundational laws the Law of Return. This law guarantees citizenship to almost anyone with Jewish roots or spouse. Many within the parliament and within the culture are calling the law discriminatory and elitist. The original law guaranteed Israeli citizenship to Jews anywhere in the world "Every Jew has a right to come to this country." In 1970, it was amended to include those with Jewish roots and connection: non- Jewish spouses, children and grandchildren of Jews. For the last 50 years Israel has been in the process of nation-building and eager to attract immigrants to a culturally rich but difficult life. It has worked but has now gone beyond those goals.

What are the chief concerns?

• Those who are non-Jews are bringing cultural practices and lifestyles that violate Torah. For example, eating of pork, as well as sexual and drinking practices that violate Torah. The result could be the dilution of Jewish culture.
  
  
• The fear of intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews, a growing reality in Israel. What does this do to the definition of Jewishness? The Jewish character of Israel is therefore open to serious erosion and change.
  

This is a debate that will rage for years to come. It is at the heart of what Israel as a state is and why it was founded. God makes it very clear in His Word that we who are Christians are to be concerned for, love and bless the Jewish people. They remain His people with which He has an unconditional covenant. They are also at the vital center of what He will do in the future. These developments in modern Israel are therefore of utmost concern to us as Christians.

See the New York Times, 6 December 1999, front page article by Deborah Sontag.

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THE GAY DEBATE IN HIGH SCHOOLS

A coalition of medical, mental health, educational and religious organizations announced recently that it would send the nation's school superintendents a booklet informing them that there is "no support among health and mental health processionals organizations" for the idea than homosexuality is abnormal or mentally unhealthy. The Just the Facts Coalition, representing the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Education Association, the American Psychological Association and seven other groups, said the 12-page booklet will be mailed to the heads of all 14,700 public school districts in the US. The coalition said the booklet "provides information that will help school administrators and educators to create safe and healthy environments in which all students can achieve to the best of their ability." The publication likewise expresses concerns about the potential harm posed by "reparative therapy" and other techniques intended to change sexual orientation.

How should we think about this?

• The booklet, "Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth," is divided into sections on how sexual orientation develops, reproductive therapy, "transformational ministries," and other religious-based efforts to try to help homosexuals change their sexual orientation, and laws protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination. The booklet makes it quite clear that any school official that endorses one of these religious- based approaches will raise constitutional questions. The hint of lawsuits pervades this section of the booklet.
  
  
• This booklet is ideology, not science. There really have been no scientific studies done on reparative therapies. Those who are arguing against reparative therapies are arguing on the basis of their ideological convictions, not scientific study.
  
  
• Conspicuously absent from this booklet is any discussion of the morality or ethics of homosexuality. Every major religion of the world regards homosexuality as morally and ethically wrong. Once again, it is impossible to have an ethical or moral discussion about the homosexual lifestyle. As Jeffrey Satinover has shown in his powerful book, Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, politics, not science, is behind such efforts.

This effort is really about answering the Love Won Out conferences and advertisements that have appeared across the country over the last year. This effort provided a clear faith-based alterative that promoted the proposition that gays and lesbians can change through personal faith in Jesus Christ. Just the Facts is therefore attacking conservative Christians and others who believe that faith can make a difference in people's lives, even those in the homosexual lifestyle. It would seem to me only fair and just if the Just the Facts material is presented in the public high schools, so should Love Won Out! This is an effort to propagandize the next generation of young people, not provide them with meaningful alternatives. That is a tragedy.

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WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES II

In late November, over 1,500 delegates who support the family, including leaders from major religions, cultures and nations around the world, gathered in Geneva, Switzerland. The Congress issued a Declaration that was approved by a unanimous vote of the delegates. The preamble said "We assemble in this World Congress, from many national, ethnic, cultural, social and religious communities, to affirm that the natural human family is established by the Creator and essential to good society." It also affirmed the following propositions:

• The natural family is the fundamental social unit, inscribed in human nature, and centered on the voluntary union of a man and a woman in the lifelong covenant of marriage.
  
  
• The intrinsic worth, right to life, and sanctity of life of every human person existing throughout the continuum of life, from fertilization until natural death.
  
  
• Parents uniquely possess the authority and responsibility to direct the upbringing and education of their children.
  
  
• Government should protect and support the family, and not usurp the vital roles it plays in society.

Some good news about the family for a change. May God bless this Declaration and may it be distributed widely.

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