When it comes to discussing matters of church and state... we are sometimes asked why we feel the issue to be "Jewish" in nature.
And while we are the first to argue that the Constitutional protection of religious minorities, from Muslims to atheists to Jews, should be important to all Americans... the reality is that Jewish history and minority status work together to make Jewish organizations and the Jewish community particularly solicitous of the protections of the 1st Amendment.
And activism originating from progressive blogs [originating with this blogger] has managed to compel an apology from an important Republican whose public comments affirm the Jewish take on church/state issues.
[Indiana] House Speaker Brian Bosma issued an apology to Jewish leaders Monday.
Speaker Bosma (R) met with about 50 Jewish leaders last week and after the meeting a rabbi sent an email to his congregation. In it, Rabbi Jon Adland said, "Everything we believed about this country had just been trampled. For the first time in my life as a citizen of this country, I was scared."
The rabbi's e-mail is now the subject of several blogs including one that carries a cartoon showing Bosma blocking minorities from a gate labeled "freedom." It all stems from a discussion regarding prayer in the Indiana House where it was pointed out that two percent of the population is Jewish and 80 percent is Christian.
CONTINUED after the break.
"I asked the group what percentage of the population in Indiana for demographic purposes was of Jewish tradition and faith and it was them who provided me with the two percent," said Bosma.
Rabbi Adland saw that as disregard for minority rights and said as much in an email sent to his congregation, which is now posted on several blogs.
On Monday afternoon Bosma held a second meeting with the rabbi and other Jewish leaders "and I gave a heartfelt apology if the implication of my words were offensive to him," said Bosma.
David Orentlicher (D), the only Jewish member of the General Assembly echoed the rabbi's concern about what he calls the "tyranny of the majority. That we are a democracy where the majority prevails but we're also a constitutional democracy where the majority prevails but important rights have to be protected for even small minorities," he said.
Speaker Bosma says he wanted the group to know that he values his ties to the Jewish community "and that they are very valued citizens and that anything that had said to cause them to think anything differently that I sincerely apologized for that and he accepted that."
"One of the most important things we can do as a state is assure that any minority is welcome in Indiana and that if we're gonna grow as a state we have to have that message," said Orentlicher.
For more background, we urge you to click here.
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