This morning’s press release from the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the world’s largest body of Jewish clergy, “pledges support for (the) Obama administration’s policy in Afghanistan.” And in so doing they raise a real question about the propriety of any religious group, especially one so vigilant in their commitment to the separation of church and state, using their religious authority to shape American foreign policy.
It’s not that I disagree which much of what they say about how the current administration is addressing Afghanistan. It boils down to what the rabbis have previously affirmed and this administration appreciates i.e. “military means alone will not defeat terrorism. A coordination of military, diplomatic, political, economic, religious and cultural means must also be utilized.” They are both 100% correct.
But I can not shake off the irony of this group of rabbis in particular weighing in on a matter of foreign policy.

How does the same group react when right-wing Jews or Evangelical Christians do the exact same thing?
Does the CCAR believe that because in their case, no bible verses are quoted, it’s any less use of religious ideology in the shaping of foreign policy? And if it really isn’t a religious issue for them, then why comment on it as a rabbinic group?
Is it appropriate for any rabbinic group to advocate in this way? Are liberal groups especially vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy when they do so? What about conservatives?
What say you?