The December 7 edition of syndicated radio show Janet Parshall's America appears to have replayed December 1 remarks*by Toward Tradition president Rabbi Daniel Lapin at the National Press Club. In the speech, titled Fighting for Christmas, Lapin stated that, in the United States today, the choice to “defend” Christmas “is actually between a sordid, spreading secular sinister society and on the other hand, a society of benign Christianity, the likes of which the world hasn't seen in any other country for the last 2,000 years.” According to its website, “Toward Tradition is a non-profit (501(c)( 3)), educational organization working to advance our nation toward the traditional Judeo-Christian values that defined America's creation and became the blueprint for her greatness.”

Right-wing evangelical host Janet Parshall introduced the December 7 segment as follows: “A group of conservative Jews ... gathered in the nation's capital under the leadership of Don Feder, who's the president of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation [JAACD], and they said, 'We want you to hear our heart. We think it's OK to say 'Merry Christmas.' "

During his remarks, Lapin argued: “Today in this blessed land ... [m]y choice is between living among people practicing aggressive secularism or living among benign and Bible-believing Christians.” He continued, “How could I possibly ally myself with those who would make God's commandments irrelevant to society? Worse, how could I stand by and say nothing, while those Americans who venerate the Ten Commandments are under attack?”

Lapin's speech was delivered during a press conference sponsored by JAACD, a group that, according to Feder, “was organized because we recognize that Christians are the last remaining obstacle to the moral deconstruction of America, because attacks on Christians are motivated by hatred for the values they espouse.” Lapin is a member of JAACD's advisory board, as is comedian Jackie Mason, who was also speaking at the press conference. At the conference, JAACD expressed support for the fight against the so-called “war” on Christmas; as Media Matters for America has noted, Mason appeared on the December 2 edition of Fox News' O'Reilly Factor to discuss the purported “war.”

Lapin is also the author of America's Real War: An Orthodox Rabbi Insists that Judeo-Christian Values Are Vital for Our Nation's Survival (Multnomah Publishers, 1998). From former Attorney General John Ashcroft's book cover endorsement of America's Real War: “Rabbi Lapin is a great teacher, and he demonstrates that the foundation of American democracy is nothing less than the foundation of Western civilization itself: the moral principles of our Judeo-Christian heritage. All who cherish freedom and the rule of law are in his debt.”

From the December 7 broadcast of Salem Radio Network's Janet Parshall's America:

LAPIN: Great-Grandpa, you see, back in Europe, in your time, the tension was between two choices. The choice was a dreamed-of, benign, secular society, perhaps exemplified by the utopian dreams of socialism and communism. And on the other side, a somewhat sinister, theocratic state. And I understand why you thought the secular alternative was better. But today everything is different, as things do, as when time changes. And the choice today in the land in which I live is no longer a choice between a sinister theocracy and a benign secular environment. It's rather different. The choice is actually between a sordid, spreading, secular sinister society and on the other hand, a society of benign Christianity, the likes of which the world hasn't seen in any other place for the last 2,000 years. And if it's a choice between a Bible-believing culture on the one hand, and a choice of secularism, and secular fundamentalism on the other, there is no doubt in my mind as to which side your descendant should be on.

* The transcript of Lapin's remarks found on the Toward Tradition website do not exactly match the audio clip played by Parshall.