Prager to Look for G-d in Atlanta

One of the clearest voices that has served as a beacon for America and Jewish Americans for decades, Dennis Prager, will speak at Congregation Beth Tefillah on Wednesday night, Aug. 24.

Prager, who has broadcast on radio since 1982, has been called one of our most influential thinkers. He is a syndicated columnist and author of six books, including some written with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin.

Prager, a yeshiva product and native of Flatbush, Brooklyn, who now lives in Los Angeles, has not stayed away from controversy, such as opposing the use of the Koran in place of the Bible for congressional swearing-ins. He doesn’t apologize for supporting this November’s Republican presidential ticket.

Having also served as an educational director, he has much to say about today’s youth and college campuses.

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Jaffe: Flesh out your Atlanta topic, “G-d in America.” Does that relate to right-wing conservatism or prayer in schools?

Congregation Beth Tefillah

Prager: Just as Christianity has a trinity, so does America. It’s found on every American coin: “Liberty,” “In G-d We Trust” and “E Pluribus Unum” (one from many). Liberty is being replaced by equality. “In G-d we trust” is being replaced by secularism and atheism, and e pluribus unum by multiculturalism — an emphasis on every national, ethnic and racial identity other than American.

Every American founder, including Jefferson and Franklin, who were not orthodox Christians, understood that without G-d and religion, the American experiment would fail. John Adams said so explicitly, writing in 1798: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

The role American Jews have played in helping rid America of G-d is a tragedy that will prove to be as harmful to American Jews and to Israel as to America.

Jaffe: Both presidential candidates have been only slightly warm about support for Israel. Do you see a real difference between a Trump and Clinton administration on this?

Prager: Regarding Israel, the candidates are not the primary issues here. It is the parties that differ greatly on Israel. The Democratic Party is increasingly hostile to Israel (despite the fact that the great majority of Jews vote Democratic), and the Republican Party is overwhelmingly pro-Israel (despite the lack of Jewish support for Republicans). At the Republican National Convention, the only foreign country both Trump and Pence cited for special mention of support was Israel, and the delegates cheered wildly.

Jaffe: Do you think American Jews are leaning even more left during this election because of distaste for Trump?

Prager: Yes. But Jews are leaning left because they are already on the left. American Jews would vote Democrat even if the Republicans had nominated two female Jews for president and vice president — and even if the Democrats had nominated Bernie Sanders, the most hostile-to-Israel presidential candidate since Israel’s creation. Most American Jews’ ethnicity is Jewish, but their religion is essentially liberalism/leftism.

Jaffe: What can we do about the dangerous liberalism on college campuses? Is it just the way the generations relate, or something more deep and dramatic?

Prager: Universities throughout the Western world are the West’s most anti-Israel and anti-American mainstream institutions. What can we do?

First, do not send your child to college right after high school. Send him/her to Israel first. And have them work as a waiter or waitress the rest of the year (any job that forces you to smile even when you are in a bad mood makes you a better person). The more they know about life, the less they will be easily indoctrinated at college.

Second, have them watch — and rewatch — every video course at PragerUniversity.com. They are all free, and each is only five minutes long. In the first six months of this year we have over 100 million views; it is probably the largest nonleft video Internet site in the English-speaking world. It undoes much of the moral and intellectual damage the universities do five minutes at a time.

Third, make it as clear as possible to your child that the university has substituted indoctrination for education and that pro-American, pro-Israeli and pro-religion (unless the religion is Islam) voices are rarely allowed to be heard there.

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Who: Dennis Prager speaking on “Does G-d Belong in America”

Where: Congregation Beth Tefillah, 5065 High Point Road, Sandy Springs

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24

Tickets: $18 Beth Tefillah members, $25 general public; RSVP at www.bethtefillah.org by Friday, Aug. 19, or call 404-843-2464