by Lewis Loflin
Deism aligns with Judaism—monotheism, reason (*Paine*). In college, OT/NT surveys left me rejecting Christianity’s OT twists. Why was I called a Jew? Judaism’s beef with Christianity—Paul (never met Jesus, *Acts 9*), Trinity, no OT dying God—clicked later. A guestbook jab from “Rabbi Yarden” (Messianic Christian, not Jewish, *Encyclopedia Judaica*) spurred this: Christianity’s a mash of Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism, and neo-Platonism, built by Paul and John’s author, not Jesus. My note: Reason cuts through—Jesus was no founder.
Judaism’s core: God’s oneness (Deut. 6:4, *Maimonides*). Christians push conversion—Second Coming bait or dodging Judaism’s rigor (*Katz*). My note: Reason scorns shortcuts—Judaism stands firm.
Blech (*Idiot’s Guide*) cites Abraham’s Midrashic temple epiphany—creation demands a creator (*Genesis Rabbah*). Pure Deism (*Paine*). God alone made it (Genesis 1:1), no Logos (John 1:3, *Brown*). Christianity’s trinity—Greek via Philo—breaks this (*Legum Allegoriae*). Jews for Jesus twist Zohar (13th century, *Scholem*) to dodge Deut. 6:4. My note: Reason laughs—mysticism’s no match for text.
Judaism reads OT literal (*Talmud*), Christianity allegorizes OT, literalizes NT (*Origen*); Deism/Unitarianism take both as-is, reasoned (*Jefferson*). No Holy Spirit (Ruach isn’t trinitarian, *Westermann*), no devil—Satan’s God’s servant (Job 1:6, *Sarna*), not Zoroastrian (*Boyce*). God’s formless (Ex. 20:4, *Blech*); no Original Sin, no mediators—Judaism/Deism agree (*Sandmel*). My note: Reason rejects Christian imports—pure monotheism rules.
Gentiles needn’t convert—Noachide laws suffice (*Sanhedrin 56b*): no idolatry, blasphemy, murder, theft, immorality, live-animal limbs, plus courts. A friend notes the limb ban curbs cruelty—practical, not bizarre (*Novak*). My note: Deism nods—ethics, not rituals, matter.
Modern anti-Semitism isn’t Christian—it’s French Enlightenment (*Hertzberg*). American Deism/Unitarianism (Adams, Jefferson) embraced Jews (*Feldberg*); Voltaire vilified them (*Philosophical Dictionary*). Adams saw Jews as kin—“your Jehovah is our Jehovah” (1819)—unlike Voltaire’s “barbarous” slur. My note: Reason cheers Adams—Voltaire’s a bigot.
Reform Judaism (42%, 1990, *AJY*) and Unitarians drank Enlightenment socialism (*Meyer*); Prager nails their leftism (*Why Jews Are Liberal*)—ACLU, SPLC, Soros prove it (*Pew 2013*). Humanistic Judaism ditches God (*Wiki*)—no different from Unitarian Universalists. My note: Reason mourns—Reform’s Voltairean drift kills faith.
French Deism’s “remote god” (*Voltaire*)—Marxist, anti-Semitic (www.deism.com)—clashes with Founders’ “deism of the Jews” (*Jefferson Bible*). Reform’s leftism fuels anti-Semitism—open borders, Muslim influx (*SPLC*)—yet the left still hates them. Trotsky’s tale (Rosen) sums it: secular Jews pay for revolutions. My note: Reason sees folly—Judaism’s God is ethics, not politics. See Socialist Roots, Anti-Nationalism.
