Editing Judeo-Christian (section)

==History==
The term "Judæo Christian" first appears in a letter by [[Alexander McCaul]] which is dated October 17, 1821.{{efn|"From all I can see there is but one way to bring about the object of the Society, that is by erecting a Judæo Christian community, a city of refuge, where all who wish to be baptized could be supplied with the means of earning their bread."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=M'Caul |first1=Alexander |year=1820–1821 |title=Extract of a Letter From Mr. M'Caul |journal=The Jewish Expositor, and Friend of Israel |volume=V |pages=478 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dSYbAAAAYAAJ}}</ref>}} The term in this case referred to [[Apostasy in Judaism|Jewish converts to Christianity]].<ref>Judæo-, Judeo- in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]], Second Edition. Accessed online 2008-07-21</ref> The term was similarly used by [[Joseph Wolff]] in 1829, in reference to a type of church that would observe some Jewish traditions in order to convert Jews.<ref>{{cite book |title=Missionary Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, Missionary to the Jews |last=Wolff |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Wolff |year=1829 |volume=III |publisher=James Duncan |location=London |page=314 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd8_AAAAcAAJ&q=Judeo-Christian&pg=PA314}}</ref> Mark Silk states in the early 19th century the term was "most widely used (in French as well as English) to refer to the early followers of Jesus who opposed" the wishes of [[Paul the Apostle]] and wanted "to restrict the message of Jesus to Jews and who insisted on maintaining Jewish law and ritual".<ref name="Silk-NCR-2019">{{cite web |last1=Silk |first1=Mark |title=Mark Silk on the history of the term 'Judeo-Christian' |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/mark-silk-history-term-judeo-christian |website=National Catholic Reporter |access-date=18 March 2020 |date=15 April 2019}}</ref>

[[Friedrich Nietzsche]] used the German term {{lang|de|"Judenchristlich"}} ("Jewish-Christian") to describe and emphasize what he believed were neglected aspects of the continuity which exists between the Jewish and Christian worldviews. The expression appears in ''[[The Antichrist (book)|The Antichrist]]'', published in 1895 but written several years earlier; a fuller development of Nietzsche's argument can be found in the prior work, ''[[On the Genealogy of Morality]]''.

The concept of [[Judeo-Christian ethics]] or Judeo-Christian values in an [[ethics|ethical]] (rather than a theological or liturgical) sense was used by [[George Orwell]] in 1939, along with the phrase "the Judaeo-Christian scheme of morals".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0j2qODEJkdoC&pg=PA401|title=George Orwell: An age like this, 1920-1940|last=Orwell|first=George|date=2017-02-04|publisher=David R. Godine Publisher|isbn=9781567921335|pages=401|language=en}}</ref> According to theologian [[Richard L. Rubenstein]], the "normative Judaeo-Christian interpretation of history" is to treat human suffering, such as a plague, as punishment for human guilt.<ref>{{cite book |title=After Auschwitz: Radical Theology and Contemporary Judaism |first=Richard L. |last=Rubenstein |author-link=Richard L. Rubenstein |publisher=The Bobbs-Merrill Company |year=1966 |oclc=2118249 }}</ref>

According to historian K. Healan Gaston, the term became a descriptor of the U.S. in the 1930s, when the country sought to forge a unified cultural identity in an attempt to distinguish itself from [[fascism]] and [[communism]] in Europe. Becoming part of the [[American civil religion]] by the 1940s, the term rose to greater prominence during the [[Cold War]], especially when it was used to express opposition to [[Marxism and religion|communist atheism]]. In the 1970s, the term became particularly associated with the American [[Christian right]]. It is sometimes employed in a separate context in political attempts to restrict [[immigration]] and [[LGBT rights]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Loeffler |first=James |date=August 1, 2020 |title=The Problem With the 'Judeo-Christian Tradition' |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/the-judeo-christian-tradition-is-over/614812/ |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=August 5, 2020 }}</ref>