In this remarkable work, Ken Spiro takes us through four thousand years of history to show how the ethical and moral values that are held dear in the West, such as respect for human life, social responsibility, political pluralism, peaceful co-existence, tradition, family etc, all originate from the Jewish civilization, which grew up in Israel, and gave the world the Bible. The Torah says the Jews need to be ' A Light Among The Nations'.
He begins by taking us through a tour of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, which are often credited with being the predecessors of Western civilization, and shows us a rather horrific picture of how a lot of what they believed and practiced was quite antithetical to Judeo-Christian values.
Hence we learn about the nastier side these ancient civilizations and the wide scale acceptance and practice, defended by Plato, Aristotle and company of such things as infanticide, sexual abuse of children woman abuse, and extreme sexual depravity, as well as the total disregard for welfare of the poor or equal justice.
He then shows us how the Torah and the teachings of Ancient Israel enshrined respect for life, peace, justice, education, family and social welfare.
Through a history of the Jewish people, and religion, as well as the values enshrined therein.
What follows is an account of the Christian and Islamic faiths, which Judaism gave birth to, and their histories and attitudes to humanity etc.
Finally as we journey through time, we learn of the impact of Judaism on modern democracy.
He also shows how secular philosophies such as Communism and Humanism; leave much to be desired, because there morality is subjective, unlike the absolute truth given to us by our creator, enshrined in religious morality.
Hence the English Revolution of Oliver Cromwell, and the American Revolution, rooted in Protestant Christianity and deeply held Biblical values led to lasting democratic legacies, and relative peace in the countries in which they took place.
However the French, Russian and Chinese Revolutions, based on secular philosophies such as the Enlightenment and Communism, lacked all moral restraints, despite there high sounding ideals and therefore led to terror, mass murder and totalitarianism.
Marxism for example is supposed to be based on social justice and equality, but has led to the deaths of over 100 million people, and in my opinion, the word terror and repression, ever known to mankind.
Since in all of the ideologies and religions, he covers, he details the attitudes to and treatment of the Jewish people, I am surprised that he does not highlight that Karl Marx , despite being of Jewish background , was in fact violently anti-Semitic.
Some of Karl Marx's most vicious tracts are reserved for Jews and Judaism.
He concludes that liberal democracy and Judeo-Christian values are ascendant today
However I strongly disagree with Rabbi Spiro, that the United Nations is `perhaps the best example of the universal influence of Jewish values' as he states on page 268, `that it is `dedicated to making the world a better place'
I believe that the United Nations is a modern day tower of Babel, dominated by cruel dictatorships and rampant hostility to the pluralist democracy and Judeo-Christian values represented by the West.
The General Assembly of the UN routinely passing resolutions condemning the tiny Jewish state of Israel, for the mildest measure it takes to protect itself, and aims to remove the Jewish people, from their biblical heartland.
At the same time, it gives its almost unlimited support to every brutal dictatorship on this planet.
In the last year, the UN Human Rights Commission, which includes Red China, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Syria, Iran and Zimbabwe, was headed by Libya! Israel is the only country in the world, which cannot sit on the UN human Rights Commission.
deliberate starvation of Zimbabwe's people and massacres perpetrated by dictator, Robert Mugabe, genoicide of the Kurds, South Sudanese, Christian Lebanese etc, and the nightmarish totalitarian dictatorships in China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Syria, Libya, Iran etc
The UN can always be counted on to side with the cruel ones, with the despots.
And while I am -with no apologies- an uncompromising believer in Judeo-Christian values and pluralist democracy, I am not perhaps as optimistic about the outlook for the easy victory of Western, democratic values.
While the Marxist ECONOMIC system may have collapsed, Neo-Marxism with its anti- Western, anti-Israel, pro terrorist, pro-dictatorship dyspepsia is on the rise.
The ideologies of Noam Chomsky - violent hostility to the West and particularly Israel, together with admiration for terrorists and Third World dictatorships, all under the label of `anti-imperialism' and `anti-colonialism', is now seen as the mainstream.
Yes, in university campuses and media, across the world, leftwing anti-democratic, anti-Semitic extremism is more powerful than ever.
Anti-Western revolutionary regimes have taken power. Since Communism has collapsed in Russia and Eastern Europe, anti-Western revolutionary neo-Marxist regimes have gained control in Namibia, South Africa, Brazil, Venezuela, and Haiti, and while Red China has experienced economic liberalization, there is no sign of political liberalization.
The hysterical outcry across the world against the USA's war to liberate Iraq, involved millions of people, and involved massive support for terror, dictatorship and anti-Semitism.
Western, Judeo-Christian democratic values can triumph, but we have a massive struggle ahead of us to ensure that they do.
