The Faith Fallacy

On Granting and Earning Respect

I was taking the air on social media – Substack Notes, in fact – perambulating among the virtual scented gardens, when I came upon a note opining on some apparent “confusion” about who are the “spiritually significant seed” of Abraham. The note’s author firmly asserted those people to be the saved in Jesus. As is commonly the case in such matters, he cited scripture. I was taken aback. Those not being my gardens, I was thrown off the scent. I needed clarity and sought it. I posed a question in response: did the note’s author intend to claim, as seemed the case, that Jews are not the spiritually significant seed of the – according to scripture – first Jew?

This wasn’t a matter of spiritual consequence to me. Though I identify ethnically and culturally as a Jew, I’m not an adherent of the faith. But I understood – I felt – both the general and historic import of such a claim. I never received a reply. The author didn’t seem inclined to an exchange of, or challenge to, his views. My brief…