Last week, I objected to the phrase “Judeo-Christian” as something of an oxymoron and a myth. Since then, Mark O’Keefe of the Religion News Service has written on the subject:

Leading Muslim organizations say it’s time to drop the term Judeo-Christian to describe the values and character that define the United States.

O’Keefe mentions a 1984 scholarly article by Mark Silk, tracing the very short history of “Judeo-Christian.” Google lists 35 references to the Silk article.

The Muslims and the National Council of Churches say “Abrahamic” is a better choice. This sounded reasonable enough to me.

But Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab-American News in Dearborn, Mich., adopts perhaps the most practical approach:

“I believe we should call this the United States of America…. This stuff about language has to stop. We are all just Americans.”

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