CJN: It�s a familiar calculus in the relationship between the Jewish community and the Bush administration: a social issue that divides the country 50-50 has the Jewish community split 75-25 against where President Bush stands.

On June 5, Bush strongly endorsed the Federal Marriage Amendment to the US constitution, which would effectively ban gay marriage.

�Marriage is the most fundamental institution of civilization, and it should not be redefined by activist judges,� Bush said after meeting with supporters of the constitutional amendment. He was referring to the 2004 decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court to recognize same-sex marriages.The bill was defeated June 7 in a procedural vote when the Senate voted 49-48 to reject debate on the issue. Even if it had come to the floor, it had virtually no chance of passing. Constitutional amendments need 67 of the 100 Senate votes to pass. Proponents pledged to revive the amendment after congressional elections in November.

That makes it a win-win for Bush in his effort to keep evangelical conservatives on board ahead of the November midterm congressional elections. The reasoning is that the amendment will still resonate with the Republicans� conservative base five months from now, but will likely have disappeared from the memories of social moderates who may lean Republican for other reasons.

However, Jewish Republicans, who have been trying to lure Jews away from their solid 3-to-1 support for Democrats, might have been dealt a blow, at least according to the amendment�s opponents.�It�s unclear to me how the Republican Party will gain ground in the Jewish community by bringing forth a centerpiece of the religious right�s agenda,� said Mark Pelavin, associate director of the Reform movement�s Religious Action Center. �For a large section of the Jewish community, this is an issue of fundamental rights, and they will be watching closely to see how their senators vote.�

The Reform and Reconstructionist movements oppose the amendment. On June 6, the Conservative movement�s leadership joined in the opposition, in a statement that referred to a 2003 United Synagogue resolution opposing any such discrimination. Also in opposition are major Jewish civil-liberties groups, including the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League.

The National Council of Jewish Women has taken a lead in opposing the legislation. Orthodox groups, led by the Orthodox Union (OU) and Agudath Israel of America, support the amendment.

The most recent polling on the issue, by Gallup, found 50% of Americans in favor of the amendment and 47% opposed. A 2004 American Jewish Committee survey of American Jews found 24% in favor and 74% opposed.

Jewish supporters of the amendment suggested they would sell the amendment to the Jewish community as one that would guarantee religious freedoms.Proponents of gay marriage were �pursuing a deliberate plan of litigation and political pressure which will not only redefine marriage, but will follow from that to threaten the first freedom enshrined in the First Amendment � religious liberty,� said Nathan Diament, director of the Washington office of the OU.

Diament, the only Jewish participant at the meeting with Bush June 5, told JTA that the Massachusetts ruling already had a negative impact on religious freedom. He cited as example the state�s Roman Catholic Church�s decision to drop out of the adoption business because it would be required to consider gay couples as parents.

�They�re trying to impose their position on society at large,� he said of proponents of gay marriage. �How a society defines marriage affects everybody.�

That view had some backing from at least one Jewish civil rights group, the American Jewish Congress.Marc Stern, the AJCongress�s general counsel, cited the example of an Orthodox kosher caterer who could face a lawsuit for refusing to cater a same-sex wedding. A successful compromise would �recognize the marriages in the context of a secular economy, for instance by not discriminating on domestic partner benefits, but it would not force people to act in areas they find morally reprehensible,� Stern told JTA.

The most prominent Jewish Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted against the amendment. Government �ought to be kept off our backs, out of our pocketbooks, and out of our bedrooms,� Specter said, according to The New York Times.

Republican Jewish spokesmen did not return calls for comment by press time, but the amendment was not likely to help their efforts to appeal to Jews on domestic issues.

The emphasis before the 2004 election on Bush�s friendship with Israel and his tough reputation on security issues failed to make much of a dent on the Jewish Republican vote, which crept up to between 23% and 25% from about 19% in 2000.Since then, Jewish Republicans have learned not to emphasize foreign policy too much and have carefully calibrated a social message designed to appeal to younger Jews. In Jewish newspaper advertisements and in stump speeches, Bush�s pro-business record is pitched to Jewish voters who may be more fiscally conservative than their parents.

And spokesmen like party chairman Ken Mehlman, who is Jewish, bluntly acknowledge to Jews that the Democrats were on the right side of history when they backed civil rights in the 1960s; but they say that Bush has inherited that mantle with his efforts to promote democracy abroad and force education reforms at home.

Democrats said the marriage amendment would help cripple such efforts.

�The Republicans are saddled with an agenda that�s horrific to the vast majority of American Jews,� said Ira Forman, the executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council.