August 18, 2007 | 7:41 am

Billy Graham’s diabolical side

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Look at the placement of Billy Graham‘s head in front of the “M” in TIME and tell me: is it just coincidence, or did the editors of Time magazine intend for the design of last week’s cover to give the influential evangelist horns?

Coincidence, I’d say.

“Some Internet bloggers,” the Charlotte Observer reports, “see something else.”

A devilish plot. They’re accusing Time—some seriously, some tongue-in-cheek—of putting horns on the Charlotte-born evangelist.

“Well, the left media continues its crusade of soft propaganda,” wrote conservative blogger John Ruskin. “This time, the target is Rev. Billy Graham ... Yeah, tell me that was an innocent mistake.”

(Hat tip: DMN religion blog)

August 17, 2007 | 1:52 pm

Jew becomes ‘radical Muslim’ and falls back

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The path to faith often takes unexpected twists. In the case of Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, the road went through three of the world’s major religions—Judaism, Islam and Christianity—and ultimately brought him to the FBI.

Born to Jewish parents who call themselves mystics, he grew up in what he calls the “liberal hippie Mecca” of Ashland, Oregon, a town of about 20,000 near the California border. It was in this ultraliberal intellectual environment that a young Gartenstein-Ross experimented with a radical form of Islam that eventually led him to shun music, reject women’s rights and even refuse to touch dogs because he believed this was “according to God’s will.”

“I began to pray for the mujahedeen, for these stateless warriors who were trying to topple secular governments,” he said.

This is the opening of a profile posted at CNN.com to promote the three-part special ‘God’s Warriors.’

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August 16, 2007 | 6:11 pm

‘Funny,’ The Forward says, ‘Brad Greenberg Doesn’t Look Christian’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’ve been looking forward to this afternoon, for the moment when I would join the fold of recent Q&As on The Forward‘s Web site. I didn’t get the Luke Ford treatment (not that I deserved it), but The Forward has posted that Q&A/profile with yours truly.

It’s pretty odd to be on the opposite side of the looking glass. I was certain I would say something that would culminate with me packing my desk—my wife is in PR, but I’ve had little media-training, except, of course, being a member of the MSM . But I think I survived.

Here’s the article’s lede, followed by three portions of the Q&A:

It’s not surprising that a major Jewish newspaper would have its own “God Blog.” One might be surprised, however, upon learning that a Jewish newspaper’s “God blogger” is a church-going Christian. And one certainly wouldn’t expect said Christian to have a last name that starts with “Green” and ends with “berg.”

...

            You describe yourself on your blog as a “God-fearing Christian.” What does that mean?

To me that means that I’m somebody who believes in the Bible as the word of God and somebody who believes specifically in the divinity of Jesus and that Jesus was the Christ. It’s something I am upfront about because I don’t want it to be some kind of secret that comes out in forms of rumor or innuendo. I put it out there because I think it’s important that people know that this is what I believe, and that it’s no something that affects me as a journalist.

            Has your background posed any unique challenges for you in covering the Jewish community?

I know that on it’s face it makes parts of the community queasy. If my name were “Mitch Hennigan,” it wouldn’t really be an issue. But everybody assumes that if my name’s “Greenberg” and I’m Christian, I must have converted out, which isn’t the case. When I started this job, everybody I talked to was like, “So, are you a Jew for Jesus?” And I was very clear: No, I’m not involved in Jews for Jesus. No, they have not slipped a mole into the Jewish Journal. I don’t have a special calling to baptize all of “those pagan Jews.” I think when people understand who I am, when they see the sensitivity of my reporting, and the fact that I am just a really curious journalist who does care about this community and is interested in the stories that are affecting it, I think it breaks down those walls.

            You’re halachically Jewish. When Jews find out that you’re a practicing Christian, do they ever try to bring you “back to the fold?”

I think that may be subtly going on. It hasn’t been anything that overt. I’m sure that a lot of people think that because I’m at the Jewish Journal, I think there is a perception that I’m here because I want to return to the community. And in ways I want to be able to identify with the community. I’m kind of struggling with how that can be done, how I can be Jewish while not adhering to the religion. But this is a thousands-year-old problem, the question of who is a Jew. I don’t anticipate being the answer.

Read the rest here.

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August 16, 2007 | 1:06 pm

Bishop: Christians should call God ‘Allah’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

AP courtesy of the WP:

THE HAGUE, Netherlands—A Dutch Catholic bishop who once said the hungry were entitled to steal bread and advocated condom use to prevent AIDS has made headlines again, this time by saying God should be called Allah.

“Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn’t we all say that from now on we will call God Allah?” Bishop Tiny Muskens said in an interview broadcast this week. “God doesn’t care what we call him.”

This reminds me of a debate in the Presbyterian Church USA denomination last summer on the names by which we should call God. A committee report—they’ll form one to discuss putting in a new water fountain—came up with these acceptable nicknames for the Father, Son and Holy Ghost:

• Sun, Light and Burning Ray
• Compassionate Mother, Beloved Child and Life-giving Womb
• Giver, Gift and Giving
• Rainbow of Promise, Ark of Salvation, and Dove of Peace
• Lover, Beloved and the Love, and Binds Together Lover and Beloved
• Overflowing Font, Living Water, Flowing River
• One From Whom, the One Through Whom, and the One in Whom We Offer Our Praise
• Rock, Cornerstone and Temple
• Fire That Consumes, Sword That Divides, and Storm that Melts Mountains

To which my pastor, the Rev. Mark Brewer of Bel Air Presbyterian, a church largely out of sync with the more liberal denomination, quipped: ““You might as well put in Huey, Dewey and Louie.”

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August 16, 2007 | 6:26 am

When the Episcopal schism comes between brothers

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

GetReligion points out “one of the most poignant feature stories about the Episcopal Church’s sexuality debate that I have seen in more than 15 years of writing about the topic.” It’s from the Boston Globe, written by their religion reporter, Michael Paulson, who shares a Pulitzer for his work helping uncover the Catholic clergy sex scandal.

The Murdoch brothers don’t often talk about the controversy dividing the Episcopal Church, but they really don’t have to: In the Murdoch family, schism starts at home.

The Rev. Bill Murdoch, 58, [pictured right] an Episcopal priest in West Newbury, is so frustrated by the Episcopal Church’s selection of an openly gay bishop that he is bolting and taking his parish with him. At the end of this month, he is to be consecrated a bishop by the Anglican Church of Kenya, and he will return to the North Shore to start a new Kenya-affiliated parish there.

But the Rev. Brian Murdoch, 53, [left] an Episcopal priest in West Roxbury, is not planning to join his brother for the ceremony in Nairobi and is not celebrating his elevation to bishop.

That’s because Brian, as Bill has long known, is gay.

(skip)

“My brother and I love each other and always will,” [Bill] said by e-mail. “My family and I love Brian and have always been proud of his service to others for the sake of the Gospel and the many, many people Brian has loved in the name of Christ. The pain of our disagreement over this issue will not change my love for him.”

(Photo: Globe)

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August 15, 2007 | 12:40 pm

‘God’s Warriors’ to invade primetime

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Next week’s CNN special ‘God’s Warriors’ should make for some good God Blog fodder.  The three-part series, which will air Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 6 p.m. Pacific Time, focuses on Christians, Jews and Muslims who have pushed religion into the public arena. Here’s what the Journal-Sentinel had to say after interviewing CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour:

It’s hard to overstate the impact religious fundamentalists have had in the Middle East, Europe and the United States, Amanpour said in an interview last month following a CNN session with critics in Los Angeles. 

“We’re talking about the (members) of these three faiths who feel that they have a direct line to God and that religion needs to be brought from the personal into the public sphere,” she said.

Amanpour is usually insightful and fair in her reporting; I enjoyed watching her “In the footsteps of bin Laden” special while vacationing last fall with my family. Hopefully, this series will be another winner.

(Hat tip: DMN religion blog)

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August 15, 2007 | 1:23 am

More religious bloodshed in Iraq

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Think Sunnis and Shi’ites have it bad as they shed each other’s blood in Iraq? Well, consider the plight of the Yazidim, a small religious group whose members are considered infidels by both Muslim sects.

In April, armed militants dragged 23 Yazidi members off a bus and executed them, presumably in retaliation for the Yazidi “honor-killing” of a co-religionist who was caught dating a Sunni man. As Sunni and Shi’ite militants have been swept out of Baghdad, they’ve relocated to the once tame Kurdish north, and Tuesday they simultaneously set off four bombs that have killed upwards of 200 people in mostly Yazidi villages.

“It looks like a nuclear bomb hit the villages,” an Iraqi officer told the NY Times.

But who are the Yazidim and why are they paying for their beliefs with blood? MSNBC offered a much better explanation of the groups beliefs. (Let’s just be clear: so-called “honor-killings” should not be justified by any religion.)

... could increase pressure on small communities such as the Yazidis, a primarily Kurdish group with ancient roots that worships an angel figure considered to be the devil by some Muslims and Christians. Yazidis, who don’t believe in hell or evil, deny that.

The Islamic State in Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, distributed leaflets a week ago warning residents near the scene of Tuesday’s bombings that an attack was imminent because Yazidis are “anti-Islamic.” The sect has been under fire since some members stoned a Yazidi teenager to death in April.

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August 14, 2007 | 11:55 am

Hamas youth ready for martyrdom

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Remember Farfur, Hamas’ propagandist mouse that ranted against Israel and was then made a martyr by the Zionist government? What I found most troubling about that TV program was the pre-teen host of the show. McClatchy Newspapers today have an exclusive interview with young Saraa.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face.

Saraa wants to be a doctor. If she can’t, the young star of Hamas television’s best-known children’s show said, she’d be proud to become a martyr. Saraa says little Jewish girls should be forced from their homes in Israel so that Palestinians can return to their land.

With the show’s producer helpfully offering written tips during an interview, Saraa didn’t get into how she hopes to die for her cause, be it suicide bombing, fighting the Israeli military or some other way. She carefully sidestepped any suggestion that she’s subtly calling for the destruction of Israel .

” Israel says that we are terrorists,” Saraa said minutes before an interview with her was interrupted by an errant Israeli airstrike that slammed into an apartment building on the adjacent block. “But they are the ones that must stop their attacks against us and our kids.”

 

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August 14, 2007 | 9:46 am

Why New Yorkers don’t like Rudy, but Red Staters do

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Whenever you see Peter J. Boyer‘s byline, make sure you read what follows. Boyer is my favorite reporter still writing for The New Yorker. (The lifetime distinction goes to Joseph Mitchell, who died in 1996 after 58 years of reporting to the office.)

With 13,606 words in this week’s magazine, Boyer waxes about what’s become one of my favorite subjects—the mistaken popularity and haphazard success of anti-moralist Rudy Giuliani.

Boyer opens with the scene from this spring of Giuliani approaching the capitol of staunchly conservative South Carolina, over which the Rebel flag stills flies and where this year the state house of reps passed laws banning gay civil unions and requiring women to see an ultrasound of their unborn child before receiving an abortion.

It was here that Rudolph Giuliani, New York’s thrice-married, anti-gun, pro-gay, pro-choice former mayor, found himself one morning in April, in what appeared to be a critical moment in his young campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination. The previous day, during a campaign stop in Florida, he was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash if he supported the public funding of abortions. Giuliani seemed flustered by the question and finally answered, “If that’s the status of the law, I would, yes.” Even before Giuliani began his run for the Presidency, the consensus, sounded in news columns, blogs, and political journals, was that he could not survive scrutiny of his political heterodoxy and his personal imperfections by the Republican Party’s conservative base.

Why then does a man who was recently described by a Vanity Fair contributor as literally insane remain the Republican front-runner? Boyer writes that it is not just Rudy’s image as the hero of 9/11, but his standing as the caped crusader of Gotham.

The common refrain among New Yorkers is that although Giuliani showed leadership on the day of the terrorist attacks, in the preceding months he had been a spent and isolated lame duck, his viability sapped by churlishness and the spectacle of his unattractive personal dramas. But to many in the heartland Giuliani was heroic for what he did in New York before September 11th: his policy prescriptions and, mostly, his taming of the city’s liberal political culture—his famous crackdown on squeegee-men panhandlers, his workfare program, his attacks on controversial museum exhibits (“The idea of . . . so-called works of art in which people are throwing elephant dung at a picture of the Virgin Mary is sick!”), and the like. Speaking before the Alabama legislature this spring, he received a standing ovation, and Governor Bob Riley told him, “One of these days, you have to tell me how you really cleaned up New York.” To conservatives, pre-Giuliani New York was a study in failed liberalism, a city that had surrendered to moral and physical decay, crime, racial hucksterism, and ruinous economic pathologies. Perhaps the most common words that Giuliani heard when he travelled around the country this spring were epithets aimed at his city (“a crime-infested cesspool,” one Southern politician declared), offered without fear of giving offense. Giuliani cheerfully agreed.

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August 13, 2007 | 7:38 pm

Joseph Smith for president

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Mitt Romney is having trouble assuring voters that his Mormon faith isn’t a bad thing. But a new documentary, “A Mormon for President,” wants you to know that Romney’s not the first to encounter such problems. From my press-release junk box:

The film is being helmed by producer/director Adam Christing, a member of the Mormon History Association. “Very few people realize that Romney is not the first Mormon to run for the White House,” says Christing, who studied theology at Biola University in Los Angeles. “The first Mormon to run for the Presidency was actually the first Mormon, the prophet, Joseph Smith. Those who want to understand Romney’s challenge today, must first understand Joseph Smith.”

Much has been written about Joseph Smith, whose 200th birthday was in 2005, and I’m not going to attempt to add to that. But here‘s a few links.

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August 13, 2007 | 3:07 pm

I just got interviewed by The Forward

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Last month, The Forward added a Q & A section to its website that offers vignettes of interesting people in the American Jewish landscape. The first was of Stuart Pilichowski, the Israeli gadfly of New York newspapers; the second Joe Pessah, the head of the American Karaite community; and the third Max Blumenthal, who infiltrated the CUFI conference.

The Forward‘s fourth Q & A will be with me.

I spoke this morning for about 40 minutes with deputy web editor and Bintel Blogger Daniel Treiman, who mainly asked questions about what it’s like being a Christian named Greenberg who works for a major Jewish publication.

I think I gave intelligible answers. But this was only the second phone conversation I’d had since returning yesterday from Israel, and I was still a bit off (21 hours of flying and sitting at JFK will do that to you). Hopefully, I won’t regret anything I said in the interview. We’ll find out Thursday.

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August 13, 2007 | 10:01 am

Karl Rove’s out—what’s next?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

With chief Bush strategist Karl Rove throwing in the towel at the end of the month, can we expect a change in the Administration’s strategy?

Rove himself claimed to not be religious, but his harnessing of the evangelical vote was central to Bush’s rise and re-election. Maybe Rove is going to throw Rudy Giuliani a bone. Boy, does he need one.

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