October 15, 2007 | 12:01 pm

Mormon hunks calendar created by Sin City missionary

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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The Las Vegas Sun picked up Saturday on that story about the 12 months of undressed Mormon missionaries, and talks to creator of the calendar, Chad Hardy, who hopes photos of the suit pants and shirts beefcakes sell like hot cakes.

A 31-year-old returned missionary aiming at some holy combination of seduction and surprise. Mormons stripped down to show us, with their unapologetic camera coyness, that they’re not “these awkward, naive religion peddlers. Kind of dorky. A little backwards, or cult members.”

Hardy has sold more than 1,000 calendars since September. Come Christmas, he’ll have them in 500 stores throughout the country. Meanwhile, some church members have called for his excommunication.

The calendar has been disparaged on LDS Web sites, where anonymous writers have suggested Hardy is no longer worthy of his church. One commenter asked, “Did you each get 30 pieces of silver for your betrayal?” - a reference to Judas’ payment for betraying Jesus. And not every writer has been so delicate in his phrasing.

The Mormon faith embraces modesty and sees sexuality as something best expressed in the marriage bed. So for many Mormons, photographing an icon of chaste spirituality doing his best to affect sexiness is utterly horrifying.

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Hardy says the Mormons he knows - with the exception of an aunt in Arizona - think the calendar will help dispel the myth of the milquetoast missionary. Moreover, they think it’s hilarious. They see a calendar beef-caked to a degree that borders on parody. This view has also been expressed in Internet debates over the calendar, though seldom without swift return fire from the dissenting camp.

“This is not just a calendar ; it’s a movement,” Hardy says. “We want them to laugh at us. We don’t care. We are comfortable enough in our faith.”

October 12, 2007 | 3:04 pm

‘Listen little girl, you’re really cute and all, but I don’t believe in Jesus’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’m going to withhold my comments on this post, via the Friendly Atheist, and open this conversation, as retold by a University of Colorado student, up to lots and lots of your comments.

A little girl in pigtails came up to me last week while I was sitting in the café. I looked at her and smiled. She smiled back, and then, with nothing else to do, I returned to my writing while she was standing right next to me, staring at me.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes, little girl?”

“Are you a Christian?”

Oh Jesus, I thought. I was never that great with little kids and now I really had to come up with something good, something tactful, something to keep myself calm while, at the same time, not making her run off screaming devil and crying hysterically.

“Why?” That was the best I could do? Okay. Okay, I asked why, that’s okay.

“Because, if, if you’re not, you’ll go to hell. I don’t want you to go to hell.”

“I don’t believe in hell.”

Her mouth dropped open and I looked around to see who my audience was. I had two gray-haired women staring at me, one through her spectacles, the other one from over her spectacles’ rims.

“But there is a hell.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not, it’s in the bible.”

Here it goes. Now I have to look like a jerk and be a pain in the ass with a little girl in pigtails. “I don’t read the bible.”

“You should. You’ll go to hell if you don’t.”

“You forget, I don’t believe in hell.”

“Just because you don’t believe in it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

“Do you believe in Lala land?” I asked her.

“What’s Lala Land?”

“A lot of people already live there and they don’t believe it.”

“Is it in the bible?”

“I don’t know, I don’t read the bible.”

“Do you go to church?”

“Not your church.”

“But you go to a church?”

“Listen little girl…you’re really cute and all, but I don’t believe in Jesus.”

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October 12, 2007 | 12:24 pm

Jewish power dominates ‘Vanity Fair 100’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Richard Dawkins was not right and neither are all those Europeans who think Jews have too much power, but “The Vanity Fair 100” will certainly serve as fodder for anti-Semites and I’d imagine fuel myths of a Jewish world conspiracy. From JPost:

It’s a list of “the world’s most powerful people,” 100 of the bankers and media moguls, publishers and image makers who shape the lives of billions. It’s an exclusive, insular club, one whose influence stretches around the globe but is concentrated strategically in the highest corridors of power.

More than half its members, at least by one count, are Jewish.

It’s a list, in other words, that would have made earlier generations of Jews jump out of their skins, calling attention, as it does, to their disproportionate influence in finance and the media. Making matters worse, in the eyes of many, would no doubt be the identity of the group behind the list - not a pack of fringe anti-Semites but one of the most mainstream, glamorous publications on the newsstands.

Yet the list doesn’t appear to have generated concern so far, instead drawing expressions of satisfaction and pride from the lone Jewish commentator who’s responded in writing.

Published between ads for Chanel and Prada, Dior and Yves Saint Laurent, it’s the 2007 version of “The Vanity Fair 100,” the glossy American magazine’s annual October ranking of the planet’s most important people. Populated by a Cohen and a Rothschild, a Bloomberg and a Perelman, the list would seem to conform to all the traditional stereotypes about areas of Jewish overrepresentation.

Joseph Aaron, the editor of The Chicago Jewish News, thinks it’s a list his readers should “feel very, very good about.”

“Talk about us being accepted into this society, talk about us having power in this society,” Aaron wrote this week, in apparent reference to Jewish life in the United States. “Talk about anti-Semitism being a thing of the past, talk about Jews no longer needing to be afraid to be visible and influential.”

Maybe there has been little reaction because no one had read the list yet. (This issue of Vanity Fair arrived at my place a month ago, and I hadn’t even cracked it.) Jews among the Top 10 are the Google Twins, Stephen Schwarzman (finance), Steven Spielberg (media) and Michael Bloomberg (politics and finance media).

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October 12, 2007 | 12:23 pm

Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Well, it looks like Al Gore did what many people expected he would: Today he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on raising awareness of climate change. Is it time he runs for president again? I hope not. I’m still holding out for that “short, Jewish billionaire from New York.”

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October 12, 2007 | 10:53 am

Coulter Chronicles: More on Jewish ‘perfecting’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Omri Ceren, a rhetoric PhD student at USC, sent me an interesting, long, thoughtful blog post on Ann Coulter, Jews and the “manufactured scandal of the week.”

It combines the best elements of liberal sophistication: the banality of multiculturalist tolerance, the humorlessness of scolding identity politics, and the blubbering of righteous indignation. It’s the shallow beginning and the myopic end of the belief gap. Liberals take their own fashionable, spineless disattachment from the world - “believing too much in something is so unsophisticated.” They follow it to its logical conclusion of vapid multiculturalism, where asserting passionate belief is an attack on some incredibly fragile Other - “believing too much in something is intolerant.” And then when they have to deal with a normal, healthy person of faith, their self-righteous myopia triggers everything from shocked offense to a mindboggling inability to even understand what’s at stake.

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So to recap: Coulter is stating that part of being a Christian is believing that Christianity is true, which has the fortunate side effect of also implying that Jews are saved for believing that Judaism is true. What a bigot!

We’d be inclined to believe that this is just a way for Democrats to say “see, the right has anti-Semites so it’s OK when our top politicians talk about New York money people and our anti-war base thinks its edgy to carry signs saying Nazi Kikes Out of Lebanon.” Except there’s something a little more deliberate - and shameless - here. Just like with the fake Rush scandal and the fake O’Reilly scandal, the distance between the first eye rolling declaration of moral offense and the distribution of action alerts calling for Ann to be taken off the air was suspiciously small. We question the timing. No, really - we question the timing.

The problem I have with Coulter is not always what she has to say, or even how she says it. It’s just that she’s saying it.

As someone who does not simply practice Christianity as a social definer but believes it’s message is of eternal importance, I agree with Ceren and some of the commentors on the original post that it’s OK to think your religion is the One True Religion. Even when that implies that you’re going to Heaven and everyone else is going to Hell.

The question is when and how do you say that. I don’t think tolerance doesn’t means ambivalent agreement. It’s about sensitivity and understanding, and it’s a value that led me to religion reporting: Not that every religion is a different manifestation of righteousness, but that every person deserves to be treated the same for their beliefs.

Maybe Coulter is capable of such “tolerance.” But I don’t buy it. And, anyway, when offensive rhetoric seems to always be coming out of Ann Coulter’s mouth, can any of it be taken seriously? Especially a week after she’s published a new book.

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October 12, 2007 | 1:28 am

Playing a mile high gives Rockies direct line to God

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

As expected the Colorado Rockies won again last night, but did you know they have an unfair advantage, that God is their biggest fan?

No, seriously: The Rockies are running a faith-based business over there this year, banning Playboy and loud vulgar music from the clubhouse this year as they strive to field a team that embraces “a Christian-based code of conduct they believe will bring them focus and success.” 

The team’s CEO and chairman says that “I believe God sends signs, and we’re seeing those,” which is good, because those godless heathens in the Royals clubhouse are finally receiving the rain of fire and brimstone that they obviously deserve. Meanwhile, some former Rockies say the new rules are a bit strange.

“Look, I pray every day,” former Rockie Mark Sweeney says. “I have faith. It’s always been part of my life. But I don’t want something forced on me. Do they really have to check to see whether I have a Playboy in my locker?”

And this is what they had to say in May, long before there recent run winning 18 of the last 19, including a miraculous run to make the playoffs. I’m not sure even God could beat Las Vegas on sports betting, but if the Rockies are His team, I should have put money on them to win the World Series about the time they were fourth in the NL West with less than a month remaining.

Thanks to Troy the Masters. for sending this along. And I’m just kidding: God could totally break Vegas.

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October 11, 2007 | 1:42 pm

Coulter: Jews need ‘perfecting’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I hesitate to quote Ann Coulter, but Monday night on CNBC she told Donny Deutsch, who is Jewish, that the United States would be better without Jews. (DISCLAIMER: Crazy Coulter is not an official ambassador of Christianity; unfortunately, though, all Christians fall into the unofficial-ambassador category.) Really, it’s just not easy explaining my beliefs to non-Christians when kooks like Coulter and alleged crooks like Tom Delay are in the public eye.

DEUTSCH: Christian—so we should be Christian? It would be better if we were all Christian?

COULTER: Yes.

DEUTSCH: We should all be Christian?

COULTER: Yes. Would you like to come to church with me, Donny?

DEUTSCH: So I should not be a Jew, I should be a Christian, and this would be a better place?

COULTER: Well, you could be a practicing Jew, but you’re not.

DEUTSCH: I actually am. That’s not true. I really am. But—so we would be better if we were - if people—if there were no Jews, no Buddhists—

COULTER: Whenever I’m harangued by—

DEUTSCH:—in this country? You can’t believe that.

COULTER:—you know, liberals on diversity—

DEUTSCH: Here you go again.

COULTER: No, it’s true. I give all of these speeches at megachurches across America, and the one thing that’s really striking about it is how utterly, completely diverse they are, and completely unself-consciously. You walk past a mixed-race couple in New York, and it’s like they have a chip on their shoulder. They’re just waiting for somebody to say something, as if anybody would. And—

DEUTSCH: I don’t agree with that. I don’t agree with that at all. Maybe you have the chip looking at them. I see a lot of interracial couples, and I don’t see any more or less chips there either way. That’s erroneous.

COULTER: No. In fact, there was an entire Seinfeld episode about Elaine and her boyfriend dating because they wanted to be a mixed-race couple, so you’re lying.

DEUTSCH: Oh, because of some Seinfeld episode? OK.

COULTER: But yeah, I think that’s reflective of what’s going on in the culture, but it is completely striking that at these huge megachurches—the idea that, you know, the more Christian you are, the less tolerant you would be is preposterous.

DEUTSCH: That isn’t what I said, but you said I should not—we should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then, or—

COULTER: Yeah.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Well, it’s a lot easier. It’s kind of a fast track.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Yeah. You have to obey.

DEUTSCH: You can’t possibly believe that.

COULTER: Yes.

DEUTSCH: You can’t possibly—you’re too educated, you can’t—you’re like my friend in—

COULTER: Do you know what Christianity is? We believe your religion, but you have to obey.

DEUTSCH: No, no, no, but I mean—

COULTER: We have the fast-track program.

DEUTSCH: Why don’t I put you with the head of Iran? I mean, come on. You can’t believe that.

COULTER: The head of Iran is not a Christian.

DEUTSCH: No, but in fact, “Let’s wipe Israel”—

COULTER: I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention.

DEUTSCH: “Let’s wipe Israel off the earth.” I mean, what, no Jews?

COULTER: No, we think—we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.

This is not to be confused with atheist Richard Dawkins’ Jews-control-America comment. But, more importantly, what megachurch pastor would invite such an insidious mind and insincere tongue into their sanctuary?

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October 11, 2007 | 10:18 am

When one parent thinks the other is going to Hell

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Does it harm the children? Studies have found religious participation is good for people. Among adolescents, it increases self esteem, improves grades and keeps them from drugs and alcohol. So logically, it would seem, kids from intermarried couples would fare worse.

At least that is what two researchers at Ohio State though. With intermarriage all the rage, particularly with Jews,  they published a study last month having expected the kids of “religious heterogamy” to suffer. But they found that the kids didn’t have lower self esteem, grades or life satisfaction. (The same can’t be said for the drug use.) Christianity Today has an online interview with one of the researchers.

When you ran the numbers, some of the negative anticipated effects of having parents with different religions didn’t seem to be present. Do you have an opinion as to why?

This finding was especially surprising to us, because we figured that internalized well-being (such as self-esteem) would be more affected by religious heterogamy because youth would be less sure about beliefs and [would likely have] a weaker sense of identity.

I suspect that part of the reason that we did not find negative effects [in those areas] is that being raised in a religiously heterogamous family may actually be beneficial to youth in some ways. If interfaith parents teach their children that it is important to find a religion that best suits them [as individuals] and accept religious differences in others, then youth may actually develop a strong sense of identity and have an opportunity to find out which religious beliefs are important to them.

In addition, being raised in a diverse family is likely to increase one’s tolerance and acceptance of others. These benefits likely have a greater effect on outcomes like self-esteem, life satisfaction, and school performance than delinquency, which may explain the results of our study.

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October 11, 2007 | 9:53 am

Anti-American protests in Turkey

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

ISTANBUL, Oct. 11 — Turkey reacted angrily today to a House committee vote in Washington on Wednesday that condemned the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during World War I as an act of genocide, calling the decision “unacceptable.”

In a rare and uncharacteristically strong condemnation, President Abdullah Gul criticized the vote by the House Foreign Relations Committee and warned that the decision could work against the United States.

“Unfortunately, some politicians in the United States have once more dismissed calls for common sense, and made an attempt to sacrifice big issues for minor domestic political games,” Mr. Gul said in a statement to the semi-official Anatolian News Agency. “This is not a type of attitude that works to the benefit of, and suits, representatives of a great power like the Unites States of America. This unacceptable decision of the committee, like similar ones in the past, has no validity and is not worthy of the respect of the Turkish people.”

 

OK, Turkey, I know we’ve confused you with our history of morality on a politically convenient basis. But the U.S. is right on this, and, remember, the European Union has told you to man up to your imperial past or be kept out of their cool club.  I particularly enjoy the president’s use of the phrase “common sense” when what he really means is “strategic sense.”

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October 10, 2007 | 5:28 pm

The faith-and-football shuffle

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Like many athletes who are outspoken about something as personal as faith, [Lions QB Jon] Kitna—with his ubiquitous cross hats and constant biblical references—is often dismissed as a loon. But his impact in Detroit is undeniable. He is part of a team prayer group on Friday afternoons and hosts a Bible study for teammates and their wives at his home on Monday nights.

. . .

By combining two of the most fervent elements of society—faith and football—a previously anonymous journeyman quarterback has catapulted himself into the zeitgeist.

“People feel football is too trivial for God to care about, especially with so many bad things happening in the world,” says Tim Pitcher, a spokesman for Athletes in Action, which uses sports to push Christianity. “For a lot of people, the worlds shouldn’t mix.”

Yet they do, sometimes with uncomfortable results. After the Colts won the Super Bowl last February, Tony Dungy asked his team to kneel and recite the Lord’s Prayer.

While everyone complied, several players looked at each other in disbelief at the request, which forced them to interrupt their celebrations and interviews. To reporters in the room, the moment appeared awkward and forced.

 

GetReligion notes this nice ESPN The Magazine profile of Lions quarterback Jon Kitna, which is used to talk about the large issue of faith and football. Here’s four recent posts on gridiron spirituality:

“The first end zone prayer”

“Godspeed, Kevin Everett”

“Grace and idolatry on the gridiron”

“Michael Vick loves the Lord”

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October 10, 2007 | 1:29 pm

Turkey: Jews and Armenians aim to ‘defame’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

“All of a sudden the perception in Turkey right now is that the Jewish people, or the Jewish organizations let’s say, and the Armenian Diaspora, the Armenian lobbies, are now hand-in-hand trying to defame Turkey, and trying to condemn Turkey and the Turkish people,” [Foreign Minister Ali] Babacan said. “This is the unfortunate perception right now in Turkey. So if something goes wrong in Washington, DC, it inevitably will have some influence on relations between Turkey and the US, plus the relations between Turkey and Israel as well.”

Remember all that drama this summer over whether the Anti-Defamation League thought the butchering of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks was “tantamount to genocide?” Well, it’s humming again, to the tune of an Armenian world conspiracy. What is it about diaspora communities that make some people so uncomfortable?

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October 10, 2007 | 12:50 pm

Godtalk in last night’s GOP debate?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Zero. Zip. Nada. Not a blessed word.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a link to a transcript. Let me know if I missed anything.

 

That’s from the DMN religion blog. To which I say: Hallelujah!

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