May 28, 2008 | 6:19 pm

Pitfalls of the Wiki Bible Project

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Follow me on

The folks at Wikisource have a new project bound to stir up controversy. It’s called the Wiki Bible Project, and it aims to “create an original, open content translation” of the Bible, by the people for the people. Call it the Pauper John Goldfarb Ali Version.

Great idea. I mean, people have never disagreed over what the Bible says. Christians and Jews and Muslims all worship the God of Abraham, so they must read his word from the same pages. Buddhists and Taoists and Pagans? Individualistic variations, nothing more. A holy book is a holy book, regardless of what name it goes by.

Right ... Just try telling that to Jerusalem. Muslims and Christians and Jews all understand the Bible quite differently on this subject.

The Bible doesn’t talk directly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but I wonder if CAMERA has any plans for influencing the editing.

Libby Purves at Faith Central explains a little more about the project and shares a satirical story from Britain’s version of The Onion:

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May 28, 2008 | 4:19 pm

Leading Jewish organizations decline to condemn Hagee’s ‘Hitler’ sermon

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Justin Elliott of the MoJo Blog was miffed yesterday when Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, the American Jewish Committee’s director of interreligious affairs, declined to condemn the sermon in which the Rev. John Hagee called Hitler a “hunter” whose task was to drive Jews to Palestine. Elliott’s query began last week when he set out to see whether leading Jewish organizations would speak against Hagee, whose organization Christians United for Israel has a lot of political pull.

The short answer is no. I submitted requests for comment about Hagee and his sermon to three organizations: the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The first two groups closely monitor anti-Semitism and regularly issue statements decrying insensitivity to Jews by prominent figures like Hagee. As for AIPAC, Hagee had a prominent speaking role at its annual policy conference last year. And David Brog, executive director of Christians United for Israel, the organization of which Hagee is founder and national chairman, is slated to speak at AIPAC’s 2008 policy conference next month.

Hagee’s various anti-Semitic statements have actually been known for several years, as Max Blumenthal has reported. But given that the pastor’s “Hitler was a hunter” tour de force is making national headlines and drawing criticism from a presumptive presidential nominee (and even some leaders in the Reform community), this seems like a perfect time for the ADL, AJC, and AIPAC to denounce Hagee, or, at the very least, his comments. The ADL and AIPAC, to my knowledge, have not commented on Hagee’s sermon and they didn’t respond to my requests.

Some Jewish organizations, in fact, have rushed to Hagee’s side. But he’s caused alarm before, and the entire community has not been quiet this time around. I received this open letter to Hagee last week from Rabbi David Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism.

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May 28, 2008 | 2:34 pm

Hermione is Dawkins’ daughter

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Funny photo at the Friendly Atheist comparing the headshots of Hermione, head of the class at Hogwarts, with Richard Dawkins, the atheist evangelist and Jewish-power conspiracy theorist.

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May 28, 2008 | 11:14 am

Ahmadinejad wants audience with pope on first Eurotrip

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is set to make his first trip to Europe, and he’s asked to meet with Pope Benedict XVI. While Pope John Paul II had no problem meeting with controversial heads of state—or non-states in the case of Yasser Arafat—the German-born Benedict, who as a child was a member of the Nazi Youth, though we shouldn’t hold that against him, would be playing with fire with the disgusting Ahmadinejad, a Holocaust denier several times over. To Benedict’s credit, he has not yet chosen to accept the invitation, but NPR reported his No. 2 likely would be willing.

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May 28, 2008 | 2:05 am

‘We Love Jesus’ bandits on the lam

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Bible Belt Blogger found this nugget:

Jacksonville, Florida police are looking for three thugs who robbed two women at gunpoint last week. When last seen, the criminals were armed, dangerous and, wearing their faith on their shirtsleeves, so to speak. According to First Coast Crime Stoppers, the men are “in a white van with dark tinted windows and faded red lettering that appears to say, ‘We Love Jesus.’”

Yeah ... that’s not the kind of description a witness is going to remember. Man, criminals, like terrorists, are dumb.

On a side note, this story reminds me of that report about “Mormon Robin Hood” robbin’ the hood.

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May 27, 2008 | 7:55 pm

Why Jews, in theory, don’t drink

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Give beer to those who are perishing,
wine to those who are in anguish;

let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.

Surprisingly, those lines can be found in the 31st Proverb. Surprising because we all know the misery isn’t gone. Surprising, too, because drunkenness iss not a virtue to the Christian or the Muslim or the Jew.

Of course, sinners sin.

There is an old Yiddish saying—“a shicker is a goy”—that condemns the presumed gentile propensity to drink. The implicit belief among many Jews was that drunkards were uneducated louses, too busy imbibing for self improvement and social advancement. (This is one reason it’s so hard for Jewish addicts to seek help.) But it turns out there may be another reason Yids pass on the fermented punch, outside, let’s not forget, Purim:

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May 27, 2008 | 6:39 pm

The ‘sexy’ jihadist

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

From The New York Times

BRUSSELS — On the street, Malika El Aroud is anonymous in an Islamic black veil covering all but her eyes.

In her living room, Ms. El Aroud, a 48-year-old Belgian, wears the ordinary look of middle age: a plain black T-shirt and pants and curly brown hair. The only adornment is a pair of powder-blue slippers monogrammed in gold with the letters SEXY.

But it is on the Internet where Ms. El Aroud has distinguished herself. Writing in French under the name “Oum Obeyda,” she has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe.

She calls herself a female holy warrior for Al Qaeda. She insists that she does not disseminate instructions on bomb-making and has no intention of taking up arms herself. Rather, she bullies Muslim men to go and fight and rallies women to join the cause.

“It’s not my role to set off bombs — that’s ridiculous,” she said in a rare interview. “I have a weapon. It’s to write. It’s to speak out. That’s my jihad. You can do many things with words. Writing is also a bomb.”

Right, El Aroud, profiled by the New York Times, just inspires others. And there are far too many.

Jihad aside, those slippers just don’t make sense to me.

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May 27, 2008 | 12:37 pm

Braun and Youkilis—pride of the Tribe, but MVPs?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The magazine is called Heeb, not Cracker or Bean or any other ethnic slur, so I don’t consider this an unbiased prediction, but could 2008 be MLB’s year of the Jew?

If the major league baseball season ended today, Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youklis and Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun would be candidates for the American and National League Most Valuable Player Awards, respectively. Youklis might have a better shot at the award because of the likely standing of his team by the end of the season, but Braun is quietly establishing himself as a circumcised version of Albert Pujols.

Assumptions about circumcision aside, it’s worth evaluating whether the stars have finally aligned for Jewish athleticism in Youkilis and Braun.

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May 27, 2008 | 11:12 am

Headline of the day

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

“Texas Prepares for Crush of Executions”

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May 27, 2008 | 1:24 am

God’s Blog #1: An introduction

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’ve lived a long life. Longer than anyone can remember. So long, no one knows where I came from. And during that time, I’ve been called a lot of names: Abba, Adonai, Ancient of Days, the Almighty, and many more than don’t begin with an “A.”

Who am I? I Am who I Am. The Creator, quite simply, but you can call me God (or G-D, if it makes you more comfortable).

And I’ve decided to share with you the Lord’s wisdom on the vagaries and mysteries of life. Yes, the Bible already provides a manual for holy living, page after page of instruction and encouragement, failure and redemption. But how much has it really taught you about your God? A lot? Really?

Quick: What’s my favorite sports team? And what do I think about evolution or about the American presidential race?

You’re not sure, and I am going to solve that.

I am of the opinion, which means it is true, that there are already far too many self-indulgent memoirs on the market. My blog will not add to that “literature,” though it will occasionally offer reflections on times past. (If you are looking for a good biography of the Holy of Holies, pick up Jack Miles’ book.) Here, and also here, you’ll discover Jehovah’s thoughts on a host of topics, from sports and science to politics and pain, from false religions to religious intolerance.

All of this will be channeled by my servant, the mildly conceited one who thought it would be humorous to call himself a lesser “creator.” This is his reward, and he’s been known to be lame, so let the Lord know how His ghostwriter is doing. The comments are open.

Shalom!

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May 26, 2008 | 11:05 am

Summer reading: ‘No god but God’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

At the used book store this weekend, I stumbled across Reza Aslan’s “No god but God,” a book I have wanted to read, and not simply because it sounds like the slogan I used to use for this blog (“There is no god blog but The God Blog”).

I neglected to buy it, settling only for a tattered $3 copy of Darwin’s “The Voyage of the Beagle”—how blasphemous, I know—but when I got home, I decided to search Google for reviews of Aslan’s book. The first I came across was not, in fact, a review but a portion of the prologue at The Guardian’s site. I was instantly sucked in, particularly by what Aslan didn’t avoid saying:

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May 25, 2008 | 10:55 pm

More L.A. parishes pony up for price of pedophile priests

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The LA Times today followed that story from last month about St. Bernardine of Siena Catholic Church offering $1.5 million to help the Archdiocese of Los Angeles pay for its pedophile priests. (The initial bill for settlements was $660 million and has climbed to $720 million.) It turns out other parishes wanted to contribute, or at least are wrestling with whether to help subsidize the long-term cost of having kept perverts in ministry. After all, better leadership to begin with would have stemmed the sex abuse scandal by removing pedophiles before they repeated and repeated and repeated their evil. From the Times’ front page:

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