June 3, 2008 | 12:53 pm

Christianity and politics: Obama discusses salvation and public office

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Follow me on

I was at a wedding Saturday, and by the time I returned to my computer the next day, Barack Obama’s split from Trinity United Church of Christ was as appetizing as a cup of cold coffee, reported ad nauseum on the cover of the LA Times, on NPR, in the NY Times and everywhere else.

This didn’t come as much of a surprise considering the steady stream of bad news from the church’s pulpit, and it overshadowed a much more interesting story this weekend involving Christianity and Obama. (The fact it has received little attention has a lot more to do with the media’s bloodlust than news judgment.) Toward the end of news conference Saturday a reporter asked, “Can you give us some context of how your spirituality, your practice of religion factors into your decision making process as a leader, as a politician?”

I’ve stated over and over that I believe the marriage between religion and politics is a precarious, insincere affair. But this reporter asked just about the only relevant question on the topic. Here is Obama’s response, courtesy of Time magazine and via the DMN religion blog:

Read more of this post

June 3, 2008 | 11:51 am

Jewish conference not welcome in Egypt

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Egypt’s Jews, like Iraq’s, constitute one of the oldest branches of the Tribe, the historic remnant of those who returned to the scene of the crime. But since 1948, an actual community has been non-existent, most Jews having been forced from their homes through intimidation, political pressure and general discomfort common in Arab countries after the creation of Israel and particularly the Six Day War.

The “First International Conference of Jews from Egypt” was set to begin a week ago in Cairo. But then the media got stirred up and the five-star hotel that agreed to host the conference pulled out without explanation. No other hotel would sign on.

It’s pretty easy to imagine what happened here. In the same way that American Jews have protested Palestinian Right of Return conferences, I can see, though not appreciate, Egyptians being upset about Jews exiled 60 years ago—like “The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit”—wanting to return and visit their old homes and synagogues. The mere presence last year of an Islamic scholar from Hebrew Union College, Reuven Firestone, who happens to be an ordained rabbi, threw the community into a tizzy.

Egypt’s respected Al-Ahram Weekly has the backstory, history and ugly details in this lengthy account:

Read more of this post

4 Comments — Leave your comment

June 3, 2008 | 1:20 am

How IQ corresponds with biblical literalism

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Let’s start with a disclaimer: This post is not self-indulgent and makes no intimations about my intelligence. And now the news ...

Read more of this post

4 Comments — Leave your comment

June 2, 2008 | 2:48 pm

Obama’s Jewish problem? Separating fact from fiction

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Obama in high school

No shock here:

According to exit polls conducted in 30 primary states, Jewish Democratic primary voters overall supported Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama - 53 percent chose Clinton compared to 45% who chose Obama.

Yes, CBS tells us what we already know—that Jews prefer Clinton to Obama. But, then again, look at her margin of victory: 7 percentage points, plus or minus the margin of error. And this is in a heads-up competition. Considering the close intra-party race for Jews, which seem to be the Democrat’s evangelicals, it’s difficult to imagine Obama really having a “Jewish problem” if he is the nominee and running against John McCain.

And yet the question of whether Jews will vote for Obama has commanded an ungodly amount of news ink and general bloviation.

Obama will speak at AIPAC Wednesday morning, and in advance, The Forward suggested his Jewish problem has more to do with media perception than reality:

Read more of this post

46 Comments — Leave your comment

June 2, 2008 | 2:33 pm

Hagee: anti-Christ will be gay and Jewish

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Another week, another stomach-turning sermon goes viral on YouTube. This one is again courtesy of the Rev. John Hagee, who says the anti-Christ will be “a blasphemer and a homosexual,” probably from Germany and “at least partly Jewish, as was Adolf Hitler, as was Karl Marx.” (Minor fact-checking: Marx was all Jewish, but an apostate, and Hitler wasn’t even a bit.)

7 Comments — Leave your comment

June 2, 2008 | 1:48 pm

Christians protest provocative Starbucks image

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This is really ridiculous. I know some people aren’t happy with Starbucks’ new Pike Place roast, but the logo is too ... slutty? That’s what a Christian organization in England claims:

the coffee chains’ recent revival of their original 35-year-old logo which depicts the legendary siren as a bare-breasted beauty has proved a little too racy for some.

A Christian group has called for a boycott of the global coffee chain because the new logo now shows the mermaid naked from the waist up, with only two thin locks of hair preserving her dignity.

‘The Starbucks logo has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute,” complained Mark Dice, founder of the group Resistance.

“Need I say more? It’s extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves Slutbucks.”

This is what happens when there are no more “Harry Potter” books to protest. I didn’t even realize mermaids had legs.

(Hat tip: Faith Central)

1 Comments — Leave your comment

June 2, 2008 | 1:03 pm

Once wealthy and numerous, Baghdad’s Jews at the edge

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The nearly extinct Jewish tribe in Baghdad has become an evergreen religious story. Strange.

Time magazine reported last summer that one of the most significant Jewish communities in history had dwindled to eight. As in barely more than in Kabul. The New York Times followed up this weekend with a much more colorful story that begins:

Read more of this post

0 Comments — Leave your comment

June 2, 2008 | 11:48 am

Olmert’s American visit: Parading an embarassment

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

First, let’s discuss junkets. All politicians take them, and no doubt some are valuable. Others are quite troubling. Journalists being journalists condemn politicians who accept travel from vested interests and criticize those who finance foreign visits using public funds. Last week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who on June 11 will begin a seven-day tour of Israel’s green technology and security advancements, caught the brunt of the LA Daily News’ editorial blunt:

In the best of financial times, taxpayers are justified in their suspicions of political junkets. Too often, these publicly funded trips are barely disguised vacations for government officials, payoffs to political cronies and private power brokers, or a way to cement a politician’s public profile among various key constituencies.

But in tough financial times like these - with local governments planning massive service cuts and fee hikes - junketeers are all the more obligated to prove that their field trips are truly worth the public’s money.

That is especially true of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s weeklong trip to Israel in June, which will be paid for by the city’s airports, port, and water and power departments.

To be sure, there are conceivable, legitimate travel expenses for government officials, especially in such a massive and complex city as Los Angeles. The Mayor’s Office cites the trip to Israel as a chance to bring city leaders up to speed on developments in aviation, security and environmental sustainability - all valid city concerns.

That said, the details available so far don’t go far enough to justify the untold thousands in taxpayer funds this trip will cost. ...

There are legitimate reasons for city officials to travel on the public’s dime - but politics and R&R aren’t among them.

Today’s dignitary, or maybe in this case indignitary, to be called out was Ehud Olmert, who tomorrow begins what will likely be his final American trip as Israel’s prime minister. From Haaretz:

Read more of this post

0 Comments — Leave your comment

June 2, 2008 | 10:13 am

McCain tells AIPAC that Obama would endanger Israel

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The AIPAC policy conference began today, and John McCain planned to waste little time sowing fear about his presumptive Democratic opponent for the presidency, Barack Obama. From NYT’s The Caucus:

he charged that Mr. Obama’s calls for diplomacy with Iran were misguided and insufficient, and that his proposal to begin withdrawing United States troops from Iraq would lead to chaos in the region and endanger Israel.

In remarks that Senator McCain planned to deliver in a cavernous room here at the Washington convention center, he dwelled on the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose – and criticized the positions of Mr. Obama, his likely Democratic rival.

“The Iranians have spent years working toward a nuclear program,’’ Mr. McCain was to say, according to excerpts from the speech provided by his campaign. “And the idea that they now seek nuclear weapons because we refuse to engage in presidential-level talks is a serious misreading of history,’’ he added, noting that previous overtures by the Clinton administration had failed.

“Even so, we hear talk of a meeting with the Iranian leadership offered up as if it were some sudden inspiration, a bold new idea that somehow nobody has ever thought of before,’’ he said in the advance text of his speech, which was provided by his campaign.

“Yet it’s hard to see what such a summit with President Ahmadinejad would actually gain, except an earful of anti-Semitic rants, and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another. Such a spectacle would harm Iranian moderates and dissidents, as the radicals and hardliners strengthen their position and suddenly acquire the appearance of respectability.”

Updated: Footage above of McCain’s speech via Jerusalem Online

85 Comments — Leave your comment

June 2, 2008 | 12:50 am

‘What We Call The News’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

An occasional topic on this blog is the slow death of print journalism. It has little to do with religion but ...

I actually started as a print journalist, joining my college paper, The Daily Bruin, because I wanted to be a TV man. And all good TV journalists, I assumed, were good writers. You’re laughing, right? I wasn’t, and I got an internship at KNBC in Los Angeles, which scared me straight, and I haven’t watch the local news since. (I actually hadn’t really watched it before either.)

Above is a righteous parody of “What We Call The News.” It sticks to national and cable news. Just imagine how inane the topics would be if this went local.

You stay classy, Planet Earth

2 Comments — Leave your comment