August 29, 2008 | 7:08 am

On the road again

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Gone movin'

Today begins what I fear will be a long and painful weekend of moving from the San Fernando Valley to the South Bay. I’m looking forward to a few days from now but, a few hours from now, when the movers show up, that feeling is more anxiety than excitement.

This also means that for the next few days, likely until Sunday, I won’t be updating this blog. I may, however, decide to make it a long weekend. Happy Labor Day.

August 28, 2008 | 5:51 pm

Don Miller and Barack Obama exchange emails

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Donald Miller, the “Blue Like Jazz” author who replaced Cameron Strang in the youngish, hip evangelical prayer slot at the Democrat National Convention, has on his new blog a funny “exchange” of e-mails between he and Barack Obama. It reminds me of when you have problems with your MySpace account and you send an e-mail and you get back an automated response to which you send a more specific e-mail and to which you get the same automated response.

The last message from team Obama is definitely the best. It’s after the jump:

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August 28, 2008 | 3:58 pm

Rick Warren’s very own magazine

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I wrote an article two years ago for Christianity Today about the demise of Purpose Driven ministries, an outgrowth of the ridiculous popularity of “The Purpose-Driven Life.” Murderers and madmen and everyone else know by now that the author of that book was Rick Warren, who recently reinvented himself as a political player. Purpose Driven ministries may be no more, but Warren is bigger than ever before.

Continuing his metamorphosis into the male Oprah, Warren is in talks with Reader’s Digest to publish a magazine inspired by his book, which was, in fact, inspired by another book. Rumors, and this mock cover, from Portfolio:

According to sources familiar with the details, RDA will publish the first test-issue of the magazine, whose working title is Purpose, as early as this fall. Joe Treen, a former editor at People and Discover, will edit it.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Warren had this to say: “If such a project were to happen, we would know about it, but can’t confirm anything of that nature at this time.”

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August 28, 2008 | 2:39 pm

Handicapping the McCain and Co. ticket

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

John McCain still says he hasn’t settled on a campaign running mate, which I find really hard to believe. He’s had seven months to vet a good vice president and he’s still undecided? Only American voters waver for that long, and that’s because they weren’t actually paying attention to begin with.

Let’s hope McCain hasn’t been so clueless because word has it that, quite miraculously, he will end the suspense tomorrow. I’m not convinced Joe Lieberman is preparing his convention speech.

Any takers?

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August 27, 2008 | 6:41 pm

Fox News compares Obama and Osama

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Playing word games with the Obama-Biden ticket and Osama bin Laden. Has it really come to this for Fox News?

Considering a report that bin Laden is a covert Jew, maybe this is just what Obama needs to finally solve his Jewish problem.

Thanks for the link, VideoJew. I, however, didn’t actually see this clip, which is possibly a fake. Can someone authenticate?

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August 27, 2008 | 2:52 pm

Early thoughts on ‘Religulous’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Well, my suspicions were correct: Religion comes off as looking at best ridiculous in Bill Maher’s new film “Religulous.” But the early buzz has also been correct: Brilliant.

And so I’ve spent the past 13 hours wondering if there was something wrong with my enjoying the movie. It’s Maher’s timing and clever criticisms that make the film so good and his message so salient. The intellectual-elitist diatribes of The New Atheists and the self-righteous cynicism of someone like PZ Myers only go so far in shaking the faithful. In fact, they don’t really go anywhere at all; they often simply preach to the choir.

But it’s difficult to dismiss Maher’s message on the same grounds. He’s not abrasive, though he is argumentative, and it’s clear that he’s not so much bothered by religious belief as he is religious fundamentalism—by beliefs that incite violence, afflict the powerless and inhibit human progress. And even those who finds life’s meaning in religion—I would include myself in this category—can agree with that.

Unfortunately, Maher doesn’t ever really call the religious folks he’s dealing with—Ken Ham of the Creation Museum; the Muslim rapper Propa-Ghandi, who praises suicide bombers; Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, an anti-Zionist activist who two years ago attended Iran’s Holocaust-deniers conference—fundamentalists.

This casts a negative pall over all religion, not just the right-wing fringe—known to those of us who obsess over who believes what—that is featured in “Religulous.” This omission adds justification to Maher’s monologue at the end of the film, much of which offers fair criticism but also includes the most misguided statement in the film. Based on a mountain of evidence indicting religion as a thorn in human history, Maher says:

“The plain fact is religion must die for man to live.”

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August 27, 2008 | 2:09 pm

Obama NOT gaining evangelical voters

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I know that headline runs contrary to what I’ve written before—in July an informal Christianity Today poll found that about 51 percent of respondents supported Barack Obama, compared to 41 percent for John McCain. But another

unscientific

more-scientific survey, this one from Crosswalk.com, a site popular with evangelical Christians, discovered Obama’s evangelical outreach is in the depths of despair.

The poll, via the Bible Belt Blogger, found that only 5 percent—close to zero when considering the margin of error for a scientific survey—plan to vote for Obama. McCain stands to receive 81 percent of these 777 voters.

And with such a perfect number of participants, how could this poll be wrong?

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August 26, 2008 | 8:41 pm

Bill Maher, space gods and schizophrenics

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

“You can’t be a rational person six days of the week and put on a suit and make rational decisions and go to work and, on one day of the week, go to a building and think you’re drinking the blood of a 2,000-year-old space god. That doesn’t make you a person of faith,” Bill Maher said this year on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” “That makes you a schizophrenic.”

I’m curious to hear what Maher says in his new documentary, “Religulous,” which opens Oct. 3. I’m en route this evening to see a screening of the film. Don’t expect a review, but I’ll let you know my thoughts.

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August 26, 2008 | 3:19 pm

Jenna Jameson, porn queen and ‘devout Catholic’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Facebook fans

Jenna Jameson, the Queen of Porn (I’m not even going to list the AVN awards she’s won), may be retired from “performing” but she still makes a lot of money from the adult business, particularly through her company ClubJenna. You’d be surprised, then, to learn that Jameson considers herself a “devout Catholic”—whatever that means.

From an Us Magazine exclusive—yawn—reporting that Jameson is pregnant with boyfriend Tito Ortiz’s child:

“I think I’m gonna stay unmarried and just go for the babies!” she told Us. “I’m following in Angelina’s footsteps!”

But the devout Catholic — who has tried in vitro — told Us, “It was all in God’s plan.”

I’m speechless, and more dumbstruck by the shallow reporting of Us, which I hold in such high regard, then by Jameson’s apparently contradictory beliefs and behavior. As Terry at GetReligion quipped: “This is the complete story, I am afraid — with no additional commentary, other than a silent scream of, ‘WWWWHHHHAAAAT?????’”

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August 26, 2008 | 12:38 pm

Origins of terrorism: blame the Jews

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

King David after Irgun attack

Remember: When in doubt, blame the Jews.

The attacks often are part of a strawman. But do Jews really deserve credit for being the first terrorists?

Wikipedia says that the Sicarii, an offshoot of the Jewish Zealots and an ancient ancestor of the Irgun, were among the first known terrorists. The Maccabees, Jewish heroes, were certainly not peacemakers. And this article from the Asian Tribune, “The Menace of Terrorism and It’s Early Origins,” focuses squarely on the Zealots who fought back against the Roman occupiers.

According to their theology, they could not accept any foreign rule in their land and they were duty bound by God to unleash violence against what they perceived as the enemies of Judaism. They were formed as a political party with self-appointed leaders and had broken with the normal Jewish society and hence with the Jewish authority and the leaders. Religious and nationalist fanaticism was the main tenet of their political ideology.

Though they represented a political party, it’s fair to call at least some of the Zealots ancient terrorists. They were leaders in the Jewish Revolt who, according to Josephus, instituted a reign of terror before the destruction of the Second Temple, and deeming them much else would be willful deception.

But just because something appears on Wikipedia doesn’t mean its true. The problem with this distinction is that, like many criticisms of Jews throughout history, it can be used to blame Jews for their own suffering—in this case the suicide bombings that kill Israeli civilians.

Does anyone know of another ancient group of people who could claim the title of world’s first terrorists?

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August 25, 2008 | 8:23 pm

Miss Sister: a beauty pageant for nuns

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Rev. Antonio, Rungi, an Italian priest, announced yesterday plans for a beauty pageant for nuns, dubbed “Miss Sister 2008.” I can’t find that blog that Rungi runs and will hold the pageant from, but here is the AP’s story:

“Nuns are a bit excluded, they are a bit marginalized in ecclesiastical life,” Rungi told The Associated Press after Italian media carried reports of the idea. “This will be an occasion to make their contribution more visible.”

“We are not going to parade nuns in bathing suits,” Rungi said by telephone from his town of Mondragone. “But being ugly is not a requirement for becoming a nun. External beauty is gift from God, and we mustn’t hide it.”

Thanks VideoJew for sending this one along.

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August 25, 2008 | 5:55 pm

Jewish dual loyalty and anti-Semitic witch hunts

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

There has been much discussion this summer about claims of Jewish dual loyalty—whether diaspora Jews can be both loyal to their country of citizenship and concerned for Israel or if they are covert spies, as anti-Semites have alleged throughout history.

The persecution of David Tenenbaum, which GetReligion deems a “hunt for a spy in a yarmulke,” indicates just how damaging anti-Jewish suspicions can be.

Tenenbaum worked for the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command when his Southfield, Mich., home was raided by FBI agents in 1997. They were looking for evidence that Tenenbaum was spying for Israel, and his reputation was tarnished in short order. But this summer, after 11 years, the Pentagon’s inspector general cleared Tenenbaum’s name and admitted he was targeted because he was a Sabbath-observing Jew.

“We believe that Mr. Tenenbaum was subjected to unusual and unwelcome scrutiny because of his faith and ethnic background, a practice that would undoubtedly fit a definition of discrimination whether actionable or not,” the inspector general’s report concluded.

What made Tenenbaum’s behavior suspect? Well, for one thing, he spoke Hebrew. Seriously.

More from The Washington Post after the jump:

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