August 19, 2008 | 7:47 pm

Former Muslim to lead Baptist college

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Emir Caner, who converted from Islam to Christianity when he was a boy, has been tapped as the next president of Truett-McConnell College in Georgia. Kudos to Caner, but man do I disagree with his opinion of why someone should choose a Christian education.

“A parent should choose a Christian higher education for their child because of the investment in the student’s mind. When they send their child to a Christian liberal arts college like Truett-McConnell, they are doing it for two primary reasons. First, they are sending their child to an institution that guards the mind from the destruction that can come from a secular education, and second, that prepares their child not just for a profession but also for how to live a life of character,” Caner said.

“A Christian cannot be defined by what he or she does but by their character. That character, in turn, is formed by the investment of professors and staff who pour themselves into a student who will gain a thoroughly Christian worldview.”

I hope he wouldn’t think less of me for choosing to attend a big, liberal, secular university, where I had to consciously decide how I wanted my worldview shaped. Really, it’s not as scary as many of good Christians think.

The more interesting element of Caner’s story, though, is not his vision for Truett-McConnell, which, forgive me, I had never heard of. It’s that he chose Christianity over Islam, despite what it cost him:

Caner, 37, is the son of a devout Islamic leader and most of his family, including his father, has disowned him. He converted to Christianity in 1982 with the help of a Christian friend who invited him to a prayer meeting at a Southern Baptist church.

After accepting Christ as his savior, he attended Criswell College in Dallas and earned a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies. He went on to earn a master of divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Texas.

Caner has written and contributed to a total of 16 books, including Unveiling Islam, which won the Gold Medallion Award by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

Though I doubt Caner’s dad was a shotcaller for Islamic Jihad, the consequences of conversion sound similar to those suffered by the Hamas scion I wrote about earlier this month.

The reason the Christian Post states “most of his family” is that Caner’s older brother, Ergun, is the president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. You know the name Liberty because its the Lynchburg, Va., school founded by Jerry Falwell.

August 19, 2008 | 6:49 pm

Tropical storm rains out global-warming deniers’ meeting

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The MoJo blog informs us that God understands irony: Tropical Storm Fay can be thanked for interfering with a meeting for global warming deniers.

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August 19, 2008 | 2:19 pm

The end of the goys

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

There is a once-again-popular practice among some Christians of celebrating Passover. I wrote about this two years, and in discussing a Christian Seder, I included this paragraph:

The Seder began with the “mother” of each table lighting a candle that represents the spiritual joy of God’s promise to the Israelites. Monsignor Peter Nugent explained to the goys what each object on the Seder plate represented - the bitter herbs of slavery, the nuts and apples of hard work, the unleavened bread of people on the run, among other items.

Buried right there in the middle of that segment was what attracted one really angry email. Did I not realize, one reader wanted to know, how offensive the term “goy” is to Christians? He obviously did not realize that plenty of people call me a goy.

But that brings up a bigger issue, which I began thinking about two weeks ago when this comment was left in a post about Barack Obama’s secret life as a Shabbos Goy. Rabbi Kerry Olitzky commented:

It is time to stop the use of such language that excludes and offends. With the growing number of those from different religious backgrounds now part of the Jewish community, the term “goy” needs to be excluded from our vocabulary. No more need be said.

Is it? What is so profane about referring to the non-Jews as goyim? Sure, it is an us/them designation, and in certain connotations it can be quite the pejorative, but it’s not like this word. If goyim is a no go, what about alter cocker, which is about as ageist as goy is exclusionary?

(The above headline is a reference to a plethora of books on my shelves that include the words “end” and “Jews” in their titles.)

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August 18, 2008 | 7:51 pm

Knights Templar heirs sue pope for $150 billion

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Jonathan Kirsch has a new book coming out called “The Grand Inquisitor’s Manual: A History of Terror in the Name of God,” which digs deep into the 600-year Inquisition era and finds its legacy in Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia and the U.S.-led war on terror. (To be clear, Kirsch, who happens to be The Jewish Journal’s pro-bono attorney, doesn’t morally equate Hitler and Stalin to Bush and Cheney.)

I learned a lot reading the book, and next week will publish my Q&A with Kirsch. Most disturbing to me were the descriptions of some of the torture devices, particularly The Pear of Anguish. Hurts just thinking about it.

Anyway, the Inquisition, as you probably know, was the Catholic Church’s KGB. It’s duty was not to worry about the Muslim or Jew—though many of its victims were accused of being false converts to Christianity. The inquisitors only had authority over fellow Christians. And, offering a reminder that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, the Inquisition often targeted people considered threats to the Church.

“Some men and women are capable of acting with appalling cruelty once they convince themselves that theiri victims are filth or vermin or, at best, miscreants with some incurable disease or congenital defect that compels them to serve the Devil rather than God,” Kirsch writes. “That’s how the Inquisition instruction good Christians to look on those it condemned as heretics.”

One organization that felt God’s wrath on earth was the Knights Templar, the secret Christian warriors who protected pilgrims en route to Jerusalem. They fell out of favor with Pope Clement V and were tortured into confessing to heresy, the punishment for which was being burned at the stake. The significant assets they amassed in the Holy Land were seized.

Now, a group claiming to be the Knights’ distant descendants has sued Pope Benedict XVI and is seeking $150 billion for the property stolen from the Knights.

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August 18, 2008 | 6:53 pm

Elder get your gun, the preacher’s running his mouth

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Imagine you are sitting in church, listening to Pastor Bob sermonize about tithing for the tenth time since Tax Day, and the service is running long, and the air conditioning is out, and Bob is still talking, still talking, still talking ... What if you could reach into your waistline (or purse) and pull out your 9 mm and remind Pastor Bob to wrap it up?

Well, you might never be able to do that—not without committing a felony—but Georgia lawmakers are interested in easing gun restrictions to allow folks with firearm licenses to carry them into churches and onto school grounds. Sort of gives a new meaning to “praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.”

Here’s one pastor’s perspective on the prospect:

The logic, as expressed by one legislator, is that unlicensed lawbreakers have guns anyhow, so there’s no sense in not allowing licensed law-abiding citizens to have theirs with them. Who wouldn’t want duly licensed persons to have the peace of mind they need to study algebra or to worship God—the kind of peace of mind that can only come from having your trusty firearm tucked away in your pocket or in your purse?

I can only imagine how my experience of worshipping the Prince of Peace would be enhanced by the warm feeling of blue steel tucked in its holster between my arm and torso. Or how my trust in God would soar because of my knowledge that if anyone threatens me during my prayers, I could blow him away faster than you can say “Amen.”

Hat tip to the DMN religion blog. The possibility reminds me of when, after a string of muggings, L.A. Jews started carrying guns on the Sabbath.

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August 18, 2008 | 1:27 pm

Annals of Bob Saget: Posehn and the Ark of the Covenant

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

There is no clip on Comedy Central from last night’s roast of Bob Saget that I could safely embed here. Roastmaster John Stamos and the roasters, including Norm MacDonald, Susie Essman and Cloris Leachman, were as blue as Saget’s post-“Full House” humor. But there was a great dig worthy of mention on a blog about religion.

It wasn’t aimed at Saget but at Brian Posehn of “The Sarah Silverman Program.” He’s the funny looking guy in the picture, and his face, like Jon Lovitz’s humor and the Olsen twins, was a constant target.

“Brian Posehn,”

Jeff Garlin

Jim Norton said during his moment to roast. “Why is it your face always looks like you just saw the Ark of the Covenant?”

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August 18, 2008 | 12:16 am

At home in the water: Jews in the Olympic pool

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

A young Mark Spitz

You’ve got to wonder whether swimming, and not chess, is the true Jewish sport. This year’s U.S. Olympic swim teams wouldn’t be the same, and Michael Phelps wouldn’t have won eight gold medals, if it weren’t for Jewish swimmers Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale. And then there is Dara Torres, the 41-year-old native Angeleno who came within 0.01 seconds of winning gold in the 50 freestyle. And, oh yeah, there was also this old swimmer some years ago, I think at the Munich games, named Mark Spitz.

Oddly, Spitz wasn’t invited to Beijing to watch Phelps break his record, and he was none to happy about the snub.

“I never got invited. You don’t go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am,” he told AFP last week. “I am going to sit there and watch Michael Phelps break my record anonymously? That’s almost demeaning to me. It is not almost — it is.”

But after Phelps surpassed his Olympic achievement today, Spitz offered that “Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympic athlete ever.”

No argument there. But, don’t worry, Mr. Spitz. You and Sandy Koufax are still the greatest Jewish athletes ever—or at least since Samson brought down the house.

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August 17, 2008 | 11:03 pm

Democrats continue coveting religious-minded voters

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Sorry I’ve been fairly MIA since Friday. It’s been a nightmarish few days finishing up this week’s cover story. Never have I experienced the laws of inertia like I did the last two days.

That being said, I didn’t have the chance to liveblog the presidential forum at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church last night. Rod Dreher, Mark Silk and William Lobdell, however, did. But besides updating you on my status as still breathing, the purpose of this post was to share a link hinted at in the headline.

For the first time in its history the Democratic National Convention will include meetings for a faith caucus. The list of invocators and benedictors provided in a press release from Barack Obama’s campaign include Joel Hunter, an evangelical pastor who has challenged the Christian Right; Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism; Sister Catherine Pinkerton of the National Catholic Social Justice Lobby; Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of America; and Cameron Strang, who is publisher of the Christian pop culture magazine Relevant.

“Democrats have been, are and will continue to be people of faith—and this Convention will demonstrate that in an unprecedented way,” said Leah D. Daughtry, CEO of the DNCC. “As Convention CEO and a pastor myself, I am incredibly proud that so many esteemed leaders from the faith community will be with us to celebrate this historic occasion and honor the diverse faith traditions inside the Democratic Party.”

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August 16, 2008 | 4:55 pm

Al Franken freehands U.S. map

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I don’t know if comedian and would-be politician Al Franken will succeed in his pursuit to represent Minnesota in the U.S. senate, but the man can definitely doodle. Here he is seen sketching not just the border of the country but of the states within the federation.

(Thanks, Ted)

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August 15, 2008 | 10:46 am

What Rick Warren said at Sinai Temple; it wasn’t ‘Jesus’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

There has been plenty of excitement about the forum being held tomorrow at Saddleback Church, which will bring presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to the stage of possibly America’s most-influential evangelical. That would be Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose-Driven Life,” which I think is the most popular book not known as the Bible. Rob Eshman, editor of The Jewish Journal, calls this “a victory for the good guys in the cultural wars.”

“That’s right,” Rob writes. “After years of watching the debate over faith and values in America play out with all the finesse of MTV’s ‘Celebrity Deathmatch,’ we will now get to see what happens when a thoughtful adult takes over from the goofballs, windbags, con artists and media whores who have led most of the battles until now.”

In other words, Warren isn’t Pat “Kill Hugo Chavez” Robertson.

Rob has been impressed with Warren since at least June 2006, when he heard the Southern Baptist speak during Shabbat services at Sinai Temple. Warren had been invited to share his secret to church growth. In a quarter century, Saddleback had grown from him, his wife and another couple to some 22,000 weekly worshipers. (Seriously, the Lake Forest campus is size of a community college.) And he was happy to spread this gospel to his Jewish brothers—that’s how he addressed Rob—and sisters:

Warren managed to speak for the entire evening without once mentioning Jesus—a testament to his savvy message-tailoring. But make no mistake, the driving purpose of an evangelical church is to evangelize, and it is Warren’s devotion to spreading the words of the Christian Bible that drive his ministry.

Good for him and his flock—and not so bad for us either. His teachings apply to 95 percent of all people, regardless of religious belief. As he put it to a group of rabbis at a conference last year—using a metaphor that might be described as a Paulian slip: “Eat the fish and throw away the bones.”

Warren told Wolfson his interest is in helping all houses of worship, not in converting Jews. He said there are more than enough Christian souls to deal with for starters.

That’s what Rob wrote in his column the following week. And those words incited a lot of anger among his fundamentalist brethren. But we all know you can’t trust a Jew, or a journalist, and the only authority on what Warren said was the editor of The Jewish Journal.
So, sarcasm aside, the pastor’s words were in doubt.

The Web Guy, however, just dug up what we thought didn’t exist. (I don’t ask him how he does what he does.) Click here to listen to Warren’s talk at Sinai.

“When they hear the audio,” he said, “ruh roh.”

My opinion, as an evangelical Christian, is that Warren saw an opportunity to build a bridge with the Jewish community and he took advantage of it. It’s ridiculous to think that, from the fundamentalist perspective, a Christian can only talk with a Jew about Jesus. What is the harm if Rick Warren helps synagogues increase their membership to 90 percent of the surrounding Jewish community? Keeping these people out of synagogues isn’t leading them to the pews at Saddleback or First Assembly of God or West L.A. Korean Church.

Warren was doing a mitzvah, and I’m sure he did it with the mindset that he’d be rewarded for it sooner than in the afterlife. Clearly now he has proven himself to be more of a political player than we would have ever guessed when President Bush ran for re-election.

As Shawn Landres, CEO and Director of Research for Jewish Jumpstart, told Rob:

“Rick Warren is this new generation. This is not the Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson generation. This is the generation of evangelical leaders who want to engage with American political culture, who want to reach out. James Dobson and Robertson and Falwell preached to their choirs, and they could move mountains when they got their choirs excited. But Warren is playing for the middle. He’s trying to recapture the center.”

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August 14, 2008 | 6:55 pm

The dark side of TV’s Danny Tanner

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’ll never forget the first time I watched “Half Baked,” almost 10 years ago, because of a scene when Dave Chappelle’s character, Thurgood the pothead, seeks help through group therapy.

“You in here for some marijuana?” they ask incredulously.

And as the crowd boos Thurgood, the former Danny Tanner, real life’s Bob Saget, stands up and asks a vulgarity straight out of “Basketball Diaries.” (It’s in at the 2:10 mark this video.)

I couldn’t believe my ears. This was Mr. Clean from “Full House,” a goody-two-shoes second to none. And here he was sounding like your average comedian at open mic night. Which is, of course, what made the line so funny.

This Sunday, Saget will finally get the glory he deserves: His own roasting on Comedy Central. I’ve already got my DVR set; I’ve been looking forward to this for about a month. For my generation, Saget is kitsch brought to life, and it was with great enthusiasm that I picked up today’s Jewish Journal, knowing he’d be on the cover.

“Bob is particularly funny because he has this dual, schizophrenic reputation from the G-rated family shows to the X-rated stand-up show. I appreciate his humor, because I know where it comes from: a sweet and loving way of communicating with people,” Saget’s rabbi, Steven Carr Reuben of Kehillet Israel in the Palisades, told The Journal.

His rabbi. Well, in that spirit, we ran two versions of the story online. One is clean and the other down and dirty.

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August 14, 2008 | 3:47 pm

Confusing a conservative Christian for a cult leader

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Jonestown was no laughing matter. More than 900 people died in one of the most memorable mass suicides in modern history when reality began to unwind for Jim Jones’ People’s Temple, the cult he had relocated from California to Guyana. (I’m from San Diego, so I can’t overlook Heaven’s Gate.) Jones was a demagogue, and his followers paid ultimately for it.

But I couldn’t help but laugh last night when I heard someone confuse that Jones with Bob Jones. Bob is, indeed, an awfully common name. So too is Jones. But when I think Bob Jones I think of the fundamentalist Christian university in South Carolina that refused to admit blacks until 1971 and still forbids dancing.

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