November 24, 2008 | 12:37 pm

Darwish: Muslim hatred for Jews worse than Nazis

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Nonie Darwish, the ex-Muslim and founder of Arabs for Israel, told the Israel National News that Muslim hatred for Jews is more dangerous and deeply rooted than it was for the Nazis:

“It isn’t a societal thing, it’s a religious thing,” she said. “It’s intrinsic to their lives because it isn’t a human command to kill Jews, it’s the word of Allah.”

There wasn’t much more to the story, except that Darwish thinks Barack Obama’s election is going to increase anti-Israel sentiments in the United States.

My real question is: Who is she talking about when she says “Muslims?” The crazies in Hamas or the sane folks willing to accept that many people don’t share their religious beliefs?

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November 24, 2008 | 3:05 am

Scientology guard shoots man with sword

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s difficult to miss the Scientology Celebrity Centre from the 101. Not sure if it was a disgust for the French chateau architecture or the Church of Scientology’s teachings or just an unfortunate choice of locations to practice the ancient way of the samurai, but a man was shot and killed in the centre’s parking lot Sunday after waving two samurai swords at a security guard:

Police did not release the name of the guard or the man killed in the shooting, which occurred about noon. An investigator said the man had a history with the church but was not a member now. The tape showed the man arriving at the Celebrity Centre’s Bronson Avenue parking lot in a red convertible, getting out of the vehicle and approaching a trio of security guards and waving a sword in each hand, Hara said.

Tony Marquez, 17, said the man, who was bald and had tattoos on his arms, walked toward the building, then returned to the car to get the other sword.

You know, Tom Cruise was in a movie called “The Last Samurai.” It’s probably nothing; I’m just saying ...

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November 22, 2008 | 11:16 pm

Pope’s press forgives John Lennon for Jesus remark

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Be Sharps

More than 40 years after John Lennon said the Beatles were bigger than Jesus—a comment that infuriated Christians, some of whom burnt Beatles records in protest—the Vatican’s newspaper is willing to bury the hatchet:

“The remark by John Lennon, which triggered deep indignation mainly in the United States, after many years sounds only like a ‘boast’ by a young working-class Englishman faced with unexpected success, after growing up in the legend of Elvis and rock and roll,” the newspaper, Osservatore Romano, reported.

The article went on to praise the Beatles for its “unique and strange alchemy of sounds and words.” No word on whether the pope has forgiven the Be Sharps.

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November 21, 2008 | 7:57 pm

Freedom From Religion billboard taken down

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Photo: LAist

This billboard from the Freedom From Religion Foundation lasted about a week alongside a Rancho Cucamonga freeway before complaints prompted General Outdoor signing to take it down. The removal isn’t surprising considering the audience. I used to cover religion in San Bernardino County, and it’s pretty much a no-foolies community—conservative Christianity dominates. A message like this would not be welcome.

The foundation’s co-president, though, was steaming about the ad’s speedy removal:

“Are religionists so thin-skinned they must squelch free debate?” Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement. “One small freethought billboard in the immense state of California is such a threat to insecure religious egos that it must be censored? With local freethinkers’ help, the Freedom From Religion Foundation would love to plaster the valley with our message. Let’s fight back!”

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November 21, 2008 | 7:44 pm

What can Hillary Clinton do for U.S.?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

You’ve likely heard that President-elect Obama and his former opponent for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, are working out final details before she becomes his Secretary of State.

That would make Clinton the U.S. liaison to foreign leaders. In other words, she would be almost as tasked with repairing our image abroad, at least when it comes to working with officials, as Obama.

Good choice?

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November 21, 2008 | 7:06 pm

Bob Jones U. apologizes for racist past

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s Bob Jones, not Jim Jones, whose name is on a South Carolina fundamentalist Christian college that until 1971 wouldn’t admit blacks and didn’t allow interracial dating until 2000. Yesterday, though, BJU offered an online apology for its racist past:

“Bob Jones University has existed since 1927 as a private Christian institution of higher learning for the purpose of helping young men and women cultivate a biblical worldview, represent Christ and His Gospel to others, and glorify God in every dimension of life.

“BJU’s history has been chiefly characterized by striving to achieve those goals; but like any human institution, we have failures as well. For almost two centuries American Christianity, including BJU in its early stages, was characterized by the segregationist ethos of American culture. Consequently, for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding race to be shaped more directly by that ethos than by the principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the culture rather than provide a clear Christian counterpoint to it.

“In so doing, we failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry.”

The school’s racist policies entered the 2000 presidential race when then Texas Gov. George W. Bush visited the campus while campaigning; you can see from the cartoon what the media thought of BJU and Bush, too. The CT Liveblog says the apology followed an eight-month online campaign for “a statement of regret and reconciliation from the current administration and board.”

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November 21, 2008 | 3:36 pm

Being paid to kill Christians

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’ve been criticized before for being so ignorant of the conflict in India, of not realizing that the Hindus murdering Christians are, in fact, themselves the victims. Sure, on the whole Hindus have been an afflicted people. But Hindu extremists? They’re bringing the heat on themselves. For instance this report from The Telegraph, via the Crunchy Con:

Extremist Hindu groups offered money, food and alcohol to mobs to kill Christians and destroy their homes, according to Christian aid workers in the eastern state of Orissa.

The allegations follow the British Government’s refusal to prevent members of two radical groups linked to the worst antiChristian violence in India since Partition entering Britain.

The US-based head of a Christian organisation that runs several orphanages in Orissa - one of India’s poorest regions - claims that Christian leaders are being targeted by Hindu militants and carry a price on their heads. “The going price to kill a pastor is $250 (£170),” Faiz Rahman, the chairman of Good News India, said.

A spokesman for the All-India Christian Council said: “People are being offered rewards to kill, and to destroy churches and Christian properties. They are being offered foreign liquor, chicken, mutton and weapons. They are given petrol and kerosene.”

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November 21, 2008 | 3:16 pm

Jackson, once king of pop, converts to Islam?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Photo: SEC Guru

It all appears to be rumor right now, but the celebrity tabloids are reporting that Michael Jackson—yes, that Michael Jackson—has converted to Islam and changed his name to Mikaeel.

The former king of pop is certainly known for his physical transformations, but a spiritual conversion? The Sun reports:

The source said: “They began talking to him about their beliefs, and how they thought they had become better people after they converted. Michael soon began warming to the idea.

“An Imam was summoned from the mosque and Michael went through the shahada, which is the Muslim declaration of belief.” Mikaeel is the name of one of Allah’s angels.

“Jacko rejected an alternative name, Mustafa — meaning “the chosen one”.

Brit singer Yousef Islam, 60 — who was called Cat Stevens until he famously converted — turned up to help Jacko celebrate.

It was his pals David Wharnsby — a Canadian songwriter — and producer Phillip Bubal who counselled Jacko.

The pair’s new names are Dawud Wharnsby Ali and Idris Phillips.

Jacko now prays to Mecca after the ceremony at the Hollywood Hills home of Toto keyboard player Steve Porcaro, 51, who composed music on the singer’s Thriller album.

Inmates performing “Thriller” is after the jump:

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November 21, 2008 | 3:09 pm

Some Christian colleges won’t survive bad economy

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Jewish nonprofits, of course, are not the only institutions being subsumed by this economic avalanche. Cascade College, a small Christian school in Portland, Ore., that two of my friends attended, is shutting down after its spring semester ends. The money to keep going just isn’t there. And Cascade may not be the last casualty in Christian academia:

Every year, a handful of institutions go under. And while a wave of college closings is unlikely, the economic turmoil could accelerate the pace.

And on Wednesday, Vennard College, a Christian school in Iowa that was down to about 80 students, said it would close at the end of the current semester - two years shy of its 100th birthday. More closing announcements could come next semester, or next fall, when schools find out how many of their students don’t return.

Decreased enrollment has been reported at private schools, religious and secular, across the country. Even Los Angeles’ premiere prep schools are feeling the pinch.

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November 21, 2008 | 1:39 pm

The Illuminati, The Audacity and the Obama smears

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

... not the Secret Service. Though if I were in the political arena I still wouldn’t want to be visited by Ken Silverstein, the Washington bureau chief for Harper’s. Silverstein is no defender of Barack Obama—two years ago he wrote a cover story titled “Barack Obama Inc.: The birth of a Washington machine” that was critical of Obama’s acceptance of corporate money—but in last month’s issue he wrote an informative feature about the campaign to smear Barack Hussein Obama. Much of it involved emphasizing that middle name.

Silverstein focuses specifically on a 29-year-old North Carolinan named Jason Mitchell. The head of a small outfit called Illuminati Pictures, Mitchell, who prefers the moniker Molotov, was the brains behind a viral video about Obama that you probably saw if, like me, you have friends who run conservative blogs or get emails from people who read them. The video, seen above, was called “The Audacity.” Rather than repeating Silverstein’s synopsis or offering my own, I recommend you watch it.

What I found most interesting was Silverstein’s interview with Mitchell, in which “The Audacity’s” producer and narrator talks about how much his Christian beliefs motivated him to oppose Obama:

Mitchell also has launched the website NoHussein.org, which serves as a repository for lurid anti-Obama rumors. The site features a chart that seeks to illustrate that Obama’s political positions clash with biblical views whereas McCain’s positions tend to coincide with those of the Holy Scriptures. “I’m mainstream. I’m not an aloof guy off in the mountains,” Mitchell told me when we first met, at a Chinese restaurant near Raleigh. “I believe Obama could be the end of America as we know it, which is why he has been endorsed by Kim Jong Il, Fidel Castro, Hamas, and the FARC. He has done everything in his power to weaken our position internationally.”

Mitchell’s parents divorced when he was five, and his father, an evangelical pastor who now heads the Beacon City Church in Boston, raised him. “I was a troubled adolescent, an angry young man who was always fighting and drinking,” he told me. “Dad kicked me out when I was seventeen, which was one of the best things that ever happened to me.” He became interested in the punk scene and spent a year, by choice, living on the street, which is where he discovered God. After reading the Book of Mormon and the Koran, and nearly becoming a Hare Krishna, Mitchell turned to Christianity. “No light came down, but it was the beginning of a transformation,” he said. Mitchell also joined several punk underground movements, first Straight Edge, which opposes tobacco, alcohol, drugs, and premarital sex, and then the Zealots, extreme-metal Christians.

Religion is the driver, he says, of his worldview and politics. “I believe in feeding the poor, but I also believe it’s theft for the government to take from you and give to someone else,” he told me. “If you’re sitting in your house and someone comes in and cleans you out, you don’t feel better if they tell you on the way out that they’re giving everything they stole to charity. But when people in suits from the IRS rob you, that’s just fine.” Mitchell says he is disillusioned with the Republican Party and is “more anti-Obama than pro- McCain.” He went on: “But I prefer anarchy to Obama. When you compare McCain to Obama, who leaves babies out to die, he looks divine.” As to his political involvement, he says he’s “just a concerned citizen trying to get the word out about things that are dangerous and that have been covered up.”

The rest of the article, which talks about how useful Internet smears were for the Republican Party. We know now, though, that they were ultimately unsuccessful.

Unfortunately, I think the negative consequences of such insincere Internet campaigns may be more longterm than you would expect. Certainly the Web has become a fantastic medium for the dissemination of information, and it’s become a place where citizen journalists can do what those of us making a modest income do, which is inform our neighbors of relevant news. But I think the reaction to the smears we saw this election season will make people more skeptical of the veracity of actually credible amateur reports—not to mention those from the much-maligned MSM.

In the case of the Obama smears, I think valid criticisms of our president-elect were lost in the noise of reports like “The Audacity.”

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November 21, 2008 | 1:03 pm

Religion accounted for 4 percent of election news coverage

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Is 4 percent a lot? It seemed to me throughout the presidential election that religion hogged the conversation. Religion stories from the campaign trail included the Democrats finding religion, John McCain showcasing his and selecting Sarah Palin for hers, Mitt Romney defending Mormonism, Mike Huckabee promoting Christian conservatism, everybody fighting for the Jewish vote ... I could go on and on.

Admittedly, there is likely some bias here. This is The God Blog. But I’m a bit surprised by the findings of a survey from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life that found that only 4 percent of election reporting involved religion—and the primary subject, attracting nearly a third of the coverage, was not how the candidates’ beliefs shaped their worldview but whether Barack Obama was a Muslim. Here’s a short summary of Pew’s findings:

Meanwhile, there was little attempt by the news media during the campaign to comprehensively examine the role of faith in the political values and policies of the candidates, save for those of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

And when religion-focused campaign stories were covered by the mainstream press, often the context was negative, controversial or focused on a perceived political problem.

In all, religion was a significant but not overriding storyline in the media coverage of the 2008 campaign. But in a campaign in which an Obama victory would give the U.S. its first black president, religion received as much coverage in the media as race.

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November 20, 2008 | 9:26 pm

Outcry continues against Museum of Tolerance on Muslim cemetery

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Controversy has swirled for two years around the Simon Wisenthal Center’s plans to build a Museum of Tolerance, like that in Los Angeles, on top of a medieval Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. Protesters have been out in force since the Israeli high ruled last month that the $250 million facility could be built.

Yesterday, a columnist fro the liberal Israeli daily, Haaretz, editorialized that the museum’s planned location is:

“a testament, as well, to the principle that Israel’s only reliable natural resource is irony. The walled area is a construction site where a Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights organization dedicated to instilling the lessons of the Holocaust and combating hatred, is building a Museum of Tolerance and Center for Human Dignity atop an ancient Muslim cemetery.”

And today a coalition of Jewish peaceniks and the L.A. chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (that ought to fire up the Jewish right) wrote a letter urging Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Wiesenthal Center’s dean and founder, to withdraw plans for the Frank Gehry-designed museum:

“Building a ‘Museum of Tolerance’ atop the cemetery, unlike the admirable goal of furthering tolerance and understanding, will only add to the existing pain and suffering of Palestinians and Israelis, irreversibly damage relations between Muslims and Jews worldwide and sow new feelings of animosity and division for generations to come,” CAIR’s Hussam Ayloush wrote.

Some Muslims believe that the cemetery was once the largest Muslim burial ground in Palestine and serves as the final resting place of some of the Prophet Muhammad’s companions. Scholars hold that the cemetery is probably only a few hundred years old. Regardless, I’ve heard a lot more opposition to the museum than support. Add to the field of critics Buzzy Gordon, a former Israeli spokesman, who wrote a column today for The Forward titled “An Intolerable Spot for a Museum”:

Can a museum under the mantle of the Simon Wiesenthal Center stand up to comparisons with efforts in Europe to erect modern buildings on land that was once Jewish cemeteries or concentration camps? Imagine that kind of outcry!

Jerusalem is too fragile a place for a flamboyant building, however well-intentioned, that creates ill will among a significant sector of the population that shows no signs of accepting it. As one call to action put it: “The legal battle has been lost… we must move on to the political battle.” Is a so-called Museum of Tolerance worth turning the Holy City into a battleground once again, in the 21st century?

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