May 26, 2009 | 8:50 pm

Prop 8 update: Bush v. Gore opposing lawyers file joint federal challenge

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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LAObserved has a run-down of the protests fanning out this evening across Los Angeles in response to the state supreme court’s ruling today that Proposition 8 stands. LAO also mentions this story from the AP:

Two of the nation’s top litigators who opposed each other in the Bush v. Gore election challenge in 2000 have joined forces to seek federal court intervention in California’s gay marriage controversy.

Theodore B. Olson and David Boies have filed a U.S. District Court lawsuit on behalf of two gay men and two gay women, arguing that the California constitutional amendment eliminating the right of gay couples to marry violates the U.S. constitutional guarantee of equal protection and due process.

Olson said today that he hopes the case will wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction against California’s Proposition 8 until the case is resolved.

May 26, 2009 | 5:34 pm

What happened to the Muslim assassin in ‘Angels & Demons?’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

“Angels & Demons” has followed in the controversial tradition of Dan Brown’s first book to be turned into a film, “The Da Vinci Code.” Particularly, we’ve heard that it’s anti-Catholic rubbish. But is it also soft on Muslims terrorists?

I haven’t seen the film yet, but that didn’t stop Debbie Schlussel from condemning it. The anti-Islam crusader and self-styled movie critic claimed the film “has been ‘disinfected’ by Islamopanderers (Director Ron Howard) not wanting to upset our dear friends in the ‘Religion of Peace,’ who might do something ‘peaceful’ if the movie had stayed true to the book.”

What was Howard’s transgression? Well, it appeared to one of Schlussel’s readers that, based on the IMDB cast list, the Hassassin character from the book had been changed from a hashish-smoking Muslim assassin to a Danish hitman.

“And if you look at the credits,” Schlussel wrote, “the ‘Assassin’ character isn’t played by an Ahmed Baba Ganouche or a Mohammed Tabbouli. Nope. It’s played by some dude named Nicolaj Lie Kaas. Yup, just like reader Michelle said, a Scandinavian name. Because everyone knows that those blond Scandinavians are the original Middle Eastern assassins who introduced us to the marvels of hashish and khat.”

To which Patrick Goldstein, who writes the >Los Angeles Times’ Big Picture blog, responded:

This is just part of a prolonged Schlussel shame campaign, often based on the flimsiest of evidence, to belittle Hollywood for not treating Muslims as wild-eyed villains. In one of her classic posts, she attacked Marvel Comics for giving academic internships to Arab students from the United Arab Emirates, using that as evidence to support her outrageous claim that “Spider-Man and the Hulk are embracing the new Nazis.” She also recently ridiculed the Wall Street Journal for allowing one of its reporters (“with a Muslim-sounding first name”) to write admiringly about a Muslim author doing a DC comic book.

I don’t exactly have a direct line to Ron Howard to talk to him about his casting process. But here’s my suggestion: The next time Howard does a Dan Brown thriller, if there’s a good part for a terrorist, I think he oughta make sure Debbie Schlussel gets first crack at the job.

After seeing “Angels & Demons,” Schlussel gave the film “Two Reagans—(Would have been THREE, but One Reagan Deducted for Muslim Whitewashing in Script and Phony Anti-Science Extremism)”

(Hat tip: Holy Weblog!)

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May 26, 2009 | 1:59 pm

California Supreme Court upholds Prop 8, prohibits gay marriage

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

As expected, the California Supreme Court today ruled to uphold Proposition 8, the amendment to the state constitution that bans gay marriage.

And what about those 18,000 couples that wed before the Nov. 4 election? They’ll remain married in the eyes of the state.

More from the LA Times:

The decision virtually ensures another fight at the ballot box over marriage rights for gays. Gay rights activists said they may ask voters to repeal the marriage ban as early as next year, and opponents have pledged to fight any such effort. Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.

By a 52-48 margin, voters approved the measure reinstating a ban on same-sex marriage after the state Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling last May, approved such marriages. Left in limbo were about 18,000 couples who got married in California between May and November of last year.

The case for overturning the initiative was widely viewed as a long shot. Gay rights lawyers had no solid legal precedent on their side, and some of the court’s earlier holdings on constitutional revisions mildly undercut their arguments.

But gay marriage advocates captured a wide array of support in the case, with civil rights groups, legal scholars and even some churches urging the court to overturn the measure. Supporters of the measure included many churches and religious organizations.

On his Twitter feed, Kal Penn, the actor turned Obama community relations liaison, voiced a sentiment I’m sure you’ve heard before:

“So if the CA Supreme Court & voters are so concerned with the “sanctity of marriage”, how about we make divorce illegal too? Any takers?”

Read the 185-page ruling at LAist.

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May 26, 2009 | 1:31 pm

No crime to shout ‘Heil Sharon’ and make Nazi salute

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

In the United States, one of the few limitations on free speech concerns the use of “fighting words”—“those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.” The doctrine comes from Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, a 1942 case in which the court unanimously ruled in favor of a police officer who arrested a Jehovah’s Witness for calling him a “damned fascist.”

Israel appears to have something similar to the fighting words doctrine. But it’s application seems a bit convoluted. Case in point:

A Jerusalem magistrate court ruled last week that a Hebron settler who shouted “Heil Sharon” - a reference to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon - at a police officer while making a stiff-armed Nazi salute should not be tried for insulting a public sector worker.

The magistrate judge, Hagit Mac-Kalmanovich, determined that if the settler had used the word “Nazi” or a similar word in referring to the police officers, or if the settler had uttered “Heil Hitler” or a similar statement which implied that the officers are Nazis or resemble Nazis, this would undoubtedly have constituted a crime.

Mac-Kalmanovich acquitted Oren Zer, a resident of Hebron, of insulting a public figure. Zer is the brother of Gilad Zer, who was killed by Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank. The outpost of Havat Gilad was founded in his memory.

(skip)

Zer did not deny making the gesture, though he claimed it was an act of protest and anger against “the expulsion of Jews” from the Gaza Strip. Sharon’s government evacuated some 8,000 Israelis from settlements in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005, a move which touched off massive protests among settlers and their right-wing supporters.

In his statement to police, Zer said his intention was to express “strenuous disgust from the regime of corruption, brutality, and terror that was led by a destroyer of Israel, Ariel Sharon ... the criticism was of course about him, about Sharon, and I stand behind it.”

“I believe he carried out crimes against humanity and against the Jewish people in destroying 25 Jewish communities in the Land of Israel,” Zer told police.

Zer should not be confused with Israeli neo-Nazis.

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May 26, 2009 | 1:21 pm

A godly license plate

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I spotted this license plate while I was driving down Artesia Boulevard yesterday. ALABLVR—took about two seconds to sound that one out. Can you guess what religion the driver of that car most likely was a follower of?

Previously on The God Blog:

Jesus on tour
Riding shotgun with the Prince of Darkness
Florida considers Christian-themed license plates

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May 26, 2009 | 3:35 am

California Supreme Court to rule on same-sex marriage ban

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Photo: TJ Sullivan

Back in November, I was grabbing coffee with a fellow journalist. It was the first time we had met, and when I noticed he was wearing a wedding band, I said, “So you’re married.”

To which he responded: “For now.”

I didn’t know what to say. I just hoped that his wife knew their marriage wasn’t so wonderful. I quickly learned, though, that his spouse was not a woman and that his marital problems were legal, not relational.

When we last checked in on Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that limits marriage to a heterosexual couple, the state Supreme Court was leaning toward upholding the law. Tomorrow the court will issue its ruling, and with it the fate of the 18,000 same-sex couples who were wed during the six months gay marriages were performed in California.

From the NYT:

For those couples who already took the plunge, the idea that their marriage may be allowed while other couples are denied the right is unsettling. “I’d always feel like there was an asterisk,” Mr. French said.

Mr. Lok, his legally recognized spouse, at least for now, was more sanguine.

“The 18,000 marriages will be evidence that California is not going to fall apart if gay people get married,” Mr. Lok said. “It’s not like there’s not going to be an earthquake.”

In related news, Maine legalized gay marriage earlier this month. You know what Miss California thinks about this.

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May 26, 2009 | 3:18 am

Charles Barkley and North Korea

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

There is no religion angle to today’s top story that North Korea tested a nuclear missile. In fact, I think religion is officially illegal in the poor, isolated country. But what would Charles Barkley, one of the great philosophers of our time, have to say about the North’s aggression?

The above sketch, one of my favorite impressions from Frank Caliendo, should give you an idea. A choice quote:

“Kim Jong Il is nuts. He’s gonna blow up the world ‘cause he’s a knucklehead ... He’s nuttier than a Payday bar.”

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May 24, 2009 | 5:53 pm

Ralph D. Winter, Christian missionary, dies

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Ralph D. Winter was one of America’s most influential evangelicals. Not to be confused with fellow Christian Ralph Winter, the producer of, most notably, the “X-Men” films, the elder winter was founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission. He died Wednesday after fighting melanoma and lymphoma. He was 84.

The Christian Post offers an appreciation:

His list of achievements includes founding a mission think tank, a university, and a mission society. But arguably his greatest contribution to the world of mission and what he is best known for is his ground-breaking 1974 presentation at the Congress for World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland.

It was at this legendary summit, convened by American evangelist Billy Graham, where Winter introduced the term “unreached people groups” that had the profound effect of shifting the entire global mission strategy thereafter.

The phrase “unreached peoples” was first defined by Winter as a people group that had less than a certain percentage of Christians. Later, it was redefined as a group of people with their own distinct culture or language that does not have a viable indigenous evangelizing church movement.

Winter, who was previously a missionary with his wife Roberta in Guatemala for ten years, argued that cross-cultural evangelism is urgently needed because more than half of the people in the world who are not Christian are people who cannot be reached any other way except by pioneer missionary techniques.

The presentation of “unreached people groups” is hailed as a milestone event in missiology.

“Dr. Ralph Winter was perhaps the most influential person in missions of the last 50 years and has influenced missions globally more than anyone I can think of,” said Dr. Ray Tallman, professor of missiology at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and Olivet University in San Francisco, to The Christian Post on Thursday.

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May 22, 2009 | 7:59 pm

Brad Ausmus: the new Jew in Dodger Blue

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Ausmus in spring training

I love baseball, the Dodgers and the Jews, and earlier this week I interviewed the newest Dodger Blue Jew.

Brad Ausmus, a three-time Gold Glove winner and 2004 National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductee, joined the team this winter as a backup to All-Star catcher Russell Martin.

Ausmus, in his 17th season in the majors, hasn’t had the career of the Dodgers’ two best-known Jewish stars—Sandy Koufax and Shawn Green—and hasn’t posed for Playgirl like another Jewish Dodgers catcher, Steve Yeager. But he’s a defensive stud and one of the best MOT’s to ever work behind the plate, even if his life hasn’t been as interesting as Moe Berg‘s.

I asked Ausmus about what it was like playing for MLB’s record-leading team, what it was like backing up a great young catcher and playing on an exciting, high-scoring team, about whether he thought this would be the last stop in his career. But primarily I asked him what it was like being a Jewish ballplayer.

“I wasn’t raised with the Jewish religion, so in that sense I don’t really have much feeling toward it,” Ausmus said, sitting in front of his locker and opening fan mail before Jewish Community Night against the New York Mets. “But, however, in the last 10 or so years, I have had quite a few young Jewish boys who will tell me that I am their favorite player or they love watching me play or they feel like baseball is a good fit for them because it worked for me or it worked for Shawn Green or other Jewish players at the Major League level. It has been a sense of pride. If you can have a positive impact on a kid, I’m all for it.”

This is obviously a good time for Jews in baseball. Their numbers have been higher before, but never have they had three stars of the caliber of Ryan Braun, Kevin Youkilis and Ian Kinsler—each of whom were All-Stars last year and are at it again this season.

More to come. For previous baseball talk on The God Blog, check out:

Was A-Rod blaming God?
Brains and Braun: Hebrew Hammer instills pride in the Tribe
Braun and Youkilis—pride of the Tribe, but MVPs?
Dodgers strikeout adding Canter’s to Koufax
‘Remembering Greenberg’

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May 22, 2009 | 2:46 pm

Jim Wallis and other Christians leaders call for two-state solution

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Jim Wallis

Before President Barack Obama met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 28 Christians leaders, including a few prominent Baptists, Lutherans and Presbyterians and the Rev. Jim Wallis, a liberal evangelical close to Obama, sent the president a letter urging Israel agree to Palestinian statehood and settle the I-P conflict with two states.

A portion of the letter, via JTA:

“Our pledge to you is to continue to build constituencies that will advocate for a just political settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict We request that you call upon Prime Minister Netanyahu to embrace the principle of a two-state solution.  As members of your administration have already suggested, we share a concern about how Israeli settlements make that solution less and less possible.  Furthermore, we are concerned that a way be found immediately to open the Gaza borders in a manner that respects both humanitarian and security concerns.”

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May 21, 2009 | 7:52 pm

Muslims express ‘outrage’ over NY terror plot

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The four Muslim men arrested yesterday for allegedly trying to bomb New York synagogues and shoot down a plane with a SCUD missile “wanted to commit jihad,” New York police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

“More information about their motives I’m sure will be developed as the case progresses, but right now they stated they wanted to make jihad. They were disturbed about what was happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that Muslims were being killed,” Kelly said. “They were making statements that Jews were killed in this attack and that would be all right—that sort of thing.”

Terrorism, whose origin has, like so many ugly things, been blamed on the Jews, is not something that Islam justifies. But terrorism is something political players who use Islam as a vehicle have mechanized. How else can you explain the 2007 Pew Research Center findings that 26 percent of Muslims age 18-29 think that suicide bombings can be justified?

“I would have to say it’s actually like 60 or 65 percent of the youth,“ the Long Beach MSA leader told me at the time. “It’s very rare that I meet someone who says suicide bombings in Palestine are not justified.“

And so Muslim American advocacy groups are strongly sensitive to the backlash that has, in the past, followed terror attacks and also foiled plans.

Today the Muslim Public Affairs Council released a statement affirming the organization’s “outrage over NYC synagogue plots.” The statement included an excerpt from a letter Salam Al-Marayati, its executive director, sent to Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding:

Read more of this post

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May 21, 2009 | 4:39 pm

Bibles burned in Afghanistan

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The above news report from Al Jazeer English accuses U.S. Army soldiers in Afghanistan of violating anti-proselytizing rules by handing out New Testaments in the languages of the locals. The outcome: The Bibles were confiscated and destroyed by the military.

Reuters reported earlier this month:

Military officials have said the bibles were sent through private mail to an evangelical Christian soldier by his church back home. The soldier brought them to the bible study class where they were filmed.

Trying to convert Muslims to another faith is a crime in Afghanistan. An Afghan man who converted to Christianity was sentenced to death for apostasy in 2006 but was allowed to leave the country after an international uproar.

“It certainly is, from the United States military’s perspective, not our position to ever push any specific kind of religion, period,” chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen told a Pentagon briefing on Monday.

But David Brody, Christian Broadcasting Networks’ senior Washington correspondent and an evangelical well-respected by his secular peers, asks a spot-on question:

“if the U.S. Military seized a stack full of Korans, would they be burned? You think that might cause a little outrage in the Muslim world?”

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