November 8, 2009 | 10:58 am

Who knew Muslims pray on Friday?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Coverage in the aftermath of the Fort Hood shooting has been all over the place. This transcript from this “360 exclusive,” between CNN’s Anderson Cooper and the network’s senior editor for Mideast affairs Octavia Nasr, is just incomprehensible. It’s regarding footage of Nidal Malik Hasan shopping at a convenience store in a traditional Muslim garment:

COOPER: Octavia Nasr, what he is wearing, is that traditional for a Jordan? Or somebody who has spent time in Jordan? I mean it looks — I think it looks pretty — like outfits I’ve seen in Jordan.

NASR: Yes. That’s the traditional Muslim, really. The dress and the head cap. So it’s basically Muslim. It’s not necessarily — so you would see people in Jordan, yes, wearing this. It’s just a comfortable dress, basically underneath the robe that you’re seeing there would be pants, comfortable pants. And the head cap.

So it’s not really a look that you would see around here in the U.S. often. So I personally find it a little bit unusual to see someone in a convenience store with this kind of Muslim garb. Now it could be that, you know, this is from today. So it’s not a day of prayer. Tomorrow is the day of prayer, Friday.

So it is a bit unusual, I find, for him to be wearing this. Except if this is his casual wear and he’s going there in the morning to get his coffee and from the store owner we learned that he went in there very comfortable, sometimes in sweats, sometimes in his workout clothes and sometimes in this garb.

COOPER: Octavia, is it possible that — I mean some people pray every day or even pray five times a day and some people would just go on a Friday. Is it possible that he went every day?

NASR: Of course it is possible, yes, absolutely. That is possible. From my conversation with the store owner, it seemed to me that Friday was an important day of prayer for him. That’s the only day that the store owner mentioned as …

COOPER: I see.

Thanks to tmatt for pointing this out over at GetReligon. He notes the oddity of Cooper and CNN’s Mideast expert being so perplexed by something so fundamental:

Surely the Middle East expert and Cooper knew this. It’s something like wondering why liturgical Christians would make a special attempt to attend the Mass, Holy Eucharist or Divine Liturgy on Sundays. It’s a rather basic fact.

November 8, 2009 | 5:42 am

Not yet a Sunday driver

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This isn’t about God, but rather a woman who religiously took the driving test. In fact, Cha Sa-soon, 68, of South Korea had taken the written exam for a driver’s license an a nearly daily basis for more than four years. On Wednesday, she proved that the 950th time was the charm:

The aspiring driver spent more than $4,200 in application fees, but until now had failed to score the minimum 60 out of a possible 100 points needed to get behind the wheel for a driving test.

Cha Sa-soon, 68, finally passed the written exam with a score of 60 on Wednesday, said Choi Young-chul, a police official at the drivers’ license agency in Jeonju, 130 miles south of Seoul.

Police said Cha took the test hundreds of times, but had no specific total. Local media said she took the test 950 times.

Now she must pass a driving test before getting her license, Choi said.

Let’s just say I’m not planning on visiting Seoul—and I’m hoping this isn’t me when my time comes to take the Bar.

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November 5, 2009 | 9:42 pm

The Muslim Army major at center of Fort Hood massacre

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Malik Hasan

It’s never a good sign when I receive an e-mail from the Muslim Public Affair Council with the heading “MPAC CONDEMNS ...”

Today, the condemnation was in regards to the massacre at Fort Hood that left at least 12 dead and 31 injured. Why was MPAC weighing in? Sometimes the organization speaks out just to offer condolences. Not the case today.

The Fort Hood gunman was alllegedly one Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist. I don’t know who that is. But I recognize that as an Arabic name. I don’t need to explain why that most certainly has many Muslim Americans on edge:

By Thursday evening, nevertheless, Arab-American and Muslim-American advocacy organizations were already readying themselves for a backlash. The Arab-American Institute said it received one threatening call from an unidentified male shortly after reports surfaced that the name of the alleged shooting suspect was Nidal Malik Hasan. The group, which condemned the massacre, said it was expecting more.

“We like to give people the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to being a reactionary thing,” said Leigh O’Neill, director of government relations for the organization. “But there is a lot of hate out there and hate is hate. It is bipartisan and doesn’t have geographic balance. We feel terrible for the victims today. And I wish people will understand when crime is crime and terrorism is terrorism.”

ABC News’ Brian Ross reported that Hasan was a recent convert to Islam.

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November 5, 2009 | 1:35 pm

Westboro Baptist Church on ‘South Park’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

“South Park” last night made a subtle reference to the Westboro Baptist Church in an episode ridiculing loud, obnoxious motorcycle riders.

Apologies if this clip from “The F Word” causes you to guffaw quite rudely in the library.

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November 4, 2009 | 10:40 pm

UCLA Law: ‘Re-inventing the enemy within’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Critical Race Studies Program at UCLA School of Law has a great panel starting in about 15 minutes that I, sadly, won’t be able to attend. (It’s that time of the year: Yep, UCLA basketball is back.) The panel’s title is “Anti-Arab and Islamophobic Legal Discourse and Practice Beyond September 11th” and will feature, among others, Khaled Abou El Fadl.

This panel is the first in a series of CRS events that will address issues confronting Muslim/Arab communities in (and outside of) the U.S. since September 11th with a particular focus on whether and how this picture has changed since the advent of the Obama administration.  The remaining events in the series will take place over the 2009-10 school year, and will include more focused panels dealing respectively with sexuality and Islam, civil rights, immigrants’ rights issues, and the criminalization of Islamic philanthropy.

More events from this series, “Re-inventing the Enemy Within,” will follow.

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November 4, 2009 | 6:32 pm

Carrie Prejean sex tape—say it ain’t so

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Like me, you’ve most certainly been tired of the up-and-down saga of temporarily-Miss California Carrie Prejean for, oh, six months now. Well, the beat goes on.

TMZ is reporting that her demands of a $1 million settlement from the Miss California USA Pageant quickly and quietly disappeared when a lawyer for the pageant showed Prejean a home sex tape starring ... who else?

The video the lawyer showed Carrie is extremely graphic and has never been released publicly. We know that, because TMZ obtained the video months ago but decided not to post it because it was so racy. Let’s just say, Carrie has a promising solo career.

We’re told it took about 15 seconds for Carrie to jettison her demand and essentially walk away with nothing. As we first reported, the Pageant is paying around $100,000 to her lawyers and publicist—a fraction of her bills. She pockets nothing in the settlement.

If this post seems to only be serving prurient interests, it’s important to remind you how Carrie Prejean became a different kind of sex icon. For more:

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November 4, 2009 | 10:38 am

Planned Parenthood exec resigns after watching abortion

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I don’t know how often my GetReligion colleague Mollie Hemingway watches local television news from KBTX in College Station, Texas, but she came across a gem recently.

Mollie says the story, as broken by KBTX, raises more questions than it answers about the exact circumstances of the director of the Planned Parenthood in the Texas A&M area resigning. But what I found so interesting was that Abby Johnson, who had run the local Planned Parenthood office, had a change of heart after watching an abortion on an ultrasound and has now switched sides:

Johnson said she was told to bring in more women who wanted abortions, something the Episcopalian church goer recently became convicted about.

“I feel so pure in heart (since leaving). I don’t have this guilt, I don’t have this burden on me anymore that’s how I know this conversion was a spiritual conversion.”

Johnson now supports the Coalition For Life, the pro-life group with a building down the street from Planned Parenthood. Coalition volunteers can regularly be seen praying on the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood. Johnson has been meeting with the coalition’s executive director, Shawn Carney, and has prayed with volunteers outside Planned Parenthood.

Read the rest of Mollie’s post here and check the KBTX report above.

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November 4, 2009 | 5:21 am

Maine voters have no love for gay marriage

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

In California, it was Proposition 8. In Maine, it was Question 1.

Voters Tuesday repealed a state law allowing same-sex couples to wed:

Gay marriage has now lost in every single state — 31 in all — in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine — known for its moderate, independent-minded electorate — and mounted an energetic, well-financed campaign.

With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes had 53 percent of the votes.

“The institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across the nation,” declared Frank Schubert, chief organizer for the winning side.

Gay-marriage supporters held out hope that the tide would shift before conceding defeat at 2:40 a.m. in a statement that insisted they weren’t going away.

“We’re in this for the long haul. For next week, and next month, and next year — until all Maine families are treated equally. Because in the end, this has always been about love and family and that will always be something worth fighting for,” said Jesse Connolly, manager of the pro-gay marriage campaign.

Unlike in California, where a six-month period of gay marriage existed, Maine’s same-sex marriage bill, passed in the spring, had been on hold for the outcome of Tuesday’s vote.

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November 4, 2009 | 1:28 am

Evangelism—there’s an app for that, too

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

There’s an app for Christian evangelists on Sunday mornings and for incredible productivity and incredible help. In fact, there an app for just about Christian evangelist need on the new iPhone ...

Wow, I feel like a shill. Full disclosure: I have an iPhone but no quid pro quo with Apple. Nor have I tried any of these applications. I’m more of a Words With Friends and Quordy guy myself (challenge me—I dare you).

Anyway, here’s a blog post reviewing 20 apps for Christians:

With more problems and followers than time, many Christian evangelists are finding out that their iPhone can be used for much more than phone calls. Below are the top 20 incredible iPhone Apps for Christian evangelists. The apps can help with prayer, Bible study, productivity, and much more.

The list starts here.

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November 3, 2009 | 1:18 pm

What kind of atheist are you?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

In case you missed it, NPR aired a piece last month about the widening divide between the in-you-face atheists and the nonbelievers who want to be more tolerant of their God-fearing friends:

“It’s really a national debate among people with a secular orientation about how far do we want to go in promoting a secular society through emphasizing the ‘new atheism,’ ” [Center for Inquiry’s Stuart] Jordan says. “And some are very much for it, and some are opposed to it on the grounds that they feel this is largely a religious country, and if it’s pushed the wrong way, this is going to insult many of the religious people who should be shown respect even if we don’t agree with them on all issues.”

Interesting as this story was, it wasn’t really that. It was a fresh perspective on a story that has been brewing under the surface for years. Read more about it at GetReligion.

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November 2, 2009 | 8:29 pm

In limbo with Ariel Sharon

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s easy to forget, but Ariel Sharon, Israel’s legendary military leader and former prime minister, is still alive, trapped within his comatose self. Writing for the Daily Beast, Lynn Sherr compares Sharon’s status in limbo to that of the Mideast peace process—too healthy too die and too injured to work:

The irony is unavoidable. Ariel Sharon, who spent his early life expanding the territory of his native land, then abandoned his dream and evicted settlers from Gaza to shrink Israel’s borders in the quest for peace, remains locked inside the barest human boundaries, imprisoned in his own body. He was once so uncompromising—self-confident, supporters said—they called him The Bulldozer. Other names, too. “Arik, King of the Jews,” after his conquest of the Sinai during the Yom Kippur War. “Murderer,” after failing to prevent the massacres of Lebanese civilians at the Sabra and Shatila camps in 1982. Sensitive and cultured. Stubborn and cruel. No one was ever neutral about Arik Sharon. Still true.

To many, including members of the left wing who embraced Sharon when he pulled out of Gaza, he was the modern father of the nation, ultimately creating his own Nixon-in-China moment as the first to accept a two-state solution.

“I don’t want to compare him to anybody else,” says Israeli President Shimon Peres, “but there was nobody as good as he was.” Peres, 85, who joined the centrist party Sharon founded, Kadima, after decades of fighting Sharon from Labor, adds, with amusement, “You could always expect from him the unexpected. [Moshe] Dayan said about him, ‘I prefer a galloping horse which is difficult to stop than a lazy mule that doesn’t know how to start moving.’”

Dov Weissglas, a savvy Tel Aviv attorney who became Sharon’s trusted chief of staff, recalls the days when Israel was “a teeny, tiny country, a weird strip on the map, with about a million miserable refugees from all over the world.” Because of Sharon, he says, “the whole nation regained its confidence, to successfully survive in this goddamn place in the world. He and his generation became a sort of manifestation that yes, we can live here, we can do it: We can overcome, we can retaliate. He became a myth.”

Or, an anathema.

Sherr goes on in this really well-done essay. You can read the rest here.

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November 2, 2009 | 6:16 pm

Los Angeles has the best delis

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’ve heard Jews refer to fellow MOTs as Larry-David-lox-and-bagel Jews—as if that’s a bad thing. Larry David is awesome, and what’s better than smoked salmon on a toasty bagel? Well, one thing: The No. 19 at Langer’s.

Honestly, much as I enjoyed my two years at The Jewish Journal, nothing made me sadder about leaving than separating myself from that artery-clogging, thick-cut pastrami on rye. (Don’t forget the Swiss cheese and Russian dressing.)

Don’t tell me eating isn’t a spiritual experience. And thank God—really, I do—that we’ve got such great food in LA, and Jonathan Gold to sift the wheat from the chaff.

In fact, journalist David Sax says we’ve got the best delis in the country:

Brace yourselves, New York, because what I am about to write is definitely going to piss a lot of you off, but it needs to be said: Los Angeles has become America’s premier deli city.

Wait ... Stop ... Put the gun down. It’s true.

Across the city’s sprawling acres, there are more delicatessens of a higher quality, on average, than anywhere else in America. Every time I visited one deli, I heard about three more. Despite their healthy image, far more Angelenos than native New Yorkers eat at Jewish delicatessens on a regular basis. Though the occasional tourist swings by, Jewish delicatessens in L.A. are thriving in the present, not trading on fabled pasts.

There has been no grand decline in the Los Angeles deli scene. Most are packed, sometimes around the clock, and not just with older Brooklynites like Larry King (who eats breakfast at Nate’n Al daily). The delis out there are bigger, are more comfortable, and ultimately serve better food than any other city in America, including the best pastrami sandwich on Earth. Los Angeles is both the exception to the rule of deli’s inevitable decline and the example for the rest of the nation of how deli can ultimately stay relevant. If we are to save the deli elsewhere, we can learn a lot from L.A.

OK, I think that’s going a bit far. I mean, Canter’s leaves a lot to be desired. But we’ve got Langer’s and ... mmmmm ... 4 million pounds of pastrami.

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