January 17, 2010 | 6:04 pm

Religious unity among the horror in Haiti

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Fortunately, Pat Robertson and his views on the suffering of Haiti are in a league of there own. By comparison, many religious communities have responded with compassion. And what has been the response from Haiti’s own religious communities?

The Washington Post reports:

“It doesn’t mean anything if Satan hates me, because God loves me,” sing the women at Jeremy Square, their faces almost invisible in the darkness of this powerless, shattered downtown. “God has already paid my debt.”

Haiti is known as a society of devout Christians—Catholics, Protestants, Methodists, evangelicals—and followers of voodoo. Faith has long played a powerful role in this impoverished nation, giving hope to the poor and fulfilling social functions that the government is incapable of handling.

But in the days since the earth pitched and rolled here, pulverizing shanties and mansions alike, the religious differences that sometimes separated Haitians have come crashing down.

Port-au-Prince has become a kind of multidenominational, open-air church. Tens of thousands live in the street together, scraping for food and water, sharing their misery and blending their spirituality.

The women singing together in Jeremy Square might never have worshiped side by side before the disaster, but now their voices harmonize and soar well past 2 in the morning. Lionelle Masse, a stringy woman with a deep, sad voice, lost a child in the quake. She sings next to Rosena Roche, a fiery-eyed Catholic whose husband is buried under tons of rubble.

“I still have faith in God,” Roche says. “I want to give glory to God.”

Amen.

If you haven’t done it yet, please donate to the relief effort. The easiest way is by texting “Haiti” to 90999. It’s legit. The Red Cross has already raised $5.2 million this way.

January 17, 2010 | 8:16 am

Blood, guts and the last copy of the Bible

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Anyone seen “The Book of Eli” yet?

I’m still trying to figure out what the latest Denzel Washington pic is all about. It’s clear that Denzel is the new Road Warrior and that Eli’s treasure, the last copy of the Bible, is sought by Gary Oldman, who doesn’t want to read it but use it as a weapon. But is is worth seeing?

The LA Times, whose review I discussed at GetReligion, indicates yes:

Eli’s first full-on slaughter of bloodthirsty roadside thugs is shown in a cleverly sustained single take, in silhouette. Very satisfying. Gory, but satisfying.

For some, this genre picture will come with the bonus of its conspicuous and heavy-duty religiosity.

It is about the Word and who controls it. But “The Book of Eli” works, even if the preservation of Christianity isn’t high on your personal post-apocalypse bucket list. Establishing its storytelling rules clearly and well, the film simply is better, and better-acted, than the average end-of-the-world fairy tale.

Read the rest of that review here.

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January 15, 2010 | 5:36 pm

Koufax and Torre to appear at Nokia together

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This might be a ticket worth buying. The great and oft-unseen Sandy Koufax will take the stage at the Nokia Theatre next month with Dodger skipper Joe Torre. Their chat will be moderated by LAT columnist, and curmudgeon-in-residence, T.J. Simers, who writes:

Koufax has taken such a low profile that even though he gave his approval to the 2002 book, “Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy,” he would not consent to being interviewed by the author, Jane Leavy.

In his 1966 autobiography, Koufax wrote, “When I told [my mom] I was writing this book, she asked if I’d give her one of the first copies so she could find out something about me. ‘You never told me anything,’ ” she said.

Later he would add, “My folks didn’t know that I was playing baseball at [the University of] Cincinnati, possibly because I didn’t tell them.”

I read Leavy’s book, and it’s a good one. Of course, Koufax was, as far as lefties go, The Great one.

In other Jewish news, the baseball-card company Jewish Major Leaguers has named Kevin Youkilis the Jewish player of this decade. A worthy choice.

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January 13, 2010 | 9:08 pm

Pat Robertson blames Haiti for ‘pact to the devil’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

When I worked at The Sun, it just so happened that Rodney King—that Rodney King—lived in the city I covered (and also lived in for three months). As a cub reporter, I wanted to find some news peg upon which I could write about King. My city editor offered sage advice: wait a few months and he’ll get in trouble..

The same principle could be used in regards to coverage of Pat Robertson. It’s been a long time since Robertson has had any influence. But he still managing to say some crazy things every now and then. Like today when Robertson, on “The 700 Club,” blamed Haitians for the earthquake that devastated their country last night:

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about,” Robertson said Tuesday.

“They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.’ True story. And so the devil said, ‘Ok it’s a deal.’ And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another,” Robertson said.

Read the rest here. And after the jump, hear Robertson’s words yourself and watch a “South Park” clip that demonstrates a common bond between Robertson and, of all characters, Cartman.

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January 13, 2010 | 2:30 pm

Canters or Langer’s? No contest

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Robert Faturechi, a young reporter at the Los Angeles Times who I gave some play on GetReligion last fall, has a great story in today’s paper. It’s about the double-dipping waiters at two of L.A.‘s famous Jewish delis:

Salvador Lopez, a waiter at Langer’s, has the routine down pat. After a hectic lunch shift serving sandwiches on rye at the pastrami mecca next to MacArthur Park, he negotiates a series of surface streets—up Normandie, across Beverly—to make his way into the Fairfax district.

He beelines into the locker room of another renowned Jewish deli, shedding the signature Langer’s bow tie for a tight-fitting black T-shirt that reads: I ♥ Canter’s.

Lopez is not a delicatessen double agent, funneling trade secrets on Russian dressing and blintzes. The 29-year-old is one of several waiters who openly works at two of the delis that compete for the title of Los Angeles’ best.

The delis’ unique shared employee pool speaks to the changing demographics of their neighborhoods. Langer’s, surrounded by drug dealers and vendors selling fake IDs, is open for lunch only. Canter’s, in a once-sleepy neighborhood now home to cafes and clubs, draws a younger crowd well into the wee hours.

Sharing workers makes sense, the deli owners say, because top talent is rare. A good waiter who understands the makings of a mean Reuben is hard to find.

“It has nothing to do at all with Canter’s and I getting along,” said Norm Langer, who took over running the deli from his late father. “It requires manual dexterity. It requires caring. It requires knowledge. Every sandwich is its own work of art.”

A great story, but it involves one faulty premise: That there is any debate about which L.A.‘s deli is supreme. Langer’s all the way.

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January 13, 2010 | 12:42 am

‘The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The constitutional challenge to California’s Prop. 8 continued today in a federal court in San Francisco. One of the key players this go around, as noted back in May, is none other than conservative litigation juggernaut Theodore Olson, who represented George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore.

Why does Olson support gay marriage? Here’s what he had to say in a bit of commentary he wrote for Newsweek:

Many of my fellow conservatives have an almost knee-jerk hostility toward gay marriage. This does not make sense, because same-sex unions promote the values conservatives prize. Marriage is one of the basic building blocks of our neighborhoods and our nation. At its best, it is a stable bond between two individuals who work to create a loving household and a social and economic partnership. We encourage couples to marry because the commitments they make to one another provide benefits not only to themselves but also to their families and communities. Marriage requires thinking beyond one’s own needs. It transforms two individuals into a union based on shared aspirations, and in doing so establishes a formal investment in the well-being of society. The fact that individuals who happen to be gay want to share in this vital social institution is evidence that conservative ideals enjoy widespread acceptance. Conservatives should celebrate this, rather than lament it.

Much more here. As a point of reference, this reasoning differs from why I voted no on Proposition 8.

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January 11, 2010 | 6:42 pm

Fox News hires Palin

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It seemed a foregone conclusion that when Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska that she would get her own talk show. Here we go:

Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska has signed on as a contributor to the Fox News Channel.

The network confirmed that Ms. Palin would appear on the network’s programming on a regular basis as part of a multiyear deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ms. Palin will not have her own regular program, one person with knowledge of the deal said, though she will host a series that will run on the network from time to time. This person would not elaborate, but the network does have a precedent for such a series. Oliver L. North is the host of an occasionally running documentary series on the military called “War Stories.”

Read the rest here.

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January 11, 2010 | 5:22 pm

NYT profiles FailedMessiah

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

L.A. has Luke Ford, but the rest of Orthodox Jewish Americans have Shmarya Rosenberg of FailedMessiah.com. Here’s a snippet of what The New York Times had to say in a Saturday profile:

Blogging on the site FailedMessiah.com, Mr. Rosenberg, 51, has transmuted a combination of muckraking reporting and personal grudge into a must-read digest of the actual and alleged misdeeds of the ultra-Orthodox world. He has broken news about sexual misconduct, smear campaigns and dubious business practices conducted by or on behalf of stringently religious Jews.

Operating thousands of miles from the centers of ultra-Orthodox Judaism in Brooklyn and Jerusalem, waking at 3:30 a.m. and working a dozen hours at a stretch in an apartment cluttered with books, Mr. Rosenberg has had his scoops cited by The Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review, PR Week and Gawker. The national Jewish newspaper The Forward listed him among the 50 most influential American Jews, and the hip, cheeky magazine Heeb put him in its top 100.

And somewhat regularly, Mr. Rosenberg’s in-box brims with missives like this recent one: “what happened to you when you were young that you are so anti ‘haredi’ were you abused or molested, you are as false and krum as they come, you are not helping anybody with your negative bent. You wanna bring out sad occurrences in the community, im not sure that its your business to do that, there is such a thing called tznius. And to belittle gedolim whole sale just proves that you are insane.”

If you need a Hebrew and Yiddish glossary to fully fathom the diss — “krum” means “crooked,” “haredi” means “fervently Orthodox,” “tznius” is “modesty” and the “gedolim” are the great rabbis — then you have some sense of the almost claustrophobically inward community that Mr. Rosenberg chronicles.

I’ve got more on Jewish bloggers at GetReligion.

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January 11, 2010 | 10:24 am

The shtibl in Queens

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The New York Times had a good story Saturday about the resurrection of the Sunnyside Jewish Center. As is often the case, the big city daily had cherry-picked from a community newspaper, in this case the Queens Chronicle. Here’s what the little guy had to say:

Every week, Sunnyside Jewish Center, the community’s sole conservative synagogue, struggles to reach the 10-man threshold. The synagogue follows the orthodox tradition that women, including the four present today, do not count towards minyan. Today, as on most Saturdays, the orthodox men graciously dropped by, ready to make 10.

This is a far cry from the Jewish center’s heyday, when it boasted 1,800 members and an impressive facility. Four years ago, the center had to sell its building to pay bills, including the wages of the rabbi, who has since died. The congregation, dwindling ever closer to single digits, now meets in the basement of a two-story row house, located at 40-20 47th Ave., to observe the Sabbath.

But Banberger, 65, is determined to revive it. He jokes in his Bronx brogue that he became the synagogue’s president because he was its youngest member. (He isn’t, but he’s close.) Banberger plans to use the remaining money from the sale of the old building to transform the townhouse into an attractive synagogue, which he thinks will attract new congregants.

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Banberger, however, is determined to build in spite of those trends. The synagogue redesign by Silberstang Lasky Architects calls for a 90-seat sanctuary on the first floor of the row house, arranged in a eastward ring for prayers facing Jerusalem. Offices and classrooms will be upstairs. Replacing the garage behind the row house will be an extension that serves as an entrance from the street and bears a brick façade with a large, backlit menorah in relief. Between the two brick buildings, will be a glass-paneled annex. All told, the renovation is estimated to cost $1.2 million, Banberger said.

The synagogue is scheduled to open next September, in time for the high holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Banberger said he believes the synagogue will attract younger Jews who have recently moved to Sunnyside and Long Island City and want to be more observant.

“I pray for the day we can get a younger, more vital congregation,” he said. “People with some energy, people with some vision, people who will be able to go forward.”

A lot of people—at congregations big and small—are praying for that. Read the rest here.

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January 11, 2010 | 2:33 am

‘A Modern Priest’ passes away

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’m a bit embarassed that despite spending four years as a religion reporter, during which I wrote often about the Catholic Church, I had never heard the name James Kavanaugh before Saturday. That’s when I read his obit in the LA Times and learned of his 1967 national bestseller, “A Modern Priest Looks at His Outdated Church.” From the LAT:

The book, in which he called for church reforms on issues such as birth control, divorce, premarital sex and celibacy for priests, quickly became a national bestseller.

A New York Times reviewer called it “a personal cry of anguish that goes to the heart of the troubles plaguing the Catholic Church.”

“I was naive enough to think that ‘Modern Priest’ would turn things around in the church and that I could still stay in the priesthood,” Kavanaugh told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 1984. “I had no idea the book would have the impact it did.”

Look magazine purchased the serial rights, and Kavanaugh made the rounds of talk shows, including Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.” He also was in great demand to speak on college campuses around the country.

The book followed up an article Kavanaugh had written for the Saturday Evening Post’s “Speaking Out” page. Written under the pseudonym Father Stephen Nash, it was titled “I am a Priest and I Want to Marry.”

The article reportedly generated “Speaking Out’s” heaviest reader response, and the magazine forwarded the missives to Kavanaugh.

“He got so many thousands of letters, it filled up half my garage,” recalled his brother, Dr. Philip Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh was 81. Read the rest of his obit here.

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January 10, 2010 | 11:15 pm

Forced marriage too common among foreign-born Brits

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The headline from this story from the Times of London is stomach-turning: “Special protection order saves nine-year-olds from forced marriage.”

The nine-year-olds were among 86 females granted the civil safeguards in the 12 months since the forced marriage protection orders were introduced. Nearly half of the applicants, 39, were children with some as young as nine, the Ministry of Justice confirmed.

Although the overall number of 86 victims seems low, it is twice the number the Government had expected to seek help in the first year of the orders coming into effect.

Hundreds of girls and young women in the UK are forced into marriage each year, according to the report published by the Ministry of Justice into the first year of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act of 2007.

The report says the women and girls come under physical, psychological, sexual, financial and emotional pressure.

“A woman who is forced into marriage is likely to be raped and may be raped repeatedly until she becomes pregnant,” the report says.

What’s the religion angle? If you suspected there was one, you were right. It’s not entirely clear from the way this story is written, but the final paragraph suggests that this story is really about forced marriage among Britain’s foreign-born Muslims. Additionally, “the tribunal estimates that as many as seven in ten of all marriages involving UK citizens with a foreign element involve coercion.”

Read the rest here.

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January 10, 2010 | 9:44 pm

Kurt Warner: Giving thanks and taking names

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s hard to believe Kurt Warner is having the game he is today. This is a guy who likely will retire after the Cardinals season ends? He’s thrown five touchdowns and completed 24 of 28 passes. Guys half his age could only dream of doing that.

Whatever the outcome of this game—tied at 45 with 1:43 left—we can count on Warner giving thanks to Jesus at the press conference that follows. Yes, before there was Tim Tebow, Kurt Warner was giving thanks to God on the gridiron.

Here’s a view from the Arizona Republic during last year’s Super Bowl run:

He committed himself to the Bible’s message. That’s Warner’s way, why he has succeeded in football. He studies, commits, believes.

Before they married, he told Brenda they should follow the Bible faithfully, which meant, among other things, no premarital sex.

“I’m like, ‘Dude, we’ve got so many other things to work on. Why that one?’ ” Brenda, now 41, said, laughing.

They married in 1997. In 1999, he took over as the Rams’ quarterback when starter Trent Green was injured. What followed was two Super Bowls, two MVP titles and a legion of Christian followers.

He was both revered and scorned for his outspokenness about faith. Since Warner’s arrival in Arizona in 2005, and the revival of his career, people here treat his religion with more curiosity than debate. Many were amused by Warner giving an invocation one year at Celebrity Fight Night, a popular black-tie fundraiser for Muhammad Ali’s Parkinson Research Center. Ali is of the Muslim faith.

“I never feel like, ‘Should I say this, or do I not,’ but I do try now to strategically figure out (during interviews) how I can get somebody to include it because it’s so important to who I am,” Warner said.

Read the rest here. I particularly like this line, which would make everyone at GetReligion happy:

There is dishonesty in telling his story if you ignore what drives him, especially if you accept its role in one of the NFL’s great success stories.

PS: In the above video, skip the goofy intro and go straight to Kurt Warner.

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