June 30, 2010 | 2:44 pm

Farrakhan blames the Jews—again

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Follow me on

I’ve mentioned before that when I learned Rodney King was my neighbor in Rialto and wanted to write a story about him, my editor advised me to just wait until King got into trouble again. It was only a matter of time.

The same could be said about any one wanting to write about that relic Louis Farrakhan, whose only relevance in at least a decade was tainting the 2008 president election. Farrakhan can be counted on for the occassional anti-Semitic outburst. Like this one:

Minister Louis Farrakhan in a letter addressed to U.S. Jewish organizations accused Jews of hurting blacks and called for dialogue to “repair” the damage.

The Nation of Islam leader sent the letter, as well as a two-volume copy of “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews” by the Nation of Islam Historical Research Team, which he said proves “an undeniable record of Jewish Anti-Black behavior,” the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

“We could charge you with being the most deceitful so-called friend, while your history with us shows you have been our worst enemy,” he reportedly wrote in the letter, dated June 24. In the past, Farrakhan has called Judaism a “gutter religion.”

The letter was sent to several Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the American Jewish Committee, and the Orthodox and Reform movements, according to the AP.

Farrakhan called for dialogue with Jewish groups and their supporters.

I love that last line. The irony is subtle, but I hope the reporter intended it. Farrakhan is essentially reminding the Jewish community that he thinks they are a bunch of snakes—but can’t we all just get along.

As a reminder, the Rev. Eric Lee created quite the dust-up for a saying a lot less.

June 29, 2010 | 6:43 pm

At long last, Larry King ends his show

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Photo: CNN

Obviously, I’m no anti-Semite. And I enjoyed spotting him last February sitting in the booth next to me at Nate & Al’s. But good riddance to Larry King. He announced today he’s ending his show this fall after 25 years.

From the legend himself:

I talked to the guys here at CNN and I told them I would like to end Larry King Live, the nightly show, this fall and CNN has graciously accepted, giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids’ little league games.

That would be wife No. 7, against whom King filed for divorce in April, though they have stayed the proceedings. King’s wife was hospitalized this month after a drug overdose; it’s possible that played a role in his decision.

The move marks the end of an era, albeit one that died a long time ago. The only downside is it took so long.

Nothing against King. It’s just that I couldn’t bear to watch his show since I helped edit a 50-years-in-the-biz piece on King when I interned at KNBC during college. His interview style, which makes Jerry Seinfeld not funny and stops LeBron from saying something newsworthy, isn’t for me.

3 Comments — Leave your comment

June 29, 2010 | 12:27 pm

Beliefnet gets a buyer

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

You may have noticed the recent addition of a Beliefnet widget on the right side of this page. A similar one promoting The God Blog was added to Beliefnet’s Judaism home page last week. A few days later, News Corp. announced that it had sold Beliefnet, which is like the Huffington Post for religious content, to BN Media.

The terms were unspecified and the groups behind BN Media don’t seem to be getting any attention. News Corp. had been looking for a buyer, so the sale wasn’t much of a surprise. But what the future holds may be.

For now, here’s what we know, via the AP:

The buyer, BN Media, is an investment firm behind two organizations — Affinity4 and Cross Bridge — focused on nonprofits and charities.

The companies said the acquisition will build on existing relationships. Affinity4 sells telephone, Internet and other services and donates part of the proceeds to charities and ministries. Cross Bridge provides spirituality-based video and other kinds of programming.

The deal will help Beliefnet “continue its mission to be the leading provider of inspiration and faith-based online content,” Beth-Ann Eason, Beliefnet’s general manager, said in a statement.

Beliefnet lost its visionary founding editor in chief, Steven Waldman, last fall when he went to work for President Obama. Fortunately, they still have Michael Kress.

The big question, obviously, is how this sale will affect Beliefnet’s personality. The biggest concern should be that it is able to remain ecumenical in its approach.

0 Comments — Leave your comment

June 29, 2010 | 8:10 am

Manute Bol’s redemption

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

When my Houses of Worship Column got bumped from last Friday to this Friday, I knew it was because someone had pitched a good Manute Bol tribute. Then I read Jon Shields’ column on the gentle giant and realized that “good” wasn’t a good enough descriptor:

As any churchgoer who tuned in to watch the recent NBA finals contest between the Lakers and Celtics already knows, the term redemption is probably now heard more often in NBA sports broadcasts than in homilies. A Google search under “redemption” and “NBA” generates approximately 2 million hits—more hits than “redemption” and “Christianity.” The term can also be found in more than 2,600 stories on ESPN.com.

(skip)

Manute Bol, who died last week at the age of 47, is one player who never achieved redemption in the eyes of sports journalists. His life embodied an older, Christian conception of redemption that has been badly obscured by its current usage.

Bol, a Christian Sudanese immigrant, believed his life was a gift from God to be used in the service of others. As he put it to Sports Illustrated in 2004: “God guided me to America and gave me a good job. But he also gave me a heart so I would look back.”

Really, a wonderful column. You can read the rest here. And I’d say look here Friday for my column, but chances are I’ll make it easier on everyone and just blog about the column on Christian missions.

0 Comments — Leave your comment

June 28, 2010 | 8:51 pm

Why are terrorists so dumb?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Three summers ago, I mentioned a Slate article about the stupidity of terrorists titled “Dumb Bomb.” It looks like the Atlantic liked the concept. This month’s issue included this story: “The Case for Calling Them Nitwits.”

An excerpt:

Nowhere is the gap between sinister stereotype and ridiculous reality more apparent than in Afghanistan, where it’s fair to say that the Taliban employ the world’s worst suicide bombers: one in two manages to kill only himself. And this success rate hasn’t improved at all in the five years they’ve been using suicide bombers, despite the experience of hundreds of attacks—or attempted attacks. In Afghanistan, as in many cultures, a manly embrace is a time-honored tradition for warriors before they go off to face death. Thus, many suicide bombers never even make it out of their training camp or safe house, as the pressure from these group hugs triggers the explosives in suicide vests. According to several sources at the United Nations, as many as six would-be suicide bombers died last July after one such embrace in Paktika.

Many Taliban operatives are just as clumsy when suicide is not part of the plan. In November 2009, several Talibs transporting an improvised explosive device were killed when it went off unexpectedly. The blast also took out the insurgents’ shadow governor in the province of Balkh.

When terrorists do execute an attack, or come close, they often have security failures to thank, rather than their own expertise.

Why are these terrorists so dumb? It’s the economy, stupid. Obviously, if two candidates to be suicide bombers have the same degree of zeal and fanaticism, it makes sense that the one who has less to look forward to and who may be a bit slower is more susceptible to being sucked into a terrorist plot.

29 Comments — Leave your comment

June 28, 2010 | 3:06 pm

Guns, God and a big day for the Supreme Court

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I don’t have time to go into much depth right now, but there is a lot of big Supreme Court news happening today. Part of it has to do with the fact that the most-anticipated decisions are typically published at the end of the court’s term, which is now. But there is also the changing of the guard with Justice John Paul Stevens retiring.

The latter brings us to the start to Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings. She’s promised to be an impartial judge.

As for the big rulings issued today: one involved guns; the other involved God. (In a third, the court declined to hear a Vatican appeal over a clergy sex lawsuit.) In the God case:

An ideologically split Supreme Court ruled Monday that a law school can legally deny recognition to a Christian student group that won’t let gays join, with one justice saying that the First Amendment does not require a public university to validate or support the group’s “discriminatory practices.”

The court turned away an appeal from the Christian Legal Society, which sued to get funding and recognition from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law. The CLS requires that voting members sign a statement of faith and regards “unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle” as being inconsistent with that faith.

But Hastings, which is in San Francisco, said no recognized campus groups may exclude people due to religious belief or sexual orientation.

The court on a 5-4 judgment upheld the lower court rulings saying the Christian group’s First Amendment rights of association, free speech and free exercise were not violated by the college’s nondiscrimination policy.

I’ve previously mentioned Martinez here: I’d be surprised if the high court, with its current make up, upheld Hastings’ anti-discrimination policy. Looks like I airballed that.

Adam Goldstein, of the Student Press Law Center, offers an interesting take on what’s wrong with the Court’s decision today:

While I am deeply sympathetic to the sensibilities of the parties involved in the case, and realize that any outcome would be hurtful to one group or another, I’m not sympathetic to the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in the case. In fact, the rationale of this opinion could end up doing more violence to student expression rights than any decision in the last 22 years.

The reason is that the case hinges on the interpretation of forum status. In short, a forum is created when the government sets aside some property for some people (either the public at large or a subset thereof) to speak. For better or for worse, this is the standard that has been applied to funding for student groups on public campuses, even where the funding originates in student fees.

(skip)

The Court, upholding the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, found that yes, a college can require groups to admit members despite the groups’ rights to free speech and free association. In the course of doing so, it made some peculiar statements along the way—statements that could well come back to haunt those who would assert a constitutional right to access campus resources held open for students in general.

0 Comments — Leave your comment

June 27, 2010 | 11:02 pm

The God Blog is again SoCal’s best blog

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

At least according to the Los Angeles Press Club.

Just like two years ago, I really didn’t expect The God Blog to be named by the LA Press Club as Southern California’s best individual blog. At least this time I wasn’t wandering the Vegas Strip when the award was announced. And thankfully this time I didn’t embarrass myself by sending a pre-congratulatory email to the blogger whom I expected would win.

The two consecutive days of blogging that I was recognized for were from April 2009, and can be found on this page. The topics included evangelical atheists, anti-Shylock laws, Carrie Prejean, academic comparisons of Israelis to Nazis and, my favorite topic, Jews in basketball. Here’s a sampling from that last post:

Every time I come home from playing basketball, I lament my physical stature. Short, skinny shooters—that’s what we consider ourselves: shooters—can only get so far; even J.J. Redick is 6’4.”

“This is ridiculous. Jews can’t play basketball.” Oh, the wisdom of Eric Cartman. And that look on Kyle’s face? I know it. But what if there was an era when Jews dominated basketball, when the chosen game strategy was known as Jewball, when a guy who was only 5’4,” barely taller than Mugsy Bogues (pictured with Manute Bol) and half a foot shorter than me, could be such an overwhelming force that he would be considered one of the greatest players in the game?

There was, and I wrote about it at length in this week’s Jewish Journal.

That last line was an allusion to a massive profile I wrote about Jordan Farmar and the surprisingly history of Jewish hoopers; that profile earned top sportswriting honors.

But the best part of the evening was the tip of the hat that the award presenters, actress Wendie Malick and Variety deputy editor Ted Johnson (also a finalist for best blogger), gave to the Godbeat. I’m not sure how to get my hands on the audio from the evening, but Malick said something to the effect of:

Nothing has a bigger impact on our lives, but covering religion often doesn’t get a lot of respect. Well, tonight it is getting some much-deserved respect. Honors for best blog go to ...

Amen.

2 Comments — Leave your comment

June 27, 2010 | 7:39 pm

A conversation with Peter Beinart

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Peter Beinart has been getting a lot of attention since writing an essay for the New York Review of Books titled “The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment.” It is, without a doubt, one of the most talked about articles on Israel written in recent years, and it has divided American Jews along ideological, philosophical and theological lines.

Not wanting to pass up on an opportunity to engage the community in a good debate, Rob Eshman of The Jewish Journal invited Beinart to town to speak last Monday at Temple Beth Am. The above video is the first of nine. You can watch the rest at Bloggish.

1 Comments — Leave your comment

June 27, 2010 | 4:16 pm

Shabbat Shalom, soccer fans

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It was tough to watch the USA soccer team fall to Ghana yesterday, reminiscent of four years ago when Ghana knocks us out in group play. Oh well. Now we can get back to the summer game, and Americans can become soccer fans again in 2014.

It’s too bad though, I was enjoying getting up early to cheer the Americans on before going to work. Especially the midfielder and the defender with those seemingly, and actually, Jewish surnames. Turns out the Jew crew numbered three on the US team. Benny Feilhaber and Jonathan Bornstein, who got significant playing time, both hailed from not Southern California and played for UCLA (Feilhaber while I was there).

Here’s a story from The Jewish Journal about the US’ Jewish soccer stars:

Friends since high school, Bornstein and Feilhaber have been on a shared journey to the World Cup, which includes stints with the UCLA Bruins and the U.S. Men’s National Team as well as a silver medal win during the 2005 Maccabiah Games.

With the clock counting down to the first U.S. kickoff in South Africa, Feilhaber says the excitement is building.

“The World Cup is so close now that I start to get anxious when I think about it,” he said. “It’s as though there’s not enough I can do to fully prepare for this event. It’s the biggest event in sports in the world.”

(skip)

Feilhaber said that he and Bornstein “definitely had a special connection” because of their religion. Plus, he said, “it was easy being friends with him because he scored all the goals so I passed him all the balls.”

For his part, Bornstein, who still rooms with Feilhaber while on the road with the U.S. Men’s National Team,  said,  “When a Jewish holiday comes up, we recognize it and talk about it, but we don’t celebrate too many holidays together.” That is because Feilhaber spends the High Holy Days with his family. “My father is Jewish, and I have a connection with Judaism through my father and my grandparents. I know our history as a people and embrace being Jewish myself,” Feilhaber said. “Of course, my proudest moment as a Jew was having my bar mitzvah in front of all my family and friends.”

0 Comments — Leave your comment

June 25, 2010 | 10:57 am

The Atlantic: evangelicals are idiots

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Commenting on The New Yorker’s massive profile of Mike Huckabee—I intend to discuss that later—Nicole Allan lets us know what she really thinks of evangelicals:

People are sometimes caught off guard by Huckabee’s intellectual competence because of his rural Arkansas habits (he and his wife lived in a trailer while the governor’s mansion was being renovated) and his outspoken evangelical views.

Really, I couldn’t help but laugh. The logic here is just so obvious. Mollie did better:

Lines like that may not tell you a lot about former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. But they tell you something about how well journalist Nicole Allan knows evangelicals. Don’t worry, I won’t call her incompetent or ignorant. She just needs to meet an evangelical or two to find out that they are not actually knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, snake-handlers. Yes, I am being sarcastic.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion editor Frank Lockwood linked to the piece on his blog with a post headlined “Yes, ma’am, we can read, write AND barbecue …”

4 Comments — Leave your comment

June 24, 2010 | 1:08 pm

Abramoff: from pork-barrel lobbying to pounding kosher pizzas

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Jack Abramoff, the disgraced former lobbyist goon, is back in the news.

Two years ago he talked about doing t’shuvah during his anticipated time behind prison bars. Before that he gave The Jewish Journal one of my all-time favorite quotes:

“I had lost a sense of proportion and judgment. God sent me 1,000 hints that He didn’t want me to keep doing what I was doing. But I didn’t listen, so He set off a nuclear bomb.”

Now he is rolling dough and making kosher pizza pies:

As part of his “community service,” Abramoff will spend six months working at Tov Pizza. I’ve eaten at Tov Pizza, before and I can say that its greasy environs surely qualify as community service.

There’s talk that he should be working for the other local but higher-regarded Mama Leah Gourmet Kosher Pizza instead. Perhaps he is and just isn’t telling Tov Pizza. I’m guessing either way, this probably doesn’t bode well for Native Americans.

While it’s certainly a bizarre choice for Abramoff to be doing his community service in such a public forum (couldn’t he have worked in a quiet office somewhere?), he actually brings a lot to the table at Tov Pizza—and I don’t just mean beignets. After all, Abramoff used to own a kosher eatery in Washington, D.C. He may not have been flipping dough, but at least he knows the ins-and-outs of the kosher restaurant business. Perhaps, he’s offering some business tips to Tov Pizza owner Ron Rosenbluth.

“We’re all Jews, we’re all on the same team,” Mr. Rosenbluth told the Baltimore Jewish Times. “I’m more than happy to help a fellow Jew in any way I can.” The free and unprecedented publicity Abramoff brings to his shop can’t hurt either.

Cohen picked up on the good PR that this actually is for Abramoff. It shows him as, if not humble, a humbled man. And it’s getting attention, with The New York Times following up on Cohen’s post today.

I wonder if the great food critic, Jonathan Gold, who was a target of Abramoff’s adolescent bullying, will be eating at Tov’s anytime soon. Then again, revenge is a dish best served cold.

0 Comments — Leave your comment

June 23, 2010 | 4:22 pm

A hat would do, but for Jews who want to look uncool, there is the ‘yarmulkap’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s supposed to be a cross between a yarmulke and a visor, but the result is one of the dumber inventions I’ve ever seen. That it’s getting play in the New York Daily News is all the more baffling:

A Manhattan man has invented what he calls the “yamulkap,” a yarmulke with a brim like a baseball cap so religious men can get some shade.

Seth Mosler, 59, who is Jewish but not strictly observant, was walking through Central Park two summers ago when inspiration struck near the Great Lawn’s ballfields.

He saw Orthodox kids throwing frisbees and tossing softballs, all wearing yarmulkes that offered no shade from the sun.

But see there was already an invention that would have been even more effective but without the lame look—take a glimpse at that photo; there is no denying it. It’s called a baseball cap. That’s right: any head covering suffices for the pious.

So why the goofy invention?

0 Comments — Leave your comment