November 22, 2010 | 9:21 am

Sen. Cardin blames anti-Israel sentiment for rise of anti-Semitism

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Anti-Semitism has been on the rise in Europe for years. But this time around it’s not being fueled by governments. So says U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.

That’s certainly true in countries like Germany, but I can’t vouch for Eastern Europe.

Cardin, who is head of the Helsinki Commission, told my former colleague Bridget Johnson, now at The Hill, that it’s really animosity toward Israel that is fueling anti-Semitism:

“The bad news is there’s an escalation of anti-Semitism. The good news is it’s recognized by the governments and the governments are doing something to try to prevent it.”

Cardin said that the members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe have been implementing a strategy over the past several years to confront the problem, including educational programs, Holocaust remembrance, police training and public officials speaking out when anti-Semitism occurs.

“So we have a game plan to fight anti-Semitism,” he said. “In Europe, there is a rise in anti-Semitism but it’s not government-instituted. Some countries are better than others in dealing with it.”

That the two are connected comes as no surprise. As Jews throughout the Diaspora know, it’s inescapable—almost regardless of whether we’re talking about an anti-Zionist Jew or a Jew who defends every single thing the Israeli government does.

November 21, 2010 | 8:45 pm

The new pocket Bible? Smart phones

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s cliche—actually, it was a marketing slogan—but there really are apps for just about everything on the iPhone. For mapping Israeli settlements. For attacking BibleThumpers. For communicating with God. Even for evangelizing.

Personally, my most-used apps aren’t religiously themed. They are iFitness, Facebook, Words With Friends, ESPN Scorecenter and Home Run Battle. (If you are up to the challenge, my user name is “bradberg” on Words and “musclys” on Home Run Battle.) But I do have a Bible app. And I’m far from the only one.

From the CNN religion blog:

Can your cell bring you closer to God?

Oklahoma based LifeChurch.tv thinks so. Tuesday the church announced more than ten million smartphone users worldwide have downloaded its free Bible application. LifeChurch hopes by having a copy handy, people will be more likely to read scripture.

The app, which is based on the church-funded website, YouVersion.com, launched in July of 2008. Since then, users have spent 3.5 billion minutes trolling through Bible passages. Yes- that was billion.

During a webcast on YouVersion.com, pastor Bobby Gruenewald announced what he called a “revolution” taking place.

I don’t know about a revolution. After all, the revolution isn’t going to be televised, and I don’t think it will be on your iPhone either—unless we’re talking about the Iranian revolution. But SmartPhones certainly are becoming more and more a part of the church-going experience.

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November 21, 2010 | 4:37 pm

How college shapes students spiritual lives

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Researchers at UCLA spent several years studying how college shapes students’ spiritual quest. Their findings were significant, though not surprising, and I discussed them in a cover story for UCLA Magazine a few years back. Here’s a snippet:

“It is the nature of the beast of people that age. It’s just part of being a college student,” says Alexander Astin, co-leader of the “Spirituality in Higher Education” study and an emeritus professor of higher education. “College students are on a developmental adventure.”

Now Astin and his co-researchers have published a book discussing their findings, “Cultivating the Spirit: How College Can Enhance Students’ Inner Lives.” I doubt it’s “God on the Quad,” but it got a little mention in the Los Angeles Times yesterday:

The study found that many students struggled with their religious beliefs and became less certain of them during their college years.

It also found that many young people eschewed the rituals of organized religion but embraced what the researchers defined as the cornerstones of spirituality: asking the big, existential questions; working to improve one’s community; and showing empathy toward other people.

“These spiritual qualities are critical and vital to many things a student does in college and after,” Astin said.

Thoughts?

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November 21, 2010 | 1:26 pm

Jewish leaders pained by the pope’s comments on Pius XII

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

That in his new book Pope Benedict XVI says of condoms “there could be single cases that can be justified” is not the only passage getting attention. Turns out Jewish leaders aren’t very happy with Benedict’s comments on Pope Pius XII, who has been referred to as “Hitler’s Pope” for turning a blind eye away from the Holocaust.

Here’s the word from FaithWorld:

In the book-length interview with a German journalist, the pope says of Pius: “The decisive thing is what he did and what he tried to do, and on that score we really must acknowledge, I believe, that he was one of the great righteous men and that he saved more Jews than anyone else.”

“Pope Benedict’s comments fill us with pain and sadness and cast a menacing shadow on Vatican-Jewish relations,” said Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.

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November 20, 2010 | 4:06 pm

Pope: Condoms may rarely be OK

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

A lot of uproar and speculation over this statement from Pope Benedict XVI: Condoms might be OK.

And not just when a man’s wife forgets to take the pill (which, of course, is also frowned upon).

Via CNN’s religion blog:

“There could be single cases that can be justified, for instance when a prostitute uses a condom, and this can be a first step towards a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, to develop again the awareness of the fact that not all is allowed and that one cannot do everything one wants,” Benedict said.

Not really that controversial, though this would be an about face for the Vatican—if it was the new Vatican policy. Which it isn’t.

Thankfully, the CNN religion blog points that out:

CNN Senior Vatican Analyst John Allen cautioned that Benedict’s comments do not rise to the level of official Vatican policy, but show the pontiff has flexibility in the church’s opposition to birth control.

Allen said that a portion of the book refers to condom use among male prostitutes.

“I think the point he was trying to make, when somebody is using a condom, not so much to prevent new life, which has always been the Catholic Church’s big concern, but to prevent the transmission of disease than it would be OK,” Allen told CNN.

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November 18, 2010 | 7:07 pm

Cantor to be House’s No. 2 and top Jew

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Jews sure have come a long way since David Yulee Levy became the Senate’s first MOT in 1845. Sen. Joe Lieberman was a butterfly ballot away from becoming the nation’s first Jewish veep. Now U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., has been selected by his party to be the 2nd-ranking member of the House of Representatives.

From JTA:

Cantor won the election uncontested on Wednesday evening, paving the way for him to become one of the highest-ranking Jews in U.S. government history. When the 112th Congress convenes in January, Cantor will be the second-ranked member of the House after the likely speaker, Rep. John Boehner (R-Va.). That would make Cantor the highest-ranking Jew in congressional history.

It is difficult to assess the relative power of senior positions across the three branches of U.S. government—the legislature, the executive branch and the judiciary. There have been numerous Jewish associate justices of the Supreme Court, and a number of Jews have occupied senior Cabinet posts, including secretaries of state, defense and treasury.

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November 18, 2010 | 6:13 pm

Anti-Semitic reasons to support JTA?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Of course not. This is parody, and it sure beats the fundraising email I usually receive. And, no, I wasn’t disappointed that Sarah Silverman didn’t appear to let me know that Jews “may be pushy but they are going to help you.”

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November 18, 2010 | 5:15 pm

Jesus wants you to kill the enemy?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The American Family Association is a Christian advocacy organization. It is very right-wing—I say this as a Christian brother, albeit in no way a fellow traveler—and so maybe it’s fitting that the AFA website hosts a blog titled Rightly Concerned. The blog is labeled “A Project of the American Family Association,” but it also bears this disclaimer at the end of posts:

Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.

But sorry, AFA, I’m not letting you off the hook on the atrocity that is this commentary from Bryan Fischer, the organization’s director of issue analysis. The subject is the Medal of Honor. More specifically, it’s the types of courage in Iraq and Afghanistan for which the medal has been awarded.

We have feminized the Medal of Honor.

According to Bill McGurn of the Wall Street Journal, every Medal of Honor awarded during these two conflicts has been awarded for saving life. Not one has been awarded for inflicting casualties on the enemy. Not one.

That’s an odd opinion but it’s an arguable one. But what is so frustrating here is Fischer’s riff on the Macho Jesus. As my friend Brian pointed out, what follows is just miserable biblical interpretation (at best):

So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night?

(skip)

Jesus, in words often cited in ceremonies such as the one which will take place this afternoon, said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). So it is entirely right that we honor this kind of bravery and self-sacrifice, which is surely an imitation of the Lord of Lord and King of Kings.

However, Jesus’ act of self-sacrifice would ultimately have been meaningless - yes, meaningless - if he had not inflicted a mortal wound on the enemy while giving up his own life.

Of course, the goal of war is to win. And leaving aside the righteousness of any specific war, they often are righteous reasons to fight—even when such an action would be imprudent. Ousting Saddam comes to mind.

But don’t turn the Bible on its head to give supplemental support to waging war.

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November 17, 2010 | 6:09 pm

Lewis Black: government get your hands off circumcision!

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

About “Ike’s Wee Wee” (aka San Fran’s possible circumcision ban), Lewis Black is none too happy.

Granted, Black is never happy. That’s his schtick. But he’s really, really tired of the American way of people telling you want you can’t do.

Above you can see Black ranting on “The Daily Show,” via MediaBistro.

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November 16, 2010 | 2:14 pm

Teacher suspended for removing student who didn’t ‘accept gays’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Free speech is not an absolute right. In fact, the Supreme Court has held that there are a lot of instances in which speech can be bridled. Insulting speech is not one, but public schools do have the ability to restrict student speech. We often see this with student newspapers.

That should make for an interesting legal battle in the case of a Michigan teacher suspended without pay for removing from his class a student who said he didn’t “accept gays.” To be sure, there is no lawsuit yet between high school teacher Jay McDowell and the Howell school district. But I would be surprised if one doesn’t follow.

Here’s the back story from NPR:

The incident has sparked intense debate in Howell, about 45 miles northwest of Detroit, over defending civil rights without trampling the U.S. Constitution’s right to free speech. It’s gained far wider attention since a local newspaper released video of a 14-year-old gay student from another city defending McDowell at a Howell school board meeting.

On Oct. 20, McDowell told a student in his classroom to remove a belt buckle with the Confederate Flag, the symbol of the southern confederacy that seceded from the United States over slavery, kicking off the Civil War in the 1860s.

She complied, but it prompted a question from a boy about how the flag differs from the rainbow flag, a symbol of pride for the gay community.

“I explained the difference between the flags, and he said, ‘I don’t accept gays,’‘’ said McDowell, 42, who was wearing a shirt with an anti-gay bullying message.

McDowell said he told the student he couldn’t say that in class.

“And he said, ‘Why? I don’t accept gays. It’s against my religion.’ I reiterated that it’s not appropriate to say something like that in class,’’ McDowell said Monday.

Oddly, I don’t think this would have become a free speech issue if McDowell had just thanked the student for his perspective and kindly asked him to withhold such comments from class. Maybe, but I doubt it. And there were certainly other reactions on the spectrum between cheerleading the student’s comment and kicking him out of class over it.

In the above video, another kid defends the teacher’s actions. On a related note, I can’t tell you how many rural towns I’ve heard referred to as the “headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan.”

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November 16, 2010 | 12:56 pm

Conservative upset in U.S. Catholic Church

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Big news from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, via The New York Times:

In a close and surprising vote that affirmed a conservative direction for the Roman Catholic Church in America, the nation’s bishops elected Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York as their president on Tuesday, for the first time failing to elevate the vice president to the president’s post.

The vote cements Archbishop Dolan’s leadership of the American church. He is already the prelate of the nation’s most visible diocese, is comfortable in the news media spotlight and was selected by the Vatican to help conduct an investigation of the church in Ireland, which has been devastated by the sexual abuse scandal.

The bishops passed over their vice president, Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, a prelate who represents the more liberal “social justice” tradition of the American church and is known for advocating dialogue between Catholic liberals and traditionalists. Archbishop Dolan is a moderate conservative who is willing to put his affable and outgoing demeanor in service of a more assertively confrontational approach to the church’s critics.

This is a big story and a surprising development. Read the rest of Laurie Goodstein’s story here.

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November 15, 2010 | 10:00 am

Goldberg: ‘Journalism a very Jewish job’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Speaking of Jeffrey Goldberg, my former colleague the Hollywood Jew had a nice profile of The Atlantic’s national correspondent last month. The article had quite a few layers, but the comment I found particularly relevant for mentioning here came at the conclusion of the story:

“I think journalism is a very Jewish job,” he said. “Judaism demands that its followers be dissatisfied with the state of the world as it is and work to make it better. And journalists are always digging up the rocks, and looking underneath, and seeing what’s wrong, and then writing about it with the idealistic hope that you can change something.”

Oddly Goldberg didn’t mention the part about controlling the media being crucial to the Jewish conspiracy for world domination.

In all seriousness, though, journalism has also long been a profession that Jews were attracted to because it required a professional skillset but no tools or overhead. For Jews living under the constant threat of municipal or national expulsion in the Old World, journalism, like medicine or law, was the kind of profession that a Jew could do wherever they ended up.

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