March 31, 2011 | 5:47 pm

A beard to be feared?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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It’s Opening Day, and we are about 10 minutes away from Clayton Kershaw throw the first pitch of the Dodgers’ season. LA will be up against the—ugh—defending champion Giants, who will be missing their oddball closer, Brian Wilson, and his shoe-polish-dyed beard.

Beards, including mine, which has superpowers, are a frequent subject of this blog. (The word “beard” appears in at least 40 posts.) But I don’t think that batters fear the beard of Brian Wilson for the same reason that, say, Fatah members fear the Hamas beard in the Gaza Strip.

March 31, 2011 | 11:21 am

Lost portion of Bible found in Jordan?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Are 70 metal tablets the 21st century’s Dead Sea Scrolls?

On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation.

The books were discovered five years ago in a cave in a remote part of Jordan to which Christian refugees are known to have fled after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Important documents from the same period have previously been found there.

Much more about the find and some cool rusty pics from the Daily Mail here.

Obviously these tablets are not part of the canonized Christian Bible. Whether they should have been is a different question. Regardless, though, these tablets aren’t going to change biblical history, even if they add a little to it.

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March 30, 2011 | 7:40 pm

Ten Commandments judge, Roy Moore, exploring presidential run

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

No joke:

Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who garnered attention and lost his job after building a Ten Commandments monument outside Alabama’s judicial building, is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination, his top aide confirmed to CNN.

Moore plans to announce in mid-April that he is setting up a presidential exploratory committee, the aide, Zachery Michael told CNN.

Moore will potentially seek the nomination because “we’ve seen the same type of politician running for president - the elitist type,” Michael said. “What sets him a part is he can connect to all Americans and has an idea of what Americans are going through. We are seeing the same types of people run and we aren’t getting anywhere.”

That’s from the self-proclaimed most trusted name in news, which, surprisingly, is not The Onion. (It is, in fact, Fox.) And as if Alabama wasn’t already contributing enough wackiness to the 2012 presidential field, Roy Moore thinks he got game.

The story goes on to mention why everyone knows Moore’s name. In case you need a refresher, Moore was removed from the Alabama Supreme Court after he defied a federal judge’s orders to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the courthouse steps. It was a big deal, and after losing his job as a jurist, Moore tried running for governor, but lost the Republican nomination.

I certainly like Moore better than Sarah Palin, and probably more than Mike Huckabee. But there have got to be better options for the Republican party.

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March 29, 2011 | 10:47 pm

Even God has to deal with meddlesome editors

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Interesting story in the Detroit Free Press about how Bible translations have changed over time. Here’s a bit:

The changes are to ensure the Bible makes sense for modern readers without losing its meaning.

Take for example, a change that Catholics will see.

In the Old Testament, worshipers are called to “bring a cereal offering to the Lord,” according to the 1970 version.

Years ago, cereals usually meant grains, so it was clear what the Bible was referring to, said Mary Elizabeth Sperry, associate director for Bible utilization at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

But reading that passage today might conjure up images of young worshipers “taking Froot Loops to God on Sunday,” Sperry quipped.

The new Catholic Bible, called the New American Bible Revised Edition, has replaced the word “cereal” with “grain.”

Mmmmmmm ... Froot Loops.

Other changes have to do with gender and with getting away from other words that no longer have the connotation they used to (i.e. “established holocaust” and “booty,” which have been replaced in the Catholic Bible by “burnt offering” and “plunder”).

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March 29, 2011 | 2:08 pm

Kiss a girl, go to hell

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I guess I missed this photo when it was news three years ago. The backstory is that a Columbus, Ohio, church was using Katy Perry as a teaching lesson on homosexuality. Not surprisingly, the photo generated some controversy.

A friend posted this link to the photo yesterday and asked: “laugh or cry?” She wanted to know, as a Christian, whether the sign was funny or sad—or both.

I said: “easy. laugh. then blog.” How would you answer?

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March 29, 2011 | 11:54 am

‘Third Palestinian Intifada’ page removed by Facebook

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Well, that was quick. The Facebook page for the “Third Palestinian Intifada” has been removed. Here’s the story from JTA:

Nearly 350,000 people had registered for the “Third Palestinian Intifada” page, established on Facebook earlier this month. The page, which calls for a third Palestinian uprising to begin May 15, included quotes and film clips calling for killing Jews and Israelis, and for “liberating” Jerusalem and Palestine using violence. It also directs users to related content on Twitter, YouTube and elsewhere on the internet.

Links to the page now redirect the user to the Facebook homepage. The page reportedly was taken down by Facebook on Tuesday morning.

A new page with the same name attracted 4,000 friends by midday Tuesday.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

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March 29, 2011 | 12:35 am

Jews respond to call for ‘Third Palestinian Intifada’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The big concern today in the Jewish community—here and in Israel—is over a Facebook page supporting the “Third Palestinian Intifada.” (There is also a YouTube page.) Israel and Jewish groups have been in full mobilization, though Facebook denied their request to have the page removed. Here’s that story via Bloomberg:

Israel asked Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to remove a page that it says is supported by 230,000 “friends” that calls for a Palestinian intifada beginning on May 15.

The page includes remarks and movie clips that call for the killing of Israelis and Jews and the “liberating” of Jerusalem and of Palestine through acts of violence, Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein wrote in a letter e- mailed to media yesterday.

“As Facebook’s CEO and founder you are obviously aware of the site’s great potential to rally the masses around good causes, and we are all thankful for that,” Edelstein said. “However, such potential comes hand in hand with the ability to cause great harm such as in the case of the wild incitement displayed on the above-mentioned page.”

Social media and other online information sources have taken center stage in uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and Libya, with participants using Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook to spread news and coordinate protests.

“While some kinds of comments and content may be upsetting for someone -­ criticism of a certain culture, country, religion, lifestyle, or political ideology, for example—that alone is not a reason to remove the discussion,” Debbie Frost, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said in an e-mailed statement.

That’s only partially true. Facebook has taken down pages before. When it hasn’t, Facebook has blamed users for not notifying them. (Remember “Kick a Jew Day?”)

However, Daniel Sieradski says in a series of tweets that those on the political right are overreacting. In one tweet, he wrote:

the jewish response to the third intifada facebook page feels like the pro-mubarak forces’ response to the tahrir square protests

Thoughts?

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March 29, 2011 | 12:00 am

Good thing Libya gave up on the nuclear bomb

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Last week, as NATO airstrikes hit Libya, I though: Man, good thing Gadhafi gave up the nuclear program. Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, writes in the Wall Street Journal that the situation in Libya highlights the trouble with letting loony demagogues in unstable countries get their hands on nuclear material.

The efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons have been obscured by the dramatic images emanating from the region, but the upheaval makes that campaign all the more critical. While cynically shooting its own dissidents, the Iranian regime is calling for the overthrow of other Middle Eastern governments and exploiting the disorder to extend its influence.

In Lebanon, Iran has installed a puppet government and gained a strategic foothold on the eastern Mediterranean—an achievement of historic gravity. Triumphantly, Iranian warships for the first time passed through the Suez Canal and maneuvered off the Syrian coast. Iran has also stepped up arms supplies to Hezbollah and Hamas, as revealed by Israel’s recent interception of the freighter Victoria laden with Iranian missiles. And last week Iran welcomed—or perhaps instigated—the firing of some 100 rockets and mortar shells into Israel from Gaza.

All the while, Iran has remained the target of international sanctions designed to dissuade it from pursuing military nuclear capabilities. These strictures have affected Iran’s economy, but they have yet to significantly slow the country’s nuclear program or dampen its leaders’ appetite for atomic weapons. In spite of some technical difficulties, according to International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano, Iran is enriching uranium “steadily, constantly.”

Read the rest here.

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March 28, 2011 | 12:51 pm

Waiting for ‘Angry Birds: The Movie’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I imagine that if I dreamt hard enough I could come up with a religion angle for the above trailer for “Angry Birds: The Movie.” But there is no need for smoke and mirrors. The game is awesome, and the mock trailer is hilarious.

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March 27, 2011 | 7:50 pm

Church makes you fat?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Um, I’m guessing there is a correlation problem with this new study, at least as MSNBC.com presents it. Here’s the skinny on being fat:

It might be the potlucks, it might be those long hours sitting in pews, but whatever the
cause, a new study presented this week shows a link between religious activity and weight gain.

The study, conducted by researchers at Northwestern University, found that young adults who frequently attended religious activities were far more likely to become obese
than those who didn’t.

“Our main finding was that people with a high frequency of religious participation in young adulthood were 50 percent more likely to become obese by middle age than those with no religious participation in young adulthood,” says Matthew Feinstein, the study’s lead investigator and a fourth-year medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

“And that is true even after we adjusted for variables like age, race, gender, education, income, and baseline body mass index,” he added.

But what about when accounting for the baseline body fat? I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that churchgoers are less likely to worry about appearance and therefore tend to take less care of their bodies. Then again, I go to Bel Air Presbyterian, where a lot of people care about looking good.

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March 26, 2011 | 2:27 pm

Raelian billboard: Aliens? Yes. God? No.

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

We’ve seen these types of anti-God billboards and ads from atheist organizations and the likes of Richard Dawkins. But it’s unusual to see this from a religious organization. Then again, the Raelians, who have been around for barely longer than I’ve been alive, aren’t your typical religious organization. They’re all about the aliens.

I also would have expected to have seen this billboard on the way into Las Vegas, not the return home.

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March 25, 2011 | 2:57 pm

‘The Thin Jew Line’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Saw this fight over the construction of an eruv once before in the Conejo Valley. There it was not anti-Semitic; it was pro-property values. But the Conejo has underground utilities. On Long Island, you wouldn’t even be able to see the “thin Jew line.” Enjoy.

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