May 16, 2011 | 1:56 pm

Hawking: Heaven is a ‘fairy story’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Stephen Hawking, the scientific celeb, is making another appearance on the Godbeat. Last year there was the seemingly old news about Hawking saying gravity and not God explain creation. Now this, via The Guardiant:

A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a “fairy story” for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said.

In a dismissal that underlines his firm rejection of religious comforts, Britain’s most eminent scientist said there was nothing beyond the moment when the brain flickers for the final time.

These comments are part of an interview Hawking gave The Guardian on life and death and “God as a metaphor.” Read the rest here.

May 14, 2011 | 6:13 pm

Developing story? Unrest in Israel

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This is what we call an evergreen:

Unrest in the Middle East is spreading to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

That’s from a Voice of America story about Palestinian clashes with Israeli police at a commemoration of what Arabs call “The Nakba”—also known as the creation of the state of Israel.

You might remember the attempt to organize Palestinians on Facebook, a la the Egyptian revolution, but which called for “liberating” Jerusalem using violence instead of civil protests.

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May 14, 2011 | 12:53 pm

Person happiest about OBL’s death? Other guy named OBL

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Other Guy Named Osama Bin Laden Can Finally RelaxA little fun from The Onion.

I suspect that like with the name Adolf, Osama is not going to be too popular a boy’s name going forward. At least not in the western world.

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May 13, 2011 | 8:41 pm

May 21 is not the end of the world as we know it

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I mentioned in December that Harold Camping, the Christian radio broadcaster and founder of Family Radio, had pegged May 21 as the end of the world, the day Jesus would return to take Camping and his followers and the other real Christians home. Camping has been getting a lot more attention recently because, well, the media loves an oddball religion story.

Here’s the story from Salon:

Maybe you’ve already encountered the literature: pamphlets, subway ads, billboards on the side of the highway. “Judgment Day is coming” reads one billboard, which features a man praying in silhouette against a sunset backdrop. These are the works of a peculiar breed of Christian activists who’ve taken to the road to preach their belief in the fast-approaching End of Days. The self-appointed harbingers are not tied to any particular church—they claim organized religion has been corrupted by the devil—but rather to Internet- and radio-based ministries. And their lone mission is to tell anyone and everyone that the end of days is May 21. That’s when, they insist, God’s true believers will be lifted into heaven and saved, during a biblical event widely referred to as the Rapture.

The finer points of Christian eschatology have long been the subject of dispute (not to mention the inspiration for movies and books, like the blockbuster “Left Behind” series). Though mainstream churches reject the the notion that doomsday can be predicted by any man, fringe scholars continue to work feverishly pinpointing the moment of the final, divine revelation. And one such man—89-year-old radio host Harold Camping—has been at the game for decades.

I didn’t know much about Camping before this. I suspect few religion reporters did. One of my friends grew up with his family listening to Camping’s radio program. In short: “He is just really conservative and believes most churches have been taken over by Satan.”

Which means that Camping thinks a lot of us Christians won’t be happy to see Jesus return next Saturday. But for those who have followed Camping’s way, there is that pesky question of what to do with your pets after the Rapture takes you away. Fortunately, there is After The Rapture Pet Care, where dog-loving heathens can offer their post-Rapture pet fostering (though it may not be real).

The end of the world has been predicted before—many times. And, like the Great Disappointment, always unsuccessfully. So what are your plans for May 22? I’ll be laying on the beach.

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May 13, 2011 | 4:18 pm

Jews and Asians should stick together?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’m just going to quote Jonah Lowenfeld on the oddness of Dan Adler’s advertising campaign for Congress:

In the most widely noticed advertisement—the clips caught the attention of everyone from a politics blogger with Salon to Glenn Beck to Talking Points Memo—Adler, a former entertainment industry executive draws a parallel between the minority status of Jews and Asians.

The spot, which makes clear that Adler is Jewish and his wife is Korean, features a middle-aged Asian woman saying, “We minorities should stick together.” She speaks in an overwhelmingly thick accent, from behind the counter of a dry cleaning store.

Talking Points Memo went out on a limb, calling it “possibly offensive.”

Another advertisement addresses concerns that Adler, who was a late entry into the race to replace Jane Harman and has never before held political office, might not have what it takes to accomplish things in the remaining months of Harman’s term in congress.

As his young son tells viewers in the advertisement, “My dad gets sh*t done.”

Yeah, and one of my best friends is Korean ... so I guess minorities should read this blog.

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May 13, 2011 | 3:14 pm

Bin Laden’s porn palace

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

A bunch of zealots living in hiding. I mean, what did U.S. officials actually expect to find on Osama bin Laden’s hard drive? Reuters reports:

A stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden by the U.S. commandos who killed him, current and former U.S. officials said on Friday.

The pornography recovered in bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, according to the officials, who discussed the discovery with Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The officials said they were not yet sure precisely where in the compound the pornography was discovered or who had been viewing it. Specifically, the officials said they did not know if bin Laden himself had acquired or viewed the materials.

Read the rest here.

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May 13, 2011 | 1:21 am

NJ Gov on whether he believes in creation: ‘None of your business’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Does New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie believe in evolution or creationism? Unless you’re a friend of the governor, don’t expect an answer to that question.

The Star-Ledger reports that when asked at a press conference what he believes about science and origins of life, Christie responded:

“That’s none of your business,” Christie said.

The question was asked after Christie said at a town hall last week that though evolution is required teaching, schools are free to decide to teach creationism in addition.

We’ve obviously been down this road before, and I’m pretty certain we’ll be going down it again.

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May 13, 2011 | 12:11 am

The scandal of giving Tom Cruise the Wiesenthal Center Humanitarian Award

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Dennis Wilen sent me an interesting story from the Village Voice. It’s a published letter from Paulette Cooper, one of the many people shocked to see the Simon Wiesenthal Center give its Humanitarian Award to The Tom Cruise.

Cooper, who in 1971 wrote “The Scandal of Scientology,” explains why people were upset:

As a survivor of the Holocaust, and the author of a book titled The Scandal of Scientology—and subsequently the victim of a 15-year campaign by Scientology to try to destroy me for speaking out against them—I am shocked. How can a (Jewish) human rights organization, like SWC—supposedly dedicated to education about the Holocaust—give such an award in good conscience?

​In my work many years ago exposing Scientology, I saw so many Jewish (and non-Jewish) families bankrupted, and destroyed, as Scientology members cut off from their families and their religion. I also witnessed (and was victim of) their “Fair Game Policy,” stating that “Enemies of Scientology” can be ” tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.”

(skip)

According to the Scientologists, Tom Cruise has disseminated Scientology’s teachings to 1.1 billion people. While that figure, like so many of theirs, is patently ridiculous, he has reached a lot of people. And that has given Scientology respectability, acceptability, and a following that does no good for the Jewish people.

Read her entire letter here.

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May 11, 2011 | 11:11 am

What the fiqh? Sharia law comes to Scrabble

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

RIP Words With Pirates

I play a lot of Scrabble—even if it’s the ripoff called Words With Friends.

So you can imagine a few people thought I would be interested in the news yesterday that Scrabble has added two new words using the letter “Q” to the lexicon. One of them, “FIQH,” has a religious meaning. Via Wired:

An expansion of Islamic sharia law, based directly on the Koran and Sunnah. Scrabble score: 19.

I’m not really sure how to use that in a sentence, but fortunately I won’t have to. Come challenge me on Words With Friends. Username: Bradberg.

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May 10, 2011 | 9:30 am

Pastor fakes days as a Navy SEAL

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

D’oh!

After years of letting his congregation believe he’d once been a Navy SEAL, a Pennsylvania pastor’s tale has come undone.

Last week, The Patriot-News newspaper, based in Harrisburg, reached out to former SEALs living in midstate Pennsylvania, hoping for some local perspective on the U.S. commando operation that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Rev. Jim Moats, of Newville, obliged, and was featured in a story that ran in Saturday’s edition. But it turns out Moats was never a SEAL, and the guilt-ridden pastor went to the paper’s office on Sunday to fess up.

“I never was in a class, I never served as an actual SEAL. It was my dream,” Moats, 59, who did serve in the Navy from 1970 to 1974, told the paper. “I don’t even know if I would have met the qualifications. I never knew what the qualifications were.”

That’s from TPM Muckraker, and to get the full effect, you need to read the lede for the original story from the The Patriot News, which is full of detail about Moats’ bravado as a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War—“a brash athletic 19-year-old from a military family.”

Children learn that once you start telling a lie, it’s difficult to ever get back on the path of telling truth. That must be particularly troubling for someone who proclaimed to be a minister of Truth. The question, though, is: Why?

Of all the things to lie about, this seems like an odder one. I mean, not as odd as if I claimed I had a six-month contract with the Harlem Globetrotters. But still quite odd.

Moats plans to explain what in the world he was thinking at the church’s Wednesday night service. I’m surprised he can wait that long, and I’d be surprised if he lasts as the church’s pastor past that.

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May 9, 2011 | 8:18 pm

Hasidic newspaper photo: No place for Mrs. Clinton

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

You’ve seen the White House Situation Room meme from the Osama bin Laden killing. But have you seen it without Hillary Clinton in the picture?

Probably not unless you read the Hasidic newspaper, Der Tzitung, published in Brooklyn. According to Yahoo News:

The paper photoshopped Clinton, as well at the only other woman who could be seen in the room—Audrey Tomason, the national director of counterterrorism—out of the frame.

“Apparently the presence of a woman, any woman, being all womanly and sexy all over the United States’ counterterrorism efforts was too much for the editors of Der Tzitung to handle,” noted the prominent women’s blog Jezebel.

Indeed, “The Hasidic newspaper will not intentionally include any images of women in the paper because it could be considered sexually suggestive,” Rabbi Jason Miller explains in The Jewish Week. Though he notes that the publication’s “fauxtograpphing” may in fact be a graver act against their religious tenets: “To my mind, this act of censorship is actually a violation of the Jewish legal principle of g’neivat da’at (deceit).”

Personally, I’m offended by Hillary Clinton too. But I wouldn’t cut her out of the photo, certainly not if I ostensibly subscribed to journalistic standards.

My friend Sarah Pulliam Bailey, who is filling in for Cathy Grossman, has more on this at the USA Today religion blog. Enjoy.

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May 9, 2011 | 9:33 am

Muslim writer: Actually, Mr. President, bin Laden was a Muslim leader

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Remember a week ago when President Obama told the nation that Osama bin Laden had been killed? Or course you do. It’s basically dominated the news since.

During his address, Obama said: “I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims.”

Irshad Manji, writing in the Wall Street Journal says the president got it wrong:

bin Laden and his followers represent a real interpretation of Islam that begs to be challenged relentlessly and visibly. Why does this happen so rarely?

“Moderate” Muslims are part of the problem. As Martin Luther King Jr. taught many white Americans, in times of moral crisis, moderation cements the status quo. Today, what Islam needs is not more “moderates” but more self-conscious “reformists.” It is reformists who will bring to my faith the debate, dissent and reinterpretation that have carried Judaism and Christianity into the modern world.

Manji, who is Muslim, goes on to say that we don’t see such reformists because that’s “no way to win a popularity contest in the Muslim community.” I definitely recommend reading the rest of Manji’s thoughts here.

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