May 29, 2007 | 5:18 pm

Has Britney found religion?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Not sure. She was into Kabbalah for a little while, but that didn’t work out. Today, she posted this apology on her homepage for all her recent headline-grabbing behavior. Here’s what she had to say:

Dear Fans,

I just wanted to reach out to all of you and explain some of the things that I have been faced with recently.

It’s so funny how many stories are put out there about people. It’s like we all want our side of the story out there as well, but at the end of the day only a few people care to hear what is really going on since the bad is always so much more interesting than the truth. I don’t know why, but this is so weird to me. I used to be angry at the tabloids for printing horrible things about me, but now I try to just be numb to what I see. I saw Tyra Banks once get really upset and cry on her show because they made her look fat. We all want a certain image of ourselves out there, and at some point we all do really care what other people think or we wouldn’t be here.

Recently, I was sent to a very humbling place called rehab. I truly hit rock bottom. Till this day I don’t think that it was alcohol or depression. I was like a bad kid running around with ADD. I had a manager from a long time ago come in and try to direct me and my life after I got my divorce. I was so overwhelmed I think that I was in a little shock too. I didn’t know who to go to. I realized how much energy and love I had put into my past relationship when it was gone because I genuinely did not know what to do with myself, and it made me so sad. I confess, I was so lost.

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I just hope this letter made some of you think a little bit more of me and where I am coming from. I just want the same things in life that you want…and that is to be happy. It is just so weird because everyone has their own perception of me and how they think I really am. It is so weird how stories are told. There is your side, my side, and the truth. Somebody has to figure it out. I guess we will never really understand or figure out life completely. That’s God’s job. I can’t wait to meet him…or her.

Love, Britney

BetUS.com has posted odds on what’s next for Britney, among them:

She will become a Hare Krishna: +5000

She will join a Christian cult: +2000

May 29, 2007 | 1:32 pm

Wolfowitz for mayor ... of Iraq

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

That’s what one Republican lawmaker has recommended be done to keep the architect of the Iraq war off public subsidies, according to The Blotter.

“I would like to suggest…that maybe we give Paul Wolfowitz a new job and send him over [to Iraq] as mayor,” said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., “since the neocons got us in over there.”

As deputy secretary of defense from 2000 to 2005, Wolfowitz helped develop the strategy and public rationale for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He publicly stated that coalition troops would be greeted as liberators, and the nation of Iraq would be largely capable of financing its own rebuilding through oil revenues.

 

Wolfowitz, who like Richard Perle and so many other neoconservativees, often Jewish, saw war with Iraq as an inevitability, resigned two weeks ago as president of the World Bank.

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May 29, 2007 | 12:08 pm

Texas wants religion in school

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been sent a bill that would allow students to express religious beliefs in homework, artwork and other assignments without being penalized or rewarded because of their faith. Instead, their work would be graded on “traditional academic standards,” according to AP.

“We are allowing our young people to express their faith, whatever that faith is,” said Rep. Larry Phillips, a Sherman Republican.

Two months ago, Time magazine had a great article titled “The Case for Teaching the Bible,” that opened in Texas.  This new discussion of the Bible as literature—something I studied at UCLA—follows the failed attempt in Pennsylvania to teach “intelligent design” as a counterpoint to Darwinian evolution. (A little background here.)

All of this, of course, is part of the ongoing debate about how much God is appropriate in public schools, a constant battle since the Supreme Court outlawed school prayer and developed the Lemon test in 1971. As religion? As history? As artistic inspiration?

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May 28, 2007 | 4:18 pm

The God Blog gets a shout-out

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Bible Belt Blogger, who I often borrow from here and here, mentioned The God Blog last week as one of his main sources of religion news. Cool.

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May 28, 2007 | 4:13 pm

A creation story

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This story of a creation defiant of its creator isn’t that subtle. A friend of The God Blog sent this recently. It won’t embed, so you’ll have to click here.

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May 27, 2007 | 11:00 am

Grief continues in Sderot

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Another Israeli was killed today by a Qassam rocket launched from Gaza. Hamas took credit, as it did for a rocket attack that killed Shirel Friedman last week, further escalating tensions in the border town of Sderot and egging on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to launch additional strikes on Hamas officials.

Israel is warning that Hamas leaders involved in ordering rocket attacks may be targeted, even if they are political figures. “We are not bound by any timetable in this matter,” Mr. Olmert said. “We will decide where, how and to what extent we act.”

He also told Israelis “to prepare for a long confrontation that does not depend on agreements” among the various Palestinian factions. “I will not commit to coordinating our behavior with Hamas actions,” he said, whether it “opens fire or halts its fire.”

JTA reported last week that Hamas’ rocket attacks across the border present Israel with a major military dilemma.

Should it target radical Hamas leaders and operatives from the air or move large ground forces into Gaza to push the missile launchers out of range? Involve the international community or go it alone? Declare Gaza an enemy state or keep open options for early accommodation? Try to smash the Hamas-led Palestinian government or negotiate with it?

Olmert, heavily criticized for taking precipitate action against Hezbollah in Lebanon last summer, so far has committed only limited air power. But other voices inside and outside his government are calling for more radical action, and the prime minister is under growing pressure to make a major move.

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May 25, 2007 | 10:10 pm

A Christian toast to Israel

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

They poured into the Beverly Hilton like young politicos at a national convention, in awe at the feet of religious icons and ready to go forth from the Jerusalem Prayer Banquet to promote the gospel of God’s love for Israel.

Talking last Thursday about God’s chosen people, comparing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler and lamenting the indifference others express about Israel, these 300-plus Christians each spent at least $125 to pray for peace in the Holy Land and commiserate with Jews about the seemingly never-ending threats to Israel’s existence.

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“God has ordained Israel as a favored nation, and it is important for us to support it,” said Fred Broling, a 72-year-old evangelical Christian who flew with his wife from Chicago for the dinner and donated $5,000 to Eagles’ Wings Ministries, the organization that hosted the event, placing the couple in the Guardian circle, alongside televangelist Pat Robertson. “God has told us we will be blessed by the fact that we support his people.”

Where do the Christian Scriptures say that?

“I don’t know,” Broling replied. “Somewhere, I’m sure.”

That’s from a story I wrote this week about the evangelical Christian love affair with Jews—or at least Israel. Read more about it here and here.

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May 25, 2007 | 8:17 pm

Bumbling God Blogger

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Jewish Television Network stopped by my office (cubicle) last week and interviewed me for a video blogs project that launched today. Yes, this vlog is rather self-indulgent; no, I’m not very articulate. I can’t figure out how to embed it, but if you were interested, here it is.

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May 25, 2007 | 11:47 am

Gay rights opponent picked for surgeon general

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

President Bush sure knows how to pick a fight. I can only imagine he has another on his hands with the selection of Dr. James W. Holsinger to be the country’s 18th surgeon general. CBS News is reporting Holsinger wants to fight child obesity.

But my buddy the Bible Belt Blogger—who caught Jimmy Carter’s tongue in a trap last week—points out that Holsinger, a member of the Asbury Seminary board of trustees, has taken a strong stance against homosexuality.

Time‘s Richard N. Ostling wrote in 1991: Holsinger thinks Methodism could lose millions of members if an upheaval in church policy is ever approved. But Julian Rush of Denver, a pioneer gay Methodist minister, says, “I don’t expect any change in my lifetime. The church won’t lead the way on gays. It has to come from society into the church.”

Holsinger is also a member of the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church. Last year, he ruled in favor of a Methodist minister who had refused to allow a gay man to join his church, according to the Religion News Service.

As a judicial council member, he has also ruled that “a self-avowed practicing homosexual,” cannot be appointed as a pastor by a bishop, according to the United Methodist News Service.

The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline states that “Since the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be accepted as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church.”

 

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May 24, 2007 | 4:59 pm

Moderate Muslim leader dead *

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Tashbih Sayyed, the moderate Muslim who founded and edited the paper Pakistan Today, died yesterday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

I can’t find the news online, but here is what Roz Rothstein, national director of StandWithUs, had to say in a e-mail to friends:

  We are deeply saddened over the passing of our treasured friend and true hero Tashbih Sayyed. Tashbih’s insights, firm moral principles and courage to speak out, unaffected by hostility and threats, inspired all of us fortunate enough to know him. His humility, warmth, playful humor, and unwavering commitment touched our lives in countless ways. He will be deeply missed.

  Tashbih was a brilliant scholar, journalist, political analyst and author, but most importantly he was a beloved husband, father of three children, brother and cherished friend to many.

Born in 1941, Sayyed was a Shiite Muslim who fell out of favor with other Muslims—and into it with some Jews—because of his plainspoken politics. His fall from grace began in 1994, according to this article by Journal Editor-in-Chief Rob Eshman, after he criticized “‘anti-Zionist governments’ for having a hand in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina that killed 87 people.”

  Sayyed also went on CBS’s “48 Hours” and told correspondent Bob Simon that Arab threats against terrorism expert Steven Emerson were real and credible. The mainstream Arab community reviles Emerson, author of “American Jihad” (Free Press, 2002). The backlash was immediate. “Brother,” Sayyed said one Arab leader told him, “now you are HIV positive.”

  Within a month, Pakistan Today’s advertising revenue fell from $4,000 per week to $350 (the sole remaining advertisers are two Hindu store owners). Muslim-owned stores stopped carrying his paper. Sayyed said he received “veiled physical threats.” His contributors threatened to stop payments unless he ran a full-page apology — on the front page. When he refused, the money dried up.

  Faced with $3,200 in weekly bills he could no longer pay, Sayyed had to decide whether to close the paper, or sell his (Laguna Hills) house. “My wife understood,” he said. He dabbed at tears in his eyes. “I apologize. It broke me.”

  The Sayyeds now produce Pakistan Today out of a small, rented house in Fontana. He still struggles to pay the printer and wire service bills, and his circulation has dropped to 4,000. (U.S. Census Bureau figures put California’s Pakistani population at 20,093, though Pakistanis I spoke to believe there are tens of thousands more). Pakistan Link, the largest national Pakistan weekly, publishes 25,000 copies per week.

  Sayyed acknowledges that in pushing unpopular opinions he has created — surprise — an unpopular paper. Others in the Muslim community say he is simply too far outside the pale to make a difference. “Our goal is to build bridges of understanding,” Akhtar Faruqui, editor of the Irvine-based Pakistan Link told me. Faruqui’s editorials have spoken approvingly of Seeds of Peace, a program that promotes Palestinian and Israeli coexistence. Faruqui, whose paper does reflect many moderate and liberal ideas, said he received no negative response for supporting Seeds of Peace, but he said he wouldn’t publish some of the opinions found in Pakistan Today, such as Op-Ed pieces critical of the Saudi royal family. “We try to promote understanding,” Faruqui said. “We don’t go to extremes. That would be too extreme.”

  Publishing such pieces has pushed Sayyed to the fringes of the local Muslim community, said Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. “Every religion has its extremist fringe,” Marayati said. “We believe mainstream moderates represent the mainstream of the faith. The extremist fringe has been given way too much public attention by people whose political purpose it serves.”

  Marayati said that several years ago, Aslam al-Abdullah, editor of the local Muslim magazine, The Minaret, shaved his beard to protest the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. For that he received threats and negative letters. “Everybody goes through this,” Marayati said, “for some it’s more of a story.” Sayyed accused Marayati of being a Muslim extremist in Western clothes.

On Tuesday, the Pew Research Center reported most Muslim Americans were more like Sayyed—middle-class, mainstream and moderate. But the study found that younger American Muslims, those between 18 and 29, were more sympathetic of Islamic extremism, with 26 percent saying suicide-bombing attacks on civilians could be justified when defending Islam.

Here is Sayyed’s final column, about Arab Israelis.

* Updated: Sayyed will be buried Sunday, May 27th, at 1:00 p.m. at Harbor Lawn Mount Olive Memorial Park and Mortuary in Costa Mesa, 1625 Gisler Ave. There will be traditional Muslim prayers from 1:00 to 1:20, followed by a brief grave-side service.

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May 24, 2007 | 10:25 am

Which ones would you keep?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s called “selective reduction”—the choice IVF patients make to abort one or more fetuses when several embryos take. GetReligion has a good wrap-up of a few stories published recently about fertility treatment and this medical procedure, and on Tuesday, I heard Washington Poster Liza Mundy talking about it on NPR.

Mundy had a powerful piece in Sunday’s WP magazine and is the author of a new book about the complications of fertility treatment, particularly the health complications that drug- or treatment-induced multiple pregnancies can cause both the mother and the unborn children.

Selective reduction is one of the most unpleasant facts of fertility medicine, which has helped hundreds of thousands of couples have children but has also produced a sharp rise in high-risk multiple pregnancies. There is no way to know how many pregnancies achieved by fertility treatment start out as triplets or quadruplets and are quietly reduced to something more manageable. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which publishes an annual report on fertility clinic outcomes, does not include selective-reduction figures because of the reluctance to report them.

Two weeks ago in the LA Times, Dan Neil shared this personal story of reduction:

MY WIFE AND I just had an abortion. Two, actually. We walked into a doctor’s office in downtown Los Angeles with four thriving fetuses — two girls and two boys — and walked out an hour later with just the girls, whom we will name, if we’re lucky enough to keep them, Rosalind and Vivian. Rosalind is my mother’s name.

We didn’t want to. We didn’t mean to. We didn’t do anything wrong, which is to say, we did everything right. Four years ago, when Tina and I set out on this journey to have children, such a circumstance was unimaginable. And yet there I was, holding her hand, watching the ultrasound as a needle with potassium chloride found its mark, stopping the heart of one male fetus, then the other, hidden in my wife’s suffering belly.

We don’t feel guilty. We don’t feel ashamed. We’re not even really sad, because terminating these fetuses — at 15 weeks’ gestation — was a medical imperative. This has been a white-knuckle pregnancy from Day 1, and had it gone on as it was going, Tina’s health would have been in jeopardy, according to her doctor. The fact is, multiple pregnancies are high risk, and they can go bad very suddenly. I wasn’t going to allow that, though the fires of hell might beckon.

But does “selective reduction” constitute abortion in the generally understood sense? Life is being ended, but life is also being created. Because doctors won’t implant multiple embryos without a patient’s acceptance that reduction may be necessary, the willingness to abort has become a prerequisite to older mothers bringing into this world a new life.

What do you think?

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May 23, 2007 | 5:10 pm

Cheney’s lesbian daughter gives birth

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Mary Cheney, VP Dick Cheney‘s lesbian daughter, gave birth today to a healthy little boy.

“I love babies, even Republican ones, and I’m glad he was born healthy,” my old colleague Greg Hernandez writes on his blog, Out in Hollywood. “I just wish he had a grandfather who loved him enough and loved his gay daughter enough to not endorse such anti-gay policies.”

Granted Dick and Lynne look awfully happy in this picture, but we all know where the Bush administration’s political base lies—and it’s not in bed with a party of the same sex.

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