March 30, 2005
THOU SHALT NOT:
Clerics of 3 Faiths Protest Gay Festival Planned for Jerusalem (LAURIE GOODSTEIN and GREG MYRE, 3/31/05, NY Times)
International gay leaders are planning a 10-day WorldPride festival and parade in Jerusalem in August, saying they want to make a statement about tolerance and diversity in the Holy City, home to three great religious traditions.Now major leaders of the three faiths - Christianity, Judaism and Islam - are making a rare show of unity to try to stop the festival. They say the event would desecrate the city and convey the erroneous impression that homosexuality is acceptable.
"They are creating a deep and terrible sorrow that is unbearable," Shlomo Amar, Israel's Sephardic chief rabbi, said yesterday at a news conference in Jerusalem attended by Israel's two chief rabbis, the patriarchs of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches, and three senior Muslim prayer leaders. "It hurts all of the religions. We are all against it."
Abdel Aziz Bukhari, a Sufi sheik, added: "We can't permit anybody to come and make the Holy City dirty. This is very ugly and very nasty to have these people come to Jerusalem."
Israeli authorities have not indicated what action, if any, they might take to limit the events. Banning the festival would seem unlikely, though the government could withhold the required permits for specific events, like a parade.
Interfaith agreement is unusual in Israel. The leaders' joint opposition was initially generated by the Rev. Leo Giovinetti, an evangelical pastor from San Diego who is both a veteran of the American culture war over homosexuality and a frequent visitor to Israel, where he has formed relationships with rabbis and politicians.
Organizers of the gay pride event, Jerusalem WorldPride 2005, said that 75 non-Orthodox rabbis had signed a statement of support for the event, and that Christian and Muslim leaders as well as Israeli politicians were expected to announce their support soon. They said they were dismayed to see that what united their opponents was their objection to homosexuality.
"That is something new I've never witnessed before, such an attempt to globalize bigotry," said Hagai El-Ad, the executive director of Jerusalem Open House, a gay and lesbian group that is the host for the festival. "It's quite sad and ironic that these religious figures are coming together around such a negative message."
You bet. Odd that the three great Abrahamic faiths would unite around morality. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 30, 2005 11:16 PM
Odd that they unite?
For centuries they united around the idea that women are chattel.
Now there is something to be proud of.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at March 31, 2005 7:08 AMJeff:
When did they stop being? Now we make them work, ditch them when we get them pregnant, leave them when they wrinkle and kill them when they're ill.
Posted by: oj at March 31, 2005 7:47 AMJeff:
No doubt that conviction goes along with your belief that hundreds of millions of Christian, Jewish and Muslim women are very stupid. I hope you plan to tell them all some day. Don't forget to invite us along.
Posted by: Peter B at March 31, 2005 8:37 AMtha't why leftists like jeff are so superior morally, they treat all people like chattel.
Posted by: cjm at March 31, 2005 10:13 AMJeff:
Didn't ALL men treat women like chattel? Mongols, Vikings, Bushmen, Maya, Aztecs, Aborigines, Romans, Japanese, and on and on.
Posted by: jim hamlen at March 31, 2005 12:17 PMdon't
Posted by: oj at March 31, 2005 1:29 PMJim:
Never said they didn't.
Religions, supposedly arbiters of morality, used Divine imprimatur to achieve that end.
Peter:
Were Afghani women stupid?
Do women uniquely bear the stain of original sin?
Is it God's will that women suffer agonizing pain during childbirth, or just a fairy tale? And if the former, then presumably epidurals go against God's plan.
Will you invite me along when you push that idea?
CJM:
If the word "leftist" has any meaning, you just misused it.
OJ:
Speak for yourself.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at March 31, 2005 1:37 PMJeff;
It will come as a shock, I know, but the world is bigger than yourself.
Posted by: oj at March 31, 2005 1:46 PMOJ:
It will come as a shock, I know, but religions have been responsible for a great many crimes.
They are scarcely in a position to have a hissy fit over where some of God's creatures choose to congregate.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at March 31, 2005 2:42 PMWhy would that be shocking? We aren't talking about past crimes but current.
Posted by: oj at March 31, 2005 2:45 PMCurrent crimes? Isn't that a cue to start slamming the Middle Ages?
Posted by: Peter B at March 31, 2005 4:15 PMOh, I see.
You are OK with Islam's treatment of women.
And Jews. And Christians.
Peter:
When did Vatican II happen, and what did it have to say about Jews?
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at March 31, 2005 5:24 PMJeff:
Let me guess. "We should work to overcome our past sorry history because we actually have much in common. For instance, we both think women are chattels."
Posted by: Peter B at April 1, 2005 5:58 AMPeter:
I suspect that to make atonement, Jeff would prefer a society where women are Amazon rulers, and the men wear collars.
Sounds like something a lot of guys might dream about.....
Posted by: jim hamlen at April 1, 2005 8:46 AMJeff-
Why do you hate so much? Pointing out the hypocrisy of some in order to discredit the sincere is pure bigotry.
Posted by: Tom C., Stamford, Ct. at April 1, 2005 10:34 PMThere's nothing so funny as folks who dwell on moral hypocrisy because in the end it's really just a hollow boast.
Posted by: oj at April 1, 2005 11:18 PM