March 2007 Archives

The nude chocolate Jesus exhibition has been cancelled.

Here was David Kuo's take on the art show planned for Holy Week.

I'd rather dissolve in the Pacific than be trampled on a park trail. But for $390, Fran Coover's Ladies in White will scatter your ashes in the Montana forest, provide a ceremony, photograph and journal notes and give your family the GPS coordinates of your resting place. At least, that was the plan until the federal Forest Service stepped in. From the New York Times.

A New York artist has sculpted a life-size Jesus with his arms spread wide and his feet together, in the position of one being crucified. It's made of chocolate and Christ is NAKED -- endowment and all. (Click here to see.)

The artist's creation, which will be on display in New York for the week beginning Palm Sunday, is the latest culture-war issue to draw the ire of Catholic firebrand Bill Donohue. The website for his Catholic League has two rants against the artist's intentions. Here's part of the first:

As I’ve said many times before, Lent is the season for non-believers to sow seeds of doubt about Jesus. What’s scheduled to go on at the Roger Smith Hotel, however, is of a different genre: this is hate speech. And choosing Holy Week—the display opens on Palm Sunday and ends on Holy Saturday—makes it a direct in-your-face assault on Christians.

All those involved are lucky that angry Christians don’t react the way extremist Muslims do when they’re offended—otherwise they may have more than their heads cut off. James Knowles, President and CEO of the Roger Smith Hotel (interestingly, he also calls himself Artist-in-Residence), should be especially grateful. And if he tries to spin this as reverential, then he should substitute Muhammad for Jesus and display him during Ramadan.

Thanks to the Dallas Morning News religion blog for pointing this out.

The new Jewish Journal has a cover story on modern-day enslavement right here in Los Angeles. Pegged to Passover, which begins Monday night, the article opens with an anecdote about Flor, a Mexican woman smuggled into the U.S. for what she and a former teacher believed would be well-paying work as seamstresses.

For the next 40 days, Flor and her former teacher worked 16-hour days and were beaten, terrorized, threatened and humiliated by the woman. They were given two 10-minute breaks per day to eat meals of just rice and beans; they had to wash themselves in the bathroom sink, and they were kept under watch at all times, forbidden to talk to anyone.

Flor and her sewing teacher were victims of human trafficking. They had become slaves.

When we hear the word "slave" it generally conjures images of pre-Civil War America, of the mid-16th century African slave trade that formed the basis of the sugar economy. As Jews, particularly at Passover time, we remember our history in ancient Egypt, Avadim hayinu le'Paroah b'Mitzrayim -- "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt" -- and of our emancipation, that we celebrate each year.

But for thousands of people like Flor, slavery is not a thing of the past. Slavery is, in fact, very much alive in the world today. Twenty-seven million people are working as indentured slaves in the world today, according to Kevin Bales, author of Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy.

Look in the Daily News on Monday for another story drawing comparisons between the Jews Exodus from Egypt and a contemporary people's wandering through the desert in search of safety.

My wife just sent me a note saying this was lame, and I've got to agree. As Christians, the Greenbergs (yes, Greenberg=Christian, at least in my house) believe Christian Scripture instructs us to follow God's word and NOT judge whether others are, though we are not perfect at either (isn't that the whole point?).

Yet in an interview with US News & World Report, James C. Dobson, (pictured) the founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, whose role as America's most influential evangelical is falling by the wayside, says of presidential hopeful Fred Thompson: "I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression."

I'm generally suspicious of all politicians who are open about their faith. I don't want to call their purported beliefs insincere. But a spade's a spade, and politicians are in office because they appeal to constituents.

In 2004, President Bush, seeking re-election, talked a lot about his faith. I haven't heard a peep about it since; in fact, blogger Andrew Sullivan noticed President Bush closing a White House speech this way:

We go forward with trust that the Author of Liberty will guide us through these trying hours. Thank you and good night.

That led to the question, "Is Bush hiding God?" If so, it's probably because evangelical Christians have begun distancing themselves from the Republican party.

As often noted on The Revealer and GetReligion, two blogs that monitor the way journalists cover religion, many reporters don't understand religion. They miss nuances, overgeneralize beliefs and values (example: evangelicals) and, quite regularly, play up seemingly odd associations faith groups make with secular organizations (see: Bong hits make strange bedfellows?).

This also often is the case when editors quickly search for a pithy headline for religious news. Take this example from today's LA Times: Mulling an unusual alliance.

The second paragraph, however, makes it clear this alliance isn't unusual at all:

The exchange Tuesday night underlined a national trend of secular environmental groups networking with faith-based coalitions with the same goals.

The only thing odd is that this environmental group had previously sworn off working with religious groups.

Jewish scapegoating never really goes out of vogue. Last month, a South Korean professor was criticized for an edition of his popular comic series that could have been cribbed from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a century-old anti-Semitic text that claims to be a Jewish playbook for world domination. This drawing was translated by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as saying, "The final obstacle (on the path to success) is always the 'fortress of the Jews.'"

Europe has a rich history of purging its Jewish population, either through mass expulsions or mass exterminations. You decide whether Tony Blair has settled on a convenient explanation for his problems.

Two years ago, Time magazine published this list of America's top evangelicals. Newsweek, in its April 2 issue, online now, has decided to rank the nation's top 50 rabbis.

Not surprisingly, Angelenos and New Yorkers dominate the list. Top honors go to Marvin Hier (pictured), dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Museum of Tolerance and Moriah Films. Harold Schulweis of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino comes in at 13, described as "the leading Conservative rabbi of his generation."

What's the chance that U.S. News & World Report, a staple in the rankings community and third-fiddle among newsweeklies, publishes a list next year of top American imams?

The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, who sued Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown for plagiarizing their non-fiction book, which was published in 1982, have had their case dismissed in London and now face a hefty legal bill – almost $6 million.

Both books claim there is evidence Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child. Initially, Brown described his dramatic account of a Harvard professor uncovering the Catholic Church's dirtiest secret as the result of eye-popping research, opening his book with this note: "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." After real scholars turned Brown's research into swiss cheese, he emphasized on his Web site that the book is a work of fiction and that the artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals all "exist."

The New York Times has an interesting article today about the unexpected value of parody ads in the irreverent magazine Heeb.

The magazine, which has been derided as offensive to Jews, even though its readership is almost entirely Jewish, has been a telling example of how young Jews define themselves – culturally, socially and sardonically.

Last summer, when the former Dodger Shawn Green took the field of Shea Stadium as a Met for the first time, a Jewish fan held up a poster with Green’s photo and the words, “The messiah has arrived."

Whether Shawn Green wanted to be, NY fans saw him as the second coming of Sandy Koufax. In an article today posted at The Forward about the limited history of anti-Semitism in American sports, the author suggested that was due, in part, to the lack of Jews in professional sports. Jews are sports writers and team owners, league commissioners and coaches. But they're not often all-star athletes.

The author of the article, Gerald Eskanazi, is himself a member of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Inductees include baseball greats Koufax and Hank Greenberg but also Sid Tanenbaum, who only played two years in the ABA.

It's difficult to pinpoint the reason Jews have not been more successful at professional sports. A colleague of mine, a native New Yorker with a collection of Jewish baseball cards, once told me he suspected our mothers have something to do with it. "They place such an emphasis on education and being successful," he said. I blame genetics. At 5'10", slower than fast and unable to muscle up past 170, I can't imagine competing at anything more than desk jockeying.

* My good friend David McGrath Schwartz noted basketball was at a time considered a Jewish sport, likely because of its urban connection. Red Auerbach, the greatest coach in professional basketball history, was Jewish. Moses Malone was not.

Our sister paper in Detroit has a mind-blowing story about a Christian minister whose church bought him this $3.65 million mansion. The 11,000 sq-foot mini-palace also qualifies as a tax deduction, at the cost of $40,000 a year to Redford Township.

"God's empowerment is to make you have an abundant life," Elder Marvin Wilder, a lawyer and general counsel for the church, told the Detroit News. "In this country we value rock stars, movie stars and athletes. They can have a lavish lifestyle, and a pastor who restores lives that were broken shouldn't? When our value system elevates a man who can put a ball in a hole and not a man who does God's work, something is wrong."

Detroit World Outreach Pastor Ben Gilbert is a purveyor of the Prosperity Gospel, a belief that God wants his people to be rich. It reminded me of this story, written two years ago by a fellow religion reporter for the AJC.

The Detroit story led Nancy McLaughlin, religion reporter for the News-Record in North Carolina, to ask her readers a reasonable question, "Should the tax law be amended?"

I wrote an article this month for Christianity Today about the increasing faith-in-the-workplace movement. Obviously, the story focused on growing expressions of Christianity by employees and employers, in the form of weekly prayer meetings, keeping religious items on their desk and religious-themed corporate retreats.

One Christian attorney told me there is a greater understanding of the difference between the protection for religious exercise and the empowerment to proselytize. But I'm curious about what you have noticed. Are more of your colleagues bringing God to work? Are you? And what does it look like?

Interesting piece in Time magazine titled "The Case for Teaching the Bible." The biggest contention many scientists and educators have had with the push to teach the Genesis version of creation in science classes is that it is based on religious literature. The role, however, of the Bible in western history makes essential academic reading.

Four months ago, it seemed like Bel-Air's University of Judaism was stepping out from the shadow of its big brother in New York, the Jewish Theological Seminary. JTS is the flagship of Conservative Judaism and has trained the movement's most esteemed rabbis. The governing body of the Conservative movement, of which the UJ has always been the second-fiddle seminary, adopted an opinion by the UJ's rector that says ordaining gays and lesbians is OK before God. And this month the UJ announced it had admitted its first gay students to its Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies.

It remained unclear if JTS would follow suit. Of the four members who resigned from the governing body after the December vote, two are on the faculty of JTS. But today, JTS said it will start admitting gay students.

Coincidentally, the University of Judaism announced last week that they were going to be merging with Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley to build a better overall Jewish cultural, social and educational program. Officials of the newly named American Jewish University hope the move raises the two's collective national profile.

That is the purpose of The God Blog -- to go beyond the daily headlines to explore the role of faith in politics, education, entertainment, science, social expectations and pretty much everything else we do. Whether you believe in one God, many gods or none of the above, you believe in something, and that something profoundly affects your understanding of this world.

Hopefully, with a bit of a luck, and intermittent insight, I'll be able to shed some light on the intersection of faith and life. Blogging is a new experience for me. Short of registering on Blogger.com so my friends can find archived stories I've written (www.musclys.blogspot.com), I've resisted the Web log format, and it comes with a bit of a learning curve.

Expect to see a few posts per week, sometimes each day, that analyze religion news or refer to something of interest. Some will be based right here in LA; some I'll even crib from my own reportage. But many will be drawn from the broader religious context that sends shockwaves around the world. Of course, when you come across an interesting story, let me know at brad.greenberg@dailynews.com or (818) 713-3634.

It's really a philosophical query, one reporters aren't well-suited or aptly trained to answer. But the current case of Temple 420, a Hollywood congregation that reads the Bible and smokes marijuana to communicate with God, is begging the question.

The Rev. Craig X Rubin, a minister ordained by the interfaith Universal Life Church and founder of the temple, sued the LAPD for $30 million Wednesday, claiming his religious and civil rights were violated when narc officers raided his sanctuary/head shop in November and purportedly told him it was not a "real religion."

But what is a real religion?

"There is no standard in nature to which one can go to decide if a group is a 'real' religion," says Dan Olson, chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Indiana University South Bend. "It all depends on whether people in the society that they are part of are convinced they are a religion. When different parts of society don't agree, like so many other things in life it often comes down to the group that has the most influence and power to determine whether the group will be persecuted and harassed or given respect and resources by others in society.

"Almost every accepted religion today has historical roots in some group that either broke away from a major religion (and was thus considered a heretical sect -- Christianity started as a sect of Judaism) or started from scratch with the vision or innovation of a prophet/visionary/founder who was probably seen as a kook or a dangerous heretic by most people in his/her day."

The role religions serve in society also complicate our understanding of what is sincere or genuine and what is "fake."

"You have to give people a feeling or a sense of the sacred and then you have to bond them in community," Robert C. Fuller, a religion professor at Bradley University in Illinois and author of Stairways to Heaven: Drugs in American Religious History, told me. "The fact of the matter is anything that helps with those two function has religious values."

Last summer, a month before Rubin opened Temple 420, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine reported that Timothy Leary was correct: Hallucinogens do enhance spiritual experiences. One third of the 60 percent of study participants who reported a "full mystical experience" described it as the most significant spiritual event of their lives.

Does that mean smoking pot -- whether it comes from what Rubin believes is the tree of life written of in Genesis or just a weed -- has religious value? Rastafarians use it, and the courts have ruled in their favor for consumption, though not transportation and distribution.

For Rubin, who is charged with two felony drug counts, and his followers, an LA Superior Court Judge will have to decide.

Is homosexuality hereditary?

Since the early '90s, some medical research has answered “Yes." Conversely, conservative members of the Abrahamic religions – Islam, Judaism and Christianity – have argued against a biological basis for sexuality: If man is created in God's image, why would God design him to like other men?

In the United States, the loudest voice opposing a homosexual predisposition has been that of conservative Christians. (Think Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson.) And that's why the recent comments of the Rev. Albert Mohler have been so earth-shaking.

Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, asked on his blog the question: “Is your baby gay? What if you could know?” The evangelical world buzzed about whether Mohler had fallen prey to the pull of the dark side of the Force (liberalism).

His intitial post, which was followed by this one, concluded with this:

Christians who are committed to think in genuinely Christian terms should think carefully about these points:

1. There is, as of now, no incontrovertible or widely accepted proof that any biological basis for sexual orientation exists.

2. Nevertheless, the direction of the research points in this direction. Research into the sexual orientation of sheep and other animals, as well as human studies, points to some level of biological causation for sexual orientation in at least some individuals.

3. Given the consequences of the Fall and the effects of human sin, we should not be surprised that such a causation or link is found. After all, the human genetic structure, along with every other aspect of creation, shows the pernicious effects of the Fall and of God's judgment.

4. The biblical condemnation of all homosexual behaviors would not be compromised or mitigated in the least by such a discovery. The discovery of a biological factor would not change the Bible's moral verdict on homosexual behavior.

5. The discovery of a biological basis for homosexuality would be of great pastoral significance, allowing for a greater understanding of why certain persons struggle with these particular sexual temptations.

6. The biblical basis for establishing the dignity of all persons -- the fact that all humans are made in God's image -- reminds us that this means all persons, including those who may be marked by a predisposition toward homosexuality. For the sake of clarity, we must insist at all times that all persons -- whether identified as heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, transsexual, transgendered, bisexual, or whatever -- are equally made in the image of God.

7. Thus, we will gladly contend for the right to life of all persons, born and unborn, whatever their sexual orientation. We must fight against the idea of aborting fetuses or human embryos identified as homosexual in orientation.

8. If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin.

9. We must stop confusing the issues of moral responsibility and moral choice. We are all responsible for our sexual orientation, but that does not mean that we freely and consciously choose that orientation. We sin against homosexuals by insisting that sexual temptation and attraction are predominately chosen. We do not always (or even generally) choose our temptations. Nevertheless, we are absolutely responsible for what we do with sinful temptations, whatever our so-called sexual orientation.

10. Christians must be very careful not to claim that science can never prove a biological basis for sexual orientation. We can and must insist that no scientific finding can change the basic sinfulness of all homosexual behavior. The general trend of the research points to at least some biological factors behind sexual attraction, gender identity, and sexual orientation. This does not alter God's moral verdict on homosexual sin (or heterosexual sin, for that matter), but it does hold some promise that a deeper knowledge of homosexuality and its cause will allow for more effective ministries to those who struggle with this particular pattern of temptation. If such knowledge should ever be discovered, we should embrace it and use it for the greater good of humanity and for the greater glory of God.

It was branded as a case of sleeping with the enemy: Conservative Christians and civil libertarians – groups at war almost incessantly over the teaching of evolution in school, public prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, crosses on public lands and a multitude of other issues – both support “Bong Hits 4 Jesus"

The case, heard yesterday by the U.S. Supreme Court, involves an Alaskan high schooler who cut class to stand on the street as an Olympic torch runner passed and held aloft the “Bong Hits” sign. After the student was suspended for exercising free speech, his defense did not rest solely on the “secular humanists” who so often defend the Constitution, but also came from the conservative Christians who most certainly don't believe Jesus would be encouraged by ganja-induced stupors in his name.

“'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' Case Finds Strange Legal Bedfellows” was the headline from Religion News Service, posted on Beliefnet.com. And that is the temptation – to think civil libertarians and biblical literalists never cozy up together.

In fact, the groups are not so monogamous.

Two years ago, Christians and the ACLU – and dozens of other religious groups and civil-liberty organizations – lobbied the Supreme Court in favor of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a 7-year-old federal law aimed at protecting religious minorities in land-use disputes and religious freedom for prisoners. Last year, Christians and friends joined the ACLU in supporting a small religious group that used peyote in its services.

“There is a pretty well standing tradition of various religious denominations banding together and filing amicus briefs to the Supreme Court regardless of the practice at issue,” said Gene K. Schaerr, who represented 17 religious organizations, including the National Association of Evangelicals, the Baptist Joint Committee, the First Church of Christ Scientist, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Sikh Coalition and the Muslim Minaret of Freedom Institute, in a friend of the court brief supporting the religious sect, O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal.

"It was an amazingly broad coalition of everything from very conservative evangelicals and Roman Catholics to the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State."