Category Archives: Religious News

Reform Movement Renews Call to Repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” Supports Reinstatement of Arabic Translator

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 8, 2009 – In response to Lt. Dan Choi’s recent discharge from the Army National Guard under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, released the following statement:

The U.S. Army this week discharged Lt. Dan Choi, the military’s top Arabic linguist, after Choi revealed in March that he is gay. The military’s decision to fire Lt. Choi for his sexual orientation is yet another disappointing example of just how misguided the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is. With our military stretched and strained by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the dismissal of crucial and qualified personnel solely because of their sexual orientation is not only unjust and a violation of the American promise of equal rights and opportunity for all — it is also a threat to the safety of our nation.

President Obama has indicated that he recognizes the injustice of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. We urge him to address this critical issue of national security and civil rights by making repeal of the policy a priority. He can – and should – begin by reinstating Lt. Choi.

Muslim integration in the West

Here are two articles about Muslim integration into western society. The first is from my local newspaper, the Mpls Star Tribune, and features Augsburg, an ELCA college in Mpls. The second is a Reuters release about attitudes revealed in polling in the western democracies of Europe that suggests Muslims are less integrated in Europe than in America.

Not so long ago, Fadli Mohamed would not have fit the mold of typical Augsburg College students: She’s no white Lutheran kid from the suburbs.

But change has come rapidly to the small, 140-year-old Lutheran college that shares its Minneapolis Cedar-Riverside neighborhood with the highest concentration of Somali people in the United States.

For years Augsburg has reached out to its immigrant Muslim neighbors, helping to care for their infants, tutor their high school students and feed their elderly as part of the college’s service learning program.

Now children from those Somali families, people like Mohamed, are increasingly enrolling at Augsburg, rising from a handful three years ago to more than 30 this year. It’s still a small fraction of the 1,900 daytime undergraduates, but they’re a notable presence among those lending a hand to the neighborhood.

“It gives a different face to the college’s volunteerism and service,” said Mohamed Sallam, director of the college’s Pan-Afrikan Center. “These are students who may or may not come from this neighborhood but feel connected to it through ethnic and religious identity. They are products of the community and they’re giving back in such a way where members of the community can feel very proud.”

Students volunteer in the neighborhood, but they study there, too. A journalism class interviewed people from different backgrounds to create a cookbook called “The Taste of Cedar-Riverside.”

Mary Laurel True, associate director for the college’s Center for Service, Work and Learning, said the program is not an add-on. “The whole idea of service learning is that it’s integrated into the classroom, into everything we do.”

Augsburg undergraduates are required to take two religion courses, and in studying Islam, they hear about the faith from people who practice it, often visiting one of the four mosques within blocks of the school.

“Here we are, this Lutheran institution, and yet we have this rare gift to experience — not just read about, but experience — other people’s faith,” said Paul Pribbenow, the college’s president since 2006.

After being greeted by imams at the mosque, students take off their shoes, enter and observe people praying, said assistant Prof. Jeremy Myers. His introductory religion course is called “Christian Vocation and the Search for Meaning,” but he’s hoping to add “in Cedar-Riverside” to its title.

There, students “experience hospitality,” Myers said. “Especially in the last eight years — and even within the last few months — it’s important that they learn what Islam is and what it’s not. It’s important that people see the truth or a different side of the truth.”

Embracing the city

Augsburg College was founded as a Lutheran seminary in rural Wisconsin in 1869 and relocated three years later to Minneapolis. Early in the 20th century, the school “embraced the community and saw Minneapolis as a place of opportunity and service,” a chapter on Augsburg in a 1998 book titled “Successful Service-Learning Programs” recounts.

However, the school also has a long history of “organized efforts … to move to the suburbs for ‘more room and fresh air … more desirable locations,'” according to the text.

That tension occasionally resurfaced over time.

“If you go back even 10 years ago and look at some of Augsburg’s admissions materials, they often talked about this college as an oasis in the city,” Pribbenow said. “And I think what has shifted is that now we’re saying, we are no oasis. This is it. This is the city. We are the city.”

The makeup of the college’s incoming class has changed substantially since 2005:

Then, students of color made up 10.7 percent of the incoming class; last fall it was 17.9 percent. In 2005, the college tended to attract students from the suburbs; in 2008, the greatest number of incoming students came from Minneapolis high schools Henry and Roosevelt. The number of students who list their religion as Lutheran has dropped over that time, while the number of those who listed a religion other than Lutheran or Catholic has grown.

The appeal of Augsburg

Somali students come to Augsburg for the same reasons as any other students: Small classes, an urban setting, a focus on community service.

As a high school senior, Fadli Mohamed had her college choices ranked, with Augsburg in second place. Then she happened to meet Augsburg students who were tutoring her neighbors in English.

“They were so friendly,” said Mohamed, now 19. “Seeing people from the school doing something positive where you live — it made a huge difference.”

The number of Somali and Muslim student groups and services has grown along with the students. There’s the Pan-Afrikan center and student union — which brings together African and African-American students — as well as the newly-founded Muslim Student Association.

One of the students who helped start that group, Ahmednur Ali, was shot to death last fall on his first day volunteering at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Cedar-Riverside. The 16-year-old charged in his death reportedly shot him because Ali wouldn’t let him play basketball. Ali was the first Augsburg student to be fatally shot in the college’s history. In some ways, his passing brought the Augsburg and Somali communities closer, several students and leaders said.

People with the college talk about how Sallam and other Muslims helped fashion Ali’s memorial service so that it was reflective of Islamic traditions.

People with Somali organizations talk about how, despite some trepidation, students continued to volunteer. About how President Pribbenow was ever-present during that time.

“He came and said condolences to the father and the family,” said Saeed Fahia, executive director of the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota. “That’s significant. That shows the kind of neighbors they are.”

By Jenna Ross in the Mpls Star Tribune

Here is the Reuters article reprinted from MSNBC.com.

LONDON – Muslims living in European countries feel far more isolated than those living in the United States, according to a survey on coexistence, with a lack of access to education and jobs reinforcing a sense of ostracism.

At the same time, Muslims in France, Britain and Germany feel far more loyalty to their country than they are perceived to feel, and express a strong willingness to integrate.

The findings by pollsters Gallup tend to suggest that a longer period of migration to the United States and economic growth there has helped foster integration. Meanwhile, Muslims in Europe are working hard to fit in and say it is important, but they are not always seen to be succeeding.

“This research shows that many of the assumptions about Muslims and integration are wide of the mark,” said Dalia Mogahed, the executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies and co-author of a report based on the findings.

“European Muslims want to be part of the wider community and contribute even more to society.”

The survey, described as the first of its kind, polled at least 500 Muslims in June and July of last year to generate its findings on European Muslim integration. At least 1,000 members of the general public in each country were also randomly surveyed to create comparisons on specific issues.

While 38 percent of Muslims in Germany, 35 percent of those in the United Kingdom and 29 percent of those in France were found to be “isolated” in their countries, that figure stood at just 15 percent in the United States and 20 percent in Canada.

“This can be explained by the historical importance of immigration in the development of Canada and the United States as modern nations,” said Mogahed, adding that better access to higher education and work in North America had helped over decades to create more integration and social advancement.

‘Perception gap’
One of the starkest findings of the surveys was the gap in perception between European Muslims and the general public.

While nearly half of French Muslims (46 percent) said they felt integrated, only 22 percent of the French public said they felt the same about the Muslims living in their country.

In Germany, 35 percent of Muslims saw themselves as integrated, but the broader public put it at 13 percent. And in Britain, while 20 percent of the public thought Muslims were integrated, only 10 percent of Muslims thought they were.

Mogahed and co-author Mohamed Younis said the findings showed how hard it was to draw broad conclusions about Muslim integration across Europe or develop policy as a result.

They suggested that country of origin — many Muslims in France are originally from North Africa, many in Germany are originally from Turkey, and in Britain from Pakistan or Bangladesh — affected integration and/or its perception.

That certainly appears to be the case when the surveys examined the importance of certain moral issues to Muslims and compared it to the general public in each country.

In France, 78 percent of the public said homosexual acts were “morally acceptable,” while 35 percent of Muslims agreed. In Germany, the ratio was 68 percent of the public and 19 percent of Muslims. In Britain, it was 58 percent to zero. The margin of error was five percentage points in all cases.

Similar dissonance was found on issues such as viewing pornography, extramarital sex, suicide and the death penalty.

The authors suggested that a combination of more rigid views and religious practices by Muslims in certain countries had contributed to a misperception about their degree of integration, even while those Muslims were keen to integrate.

“Since 9/11 and the terrorist attacks in Madrid and London, mistrust toward European Muslims has become palpable,” the authors wrote. “Significant segments of European societies openly express doubt that Muslim fellow nationals are loyal citizens.

“The integration debate has to widen its frame, moving beyond the confines of security and religion, and focus more on the socioeconomic struggles of citizens of all faiths.”

Young Americans Losing Their Religion

By Dan Harris on abcnews.go.com

New research shows young Americans are dramatically less likely to go to church — or to participate in any form of organized religion — than their parents and grandparents.

“It’s a huge change,” says Harvard University professor Robert Putnam, who conducted the research.

Historically, the percentage of Americans who said they had no religious affiliation (pollsters refer to this group as the “nones”) has been very small — hovering between 5 percent and 10 percent. However, Putnam says the percentage of “nones” has now skyrocketed to between 30 percent and 40 percent among younger Americans.

Putnam calls this a “stunning development.” He gave reporters a first glimpse of his data Tuesday at a conference on religion organized by the Pew Forum on Faith in Public Life.

The research will be included in a forthcoming book, called “American Grace.”

This trend started in the 1990s and continues through today. It includes people in both Generation X and Y.

While these young “nones” may not belong to a church, they are not necessarily atheists.

“Many of them are people who would otherwise be in church,” Putnam said. “They have the same attitidues and values as people who are in church, but they grew up in a period in which being religious meant being politically conservative, especially on social issues.”

Putnam says that in the past two decades, many young people began to view organized religion as a source of “intolerance and rigidity and doctrinaire political views,” and therefore stopped going to church.

This movement away from organized religion, says Putnam, may have enormous consequences for American culture and politics for years to come.

“That is the future of America,” he says. “Their views and their habits religiously are going to persist and have a huge effect on the future.”

This data is likely to reinvigorate an already heated debate about whether America is, or will continue to be, a “Christian nation.” A recent Newsweek cover article, entitled “The End of Christian America” provoked responses from religious thinkers all over the spectrum.

Putnam, author of the book “Bowling Alone,” which tracked the decline in civic and community engagement in America (exemplified by the diminution of bowling leagues), fears the reduction in religiosity could have widespread negative impacts.

His research shows that people who go to church are much more likely to vote, volunteer and give to charity.

However, he says, it’s possible that the current spike in young people opting out of organized religion could also prove to be an opportunity for some.

“America historically has been a very inventive and even entrepreneurial place in terms of religion,” he says. “We’re all the time inventing new religions and reinventing religions that we have. It’s partly because we have a free market in religion. That is, we don’t have a state church.”

Given that today’s young “nones” probably would be in church if they didn’t associate religion with far-right political views, he says, new faith groups may evolve to serve them.

“Jesus said, ‘Be fishers of men,'” says Putnam, “and there’s this pool with a lot of fish in it and no fishermen right now.”

In the end, he says, this “stunning” trend of young people becoming less religious could lead to America’s next great burst of religious innovation.

Maine Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage: The Groundswell Grows

From NPR.org, May 6, 2009

Maine’s governor signed a freshly passed bill Wednesday approving gay marriage, making it the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the region.

New Hampshire legislators were also poised to send a gay marriage bill to their governor, who hasn’t indicated whether he’ll sign it. If he does, Rhode Island would be the region’s sole holdout.

The Maine Senate voted 21-13, with one absent, for a bill that authorizes marriage between any two people rather than between one man and one woman, as state law currently allows. The House had passed the bill Tuesday.

Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, who hadn’t previously indicated how he would handle the bill, signed it shortly afterward. In the past, he said he opposed gay marriage but supported civil unions, which provide many benefits of marriage.

Debate was brief. Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, turned the gavel over to an openly gay member, Sen. Lawrence Bliss, D-South Portland, to preside over the final vote.

Republican Sen. Debra Plowman of Hampden argued that the bill was being passed “at the expense of the people of faith.”

“You are making a decision that is not well-founded,” warned Plowman.

But Senate Majority Leader Philip Bartlett II said the bill does not compel religious institutions to recognize gay marriage. “We respect religious liberties. … This is long overdue,” said Bartlett, D-Gorham.

Maine is now the fourth state in New England to allow same-sex marriages. Connecticut enacted a bill after being ordered to allow gay marriages by the courts, and Vermont passed a bill over the governor’s veto.

New Hampshire’s House was also expected to vote on a bill Wednesday and send it to Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat.

Massachusetts’ high court has ordered the state to recognize gay marriages. In Rhode Island, a bill to legalize same-sex marriage has been introduced but is not expected to pass this year.

Outside New England, Iowa is recognizing gay marriages on court orders. The practice was briefly legal in California before voters banned it.

Lutheran Seminarians Support Task Force Recommendation

CHICAGO (ELCA) — In an open letter to the 65 synod bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Lutheran seminarians expressed their support for a recommendation that would allow Lutherans in committed same-gender relationships to be included on professional church rosters.

On Feb. 19 the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality released a report and recommendation for a process to consider changes to ministry policies that could make it possible for Lutherans who are in “publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gendered relationships” to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, deaconesses, diaconal ministers and ordained ministers.

The task force also released that day a proposed social statement for the church — “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust.” The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly — the highest legislative authority of the 4.7 million-member church — will consider both documents Aug. 17-23 in Minneapolis.

To date more than 160 members of the ELCA studying at Lutheran and non-Lutheran seminaries have signed on to “An Open Letter from Lutheran Seminarians to the Bishops of the ELCA.” Four members of the ELCA attending Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, wrote the letter.

“We applaud the ELCA’s commitment to the dialogue on sexuality and its affirmation of sexuality as a gift and trust from God,” the letter stated. “After careful consideration of the issue at hand and its influence on the life of the church, we stand in solidarity, affirming the recommendation for structured flexibility within the rostering requirements of the ELCA.”

In the letter seminarians asked synod bishops to “represent our voice faithfully in your involvement in the deliberation process leading” to the churchwide assembly. “Joining with you as people invested in the life, health and ministry of the ELCA, we appeal to your commitment to the gospel and the mission of the church.”

In preparation for ministry, “we both see and experience the harm of the current policy and its denial of the gifts present in the whole Body of Christ. Because of the current policy, gay and lesbian persons ignore calls to ministry, candidates feel compelled to lie about their sexuality, mentors are forced out of the church, and candidates leave the ELCA for more inclusive denominations. The tragedy of these events is weakening the integrity of the church,” the letter stated.

The Lutheran seminarians said it is in the “best interest” of the ELCA to affirm the recommendation of the task force at the assembly. “The life of the church depends upon the full recognition and inclusion of ministerial gifts engendered by the Spirit.”

Galilee Diary: Independence Day

Our hope is not lost, the hope of two thousand years To be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem. -Hatikvah, Israeli national anthem

This year’s observance of Yom Ha’atzma’ut was particularly interesting and thought-provoking for me; here are some hightlights:

At mid-day on Tuesday, Memorial Day, almost the entire population of Shorashim, a few hundred people, set forth in a bus and a caravan of cars toward the Bet Shean valley. Every year we do an educational excursion on the afternoon of Memorial Day, to a historical site connected with the creation of the state. This year, we explored the area settled by Orthodox kibbutzim in the late 30s and early 40s. A highlight of the afternoon was a meeting with Jonathan Bassi, whose parents were among the founders of one of these kibbutzim. Bassi, who was a baby in 1948, recently got interested in researching a pivotal battle from 1948 that helped set the borders in the area, in which several of his parents’ close friends and comrades were killed. He discovered a fascinating history of silence, regret, and guilt – that generation didn’t discuss their feelings, and when he probed, fifty years later, it all came out – the one who was passed over in making up that morning’s patrol because he was needed on the farm, the one who still feels guilty that he didn’t clean the machine gun – and it jammed in battle, the young widow who only knew her husband had been killed when he didn’t come back with all the others (no one would tell her)… etc. It was interesting to contrast that almost pathological restraint with our present invasive media culture, which would not have let any intimate detail escape the public spotlight. We complain about that sensationalistic, prying scrutiny – but it does have its advantages.

Bassi didn’t talk about himself. A recognized and respected community leader, he was appointed in 2005 to supervise the resettlement of the settlers evacuated from Gaza. He became a lightning rod for the strident public controversy over that evacuation, and ultimately was hounded out of his kibbutz by a vocal minority. But we all knew his story (from the media), as we listened to him speak so eloquently about the battles of sixty years ago, and their meaning for him.

We went on to a nearby park, where at sundown we held a brief ceremony – including the sounding of the shofar – to mark the transition from Memorial Day to Independence Day, and a picnic and campfire. Baked potatoes in the fire for the native Israelis; toasted marshmallows for the immigrants.

The next day, Independence Day, we set out to brave the crowds at the Air Force training base near Haifa, where the Galilee Jewish-Arab Youth Circus had been invited to perform at the traditional Independence Day open house (held at many army bases, all over the country). We had wondered how the parents of the Arab kids would feel about this invitation. There was no hesitation; they were proud and supportive. We had actually been a bit surprised at the invitation, and indeed a few days before, a clueless army bureaucrat tried to cancel it, as it was “not possible for Arabs to visit the base;” but ultimately he got it – that these are citizens – and relented. So there they were, Jews and Arabs, in the shade of a Patriot anti-missile missile launcher, launching balls, rings, and each other into the air, to the enthusiastic applause of hundreds of who had come out to show their children Israel’s military might and eat ice cream.

Hopefully some of them got the message – that it takes different types of might to survive as a state, and that the courage to let the Other stand on your shoulders may be at least as important as the courage to fly an F-16.

By Marc Rosenstein

ELCA Presiding Bishop Speaks to Antipoverty Activists

WASHINGTON (ELCA) – The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), spoke to more than 1,200 faith-based and antipoverty activists here at the Mobilization to End Poverty event, April 26-29. He called on participants to “hold each other accountable” for the work they are doing to end poverty. The event was held to engage participants in making antipoverty work a political priority.

Hanson was one of six speakers at the “Church Leaders Roundtable — Uniting and Mobilizing the Church in the Fight Against Poverty” plenary session at the event. Other organizations represented on the panel were the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Convoy of Hope, Reformed Church in America, Micah Challenge and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. The Rev. Brian D. McLaren, author and speaker, moderated.

During the plenary panelists were asked a series of questions regarding obstacles to overcoming poverty, pastors’ reluctance to engage in advocacy, congregational members’ accountability and ways to continue the work to end poverty back home.

Hanson said if he were serving in a parish he would have adults engage in a “community mutual accountability and discernment” hour. “We would hold each other accountable to publicly live out the mandate of serving the poor or spreading the justice of peace,” he said.

“We would confess it didn’t go as well as God intended,” Hanson said. “Then we would become a community of moral discernment, not splitting conservatives and liberals, but engaging the Word in the world as this community of faith in this context.”

Participants also visited members of Congress and advocated for cutting domestic poverty in half in 10 years.

The Rev. Matthew Lenahan, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Akron, Pa., explained that the mobilization was an “equipping” event.

“We are called to initially go back and ask that one question, ‘What is God calling me to do and be now as a result of this mobilization?'” he said. “I have great hope after my day on the (Capitol) Hill that things can actually change when people of faith care enough to step out of their comfortable place and confront systems of injustice with a word of Scripture and a word of hope.”

Hosted by Sojourners, a progressive Christian network, the Mobilization to End Poverty was supported by 23 denominations, religious societies and groups. The ELCA was a financial sponsor of the event.
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The Mobilization to End Poverty blog is at http://blog.sojo.net/ on the Web.
Information about the Mobilization to End Poverty is at http://www.sojo.net/mobilization on the Web.

God’s Image and Caesar’s Image: Torture and the Currency of Empire

One of the central teachings of Torah is that all human beings are made in the Image of God. That teaching and what flows from it are at the heart of Jewish prohibitions on the use of torture — and perhaps at the heart of Christian opposition to torture as well.

Indeed, the Rabbis – living under the Roman Empire – enriched that teaching about the Image as a direct challenge to the power of Rome, the Imperial fount of torture. One of them asked, “What does this mean, ’In God’s image?’” And another answered, “When Caesar puts his image on a coin, all the coins come out identical. When that One who is beyond all rulers puts the divine image on a ‘coin,’ all the coins come out unique.”

Torture tries to destroy the Image of God –- uniqueness, the diversity that is the only way the Infinite can unfold itself in the world — and replace it with uniformity, Caesar’s image on the human soul and body. In the experience of the Rabbis, it was Imperial Rome that used torture. To this very day, the liturgy for Yom Kippur, when more Jews are in the synagogue than at any other time, and in a more deeply devotional and covenantal place than at any other time, includes the graphic and horrific descriptions of Rome’s torturing to death ten of the greatest rabbis of that or any age.

I think this understanding of the Image of God casts a profound light on the story in three of the Christian Gospels in which two troublemakers come up to Jesus and ask him a question: “Should we pay taxes with this coin?”

They evidently hoped to trap him into violating either Jewish or Roman law. For the coin had on it an image of Caesar, marked “Caesar, imperator, divus: Emperor, God.” If Jesus said to use the coin, he might be violating the Jewish law against idolatry. If he said not to, he would surely be violating Roman law.

So Jesus, in a totally Jewish fashion, answers the question with a question. He asks, “Whose image is on the coin?” They respond, more or less — “Caesar’s, dummy, that’s the point!”

So according to the Gospels, Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” and for 2,000 years Christians have been arguing about what that means.

But now take into account the Rabbinic teaching that Caesar puts his rigid uniformity upon his coins, whereas the Infinite God puts uniqueness into God’s coins: every human being. Surely Jesus, the radical rabbi from the Galilee, knew this teaching.

So I believe there is a missing line in the Gospel story. Either Jesus didn’t need to say it because his first question would reawaken the knowledge in those who were trying to trouble him, or it was later censored out because it was so radical:

“Whose image is on that coin?” he said, and they answered: “Caesar’s.”

And then I think he said, “And whose Image is on this coin?” as he put his hands on the shoulders of the troublemakers.

Only then did he say, “So give to Caesar what is Caesar’s – and give to God what is God’s!”

And of course, as the Gospels say, the troublemakers themselves went away deeply troubled – not because they had failed to trick him, but because he had forced them to think and feel and act anew as they opened themselves to experience the Image of God in themselves. And to understand that the Divine Image stood in radical contradiction to Caesar’s image, so that the world could not be neatly and comfortably divided into two different realms, one “spiritual;” and one “political.”

This teaching needs to be renewed in every generation. One way that Jewish tradition does this in regard to torture is to insist that every Yom Kippur, the community relives the torture of ten rabbis by Rome. In parallel, Christianity insists that every Good Friday the community relive the torture of Jesus by Rome.

These two practices also remind us what brought about the suffering that grieves us. For they remind us that empires torture. The US by its own hand in the Philippines a century ago, by proxies in Central America just a generation ago, again by its own hand in Iraq and Afghanistan. No empire can survive without resorting to torture against those who refuse to bow to its power — by act or even by omission or even by sheer accident of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those who get in the way of its demand that human beings abandon their uniqueness and bow to uniformity, as Caesar forces his own image onto every human body, drowning the Image of God in a flood of agony.

So what does this teach us about America today? That we have a choice more basic than whether we close Guantanamo or – as is now being done by the Obama Administration — we double the size of Bagram, a similar prison in Afghanistan.

America cannot celebrate both the Infinite God and the tyrannical Caesar, cannot remain both a citizenly republic and a domineering empire. How to choose? One way is to affirm that torture is both a grave sin and a major crime. Refusing to “look back” at the use of torture in the past, refusing to try as criminals those who committed the crime, failing to excommunicate those who committed the sin, means refusing to heal the future.

It would be the same as ripping the crucifixion out of Good Friday or the torture of the ten rabbis out of Yom Kippur. After all, it merely happened long ago. Under a long-gone Empire. What is the point of remembering?

Rabbi Arthur Waskow is director of The Shalom Center, author of Godwrestling, Round 2, and co-author of The Tent of Abraham.

Standing Up to Miss California

The National Organization for Marriage is acting like if Miss California cannot be Miss USA, then she will be the new Queen Esther. But Carrie Prejean is neither one.

We know Miss USA types but, as a rabbi, to show how wrong this allusion is, I must tell you about Queen Esther. She is a brave biblical figure from thousands of years ago. Orphaned and raised by her uncle, she rose against all odds, to be the king of Persia’s favored wife in a time when Persians despised Jews.

At risk of her own life she came out to the king to expose a plot against all Jews. Even her uncle asked her to risk her own life because she was born and raised to the status of queen “for such a time as this.” Because of her bravery, she and all her people were spared from becoming the victims of a grab for power.

So in today’s real life story, who is Queen Esther? Who are the victims?

Carrie Prejean and the National Organization for Marriage feel they are the victims because of the outcry when Carrie came out and said, “In my country and in my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman – no offense to anyone out there…”

But offence IS taken when these beliefs are the backbone of anti-gay legislation. Offense IS taken when victimization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people is ongoing.

* It is gay and lesbian couples and families who do not have equal protection under the law to marry the person they love who are the victims.
* It is transgender people who are targeted for brutal beatings and murders such as Angie Zapata in Colorado who are the victims.
* It is every child in our public school who is bullied to the point of suicide with taunts of “you’re so gay” who are the victims.
* It is the foster children who are denied a permanent home because gay couples are barred from adopting in state after state who are the victims.
* It is the parents and family of gay people who watch their loved ones suffer persecution and discrimination on the job who are the victims.

In America we have a separation of church and state. Churches and synagogues do not control civil marriage. Conservative people of faith remain free to practice their religion–and even their prejudices. They are not forced to marry anyone in their congregation.

Our founding fathers were wise when they made sure that no religion was the official religion of the United States. They separated religion from civil law. Carrie and National Organization for Marriage want to be viewed as the victims but they are among those who plot against marginalized people who have been forced to live in fear and silence.

Carrie and National Organization for Marriage claim that they are the victims and that Carrie lost the pageant for her beliefs. But one judge, Alicia Jacobs, spoke out afterwards and blogged:

Could Miss California have answered her question in a more sensitive manner? Yes, I believe she could have and she probably should have. Interestingly, her sister is a gay rights activist in the military…go figure? I do not fault her for her beliefs…I fault her for her complete lack of social grace.

Esther spoke up for the underdog and her family. Esther spoke up for justice at the risk of her own life. So if we are to look to Queen Esther, we must all speak out to expose the mass of misinformation about marriage and gay families. There is no threat to straight marriage–only equal opportunity for every person to marry the one they love.

Is Miss Carrie Queen Esther?

I think not.

Are we all called to be like Queen Esther and speak out for fairness and truth “in such a time as this”?

I think so.

Rabbi Denise L. Eger is the founding Rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, CA. She is a founding steering committee member of California Faith for Equality and the President of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis. She posted this article at the Huffington Post.

Gathering Storm: Miss California Trying to Redefine Traditional Breasts for the Rest of Us

Miss California Carrie Prejean ostensibly lost the coveted first prize of the Miss USA Pageant due to an honest, but clumsily delivered, response to a question about same-sex marriage equality. Thanks, however, to the juvenile grandstanding and self-aggrandizing douchebaggery of Perez Hilton, she earned a seemingly more lustrous and lucrative crown: spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). NOM, of course, is the political organization made infamous by the countless parodies of its “Gathering Storm” ad, in which one desperate-for-any-work actor warned America in barely perceptible English that a “storm is coming” in the form of full civil equality for gay and lesbian Americans.

Prejean, for her part, has vowed “to do whatever it takes to protect marriage” and the newly crowned queen of “Opposite Marriage” appears in NOM’s newest ad entitled, “No Offense.” She also reminded the nation at a press conference that her contemptibly ill-informed comments at the Miss America contest was “not about being politically correct, but about being ‘Biblically correct.'”

Oops! Heaven, we have a problem.

A recent revelation — and not of the Biblical variety — surfaced this week that the prodigal princess had breast augmentation surgery, approved and funded by the Miss California Organization, just weeks before the Miss USA pageant. One has to wonder how the beauty queen has the credibility and moral standing to speak out against “unnatural” and “un-Biblical” marriage with the same breath that is weighted down by “unnatural” and “un-Biblical” implants filtered through $10,000 worth of “unnatural” capped teeth.

Of course, Princess Prejean has a right to her religious convictions and no one should ever lose a contest over speaking those beliefs in earnest. Miss California also has the right to do whatever she chooses within the privacy of her own bra, but she doesn’t have the right to redefine traditional breasts for the rest of us.

For many thousands of years, across every culture and continent, women have known “traditional” breasts to be those that God — or nature — gave them. To think otherwise flies in the face of millennia of human history and spiritual doctrine. Prejean’s Bible repeatedly reminds us we are made in God’s perfect image while warning us against exchanging the “natural” use of our bodies for those deemed “unnatural.” And, while one could argue the right to privacy and personal freedom are inherent in our nation’s founding democratic principles and that every American has a right to his/her own pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, organizations like NOM — for whom she’s now the spokesperson — Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council repeatedly admonish us that life in America would be better if theology and biblical doctrine were the primary determinant of civil law and personal liberties.

While someone else was footing the bill, Prejean made the choice to defy her God’s “perfect” design and creation of her and to rebel against the intended and “natural” purpose of her mammaries: namely, the nursing of babies rather than the visual attraction sufficient enough to win a vanity contest. Moreover, if her teeth aren’t capped, I’m betting they were braced; and I’d also put money down on the fact that Prejean has, at some point, performed other “unnatural” acts with her organs like chewing gum, wearing eye-glasses, enjoying a Diet Coke or two or… well, you get the idea.

So, Carrie, you may find full civil equality for all Americans to be “unnatural” and not “Biblically correct,” but, frankly, neither are your Jugs for Jesus and your Caps for Christ. “No Offense.”

Brian Normoyle in the Huffington Post