Why Does Their Resurrection Depend on My Extermination?

I know it is fashionable not to blame religion for the political problems of the world, but sometimes you just have to drop the PC bull and call a spade a spade.

On January 7, 2012 Mufti Mohammad Hussein took the stage to celebrate the 47^th anniversary of the creation of Fatah by encouraging the slaughter of Jews. Calling upon the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) the Mufti explained that the killing of Jews would bring about the Muslim “Hour of Resurrection.”

In his defense the Mufti and his supporters said he was simply repeating long held Islamic religious teachings, and did not intend that these teachings translate into present day action. Really? How stupid do these people think we are? Since the Hour of Resurrection has not yet occurred, and since its occurrence is longed for, and since it occurrence depends on the global murder of Jews, claiming he is talking about the past is absurd.

I shared the Mufti’s speech with an Imam friend of mine. He was troubled by it, refused to defend it, and simply said there are crazies on all sides. True enough. And I write about their insanity as well. But something more is needed.

Right now when a seeming madman like Mufti Mohammad Hussein says things like this the only people who sound the alarm are right-wing groups I find alarming.

What we need is another voice, a body of progressive Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders who respond to the insanity of people like Mufti Mohammad Hussein wherever they are. This body, call it the Progressive Abrahamic Council (PAC) would have a team of interns looking for and calling attention to the madness done and called for in the name of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and the PAC would issue letters and videos condemning it on behalf of thoughtful Jews, Christians, and Muslims everywhere. 

As readers of this blog know, I am pretty good at thinking up things for other people to do, and terrible at actually bringing my ideas to fruition. So if you have thoughts about this idea and how it might be established, or if you can share with me groups that are already doing this please let me know.  

America a Christian Nation? Sadly, no.

The United States is not a Christian Nation. How do I know? Because the United States does nothing to stop the extinction of Christians.

Right now Christians around the world are in danger. Coptic Christians in Egypt are on the endangered species list, and the same can be said of Catholics in Tunisia. In Afghanistan American women and men continue to die for a regime that has denied building permits for new churches, and over the summer demolished the last remaining church open to the public. In Iraq, where even more American blood was shed, the Christian population has decreased by 2/3 since 2003. 

And we are supposed to be a Christian nation? Not only do we not protect Christians, but we actively support the very regimes that are threatening them.

I’m not saying we have to intervene militarily, but is there nothing we can do? Can’t we link our foreign aide to liberty and justice for all? Can’t we offer asylum to Christians living in countries that persecute them? Isn’t this what a Christian nation would do?

The next time someone tells you the US is a Christian nation, don’t argue about prayer in school and teaching evolution in the classroom, ask them why, if this so, we are so loathe to rescue Christians? 

Israeli Winter?

The other day I read about two Israels. One is called Start-Up Israel. This is the secular, liberal, high-tech and entrepreneurial Israel that has dozens of companies on the New York Stock Exchange. The other is called Medieval Israel. This is the religious, xenophobic, misogynist Israel supported by Start-Up Nation taxes. Medieval Israel is a welfare state as passionate about recreating the 13^th century as Start-Up Israel is about inventing the 21^st. 

These two Israels used to collide, and still do as women from Start-Up Israel protest the misogynist policies of Medieval Israel. But mostly the war between the two Israels is over. The Medievals have won.

The fastest growing Jewish population in Israel is the haredim, the ultra-Orthodox Jews of Medieval Israel whom the government pays to stay out of the workforce and in the yeshiva (if male) and the kitchen (if female). Two-thirds of haredi men do not work. Fifty years ago only 15% of Israeli kids attended haredi schools, now 50% do so. Sociologists warn that the number will reach 78% by 2040. Israel is literally educating her people for the past, while the future passes her by. While many Arab nations are struggling with the post-modern world, Israel seems destined to slip into the pre-modern one. Even Iran isn’t doing this.

What will happen? Start-Up Israelis will leave home, taking their wealth, knowledge, and military know-how with them, while Medieval Israelis will inherit a nation incapable of feeding itself. Israel will become a welfare state supported by wealthy American Jews and Israeli ex-pats. 

And then there is the problem of hundreds of nuclear bombs in the hands of apocalyptic rabbis. They might allow themselves to become Palestinians if the Palestinians promise to make them dhimmis, the second class citizen status afforded Jews and Christians under Islamic law, and support them the way the Start-Us Israelis did, but I doubt it. They might just as well see themselves as descendants of the Jewish warriors at Masada and choose to die in a nuclear war rather than fall into the hands of their enemies. This choice would drag Pakistan into the fight, which would invite India to war, which would drag the Chinese, Russians, NATO, and the US into it and pretty much end life on this planet as we know it.

What can we do about this? Probably nothing. Israel is a sovereign nation and makes its own policy decisions. As long as it supports the haredim with welfare, exempts them from military service, and allows them to create a separate society with its own schools, Start-Up Israel seems doomed. Short of a huge influx of secular American Jews willing to make Israel home the way Russian Jews did in the past, the emergence of Medieval Israel seems all but inevitable. And I don’t see that happening—most American Jews (myself among them) prefer to be Americans that Israelis.

As much as I doubt the efficacy of the Arab Spring, I worry about the inevitability of an Israeli winter.  My only hope is that as the last Start-Up Israelis leave they take their nukes with them.

Voting Atheist

A Newsweek headline (January 30, 2012) asks Why Jews Vote Like Atheists. Unfortunately the short article doesn’t answer the question. So I will: Jews vote like atheists because most Jews are atheists or at least functional atheists. An atheist is someone who denies the existence of God, and a functional atheists is one who may or may not deny God but lives as if God is irrelevant to their lives.

How do atheists vote?

According to the article, atheists are somewhat conservative on financial matters and liberal on cultural matters: separation of church and state, reproductive rights, gay rights, etc. Yep, that’s me.

Why are so many Jews atheist or functional atheists?

The article doesn’t say, but I suspect it is because the god we are given to believe in is essentially unbelievable. What most Jews know about God comes from our liturgy, and the God presented there is an all powerful Guy who loves us and takes care of us and wants nothing more from us than an endless string of praise and platitudes. It’s hard not to be an atheist when the only God you are offered is the one you outgrew in the ninth grade after reading about the Holocaust.

But don’t imagine that Jewish atheism is a modern phenomenon. We have a 2000 year history of atheism going back at least as far as the first century atheist Rabbi Elisha ben Abuyah. (If you haven’t read the novel As A Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg, you should. If you have read it, read it again.) So maybe it is in our DNA.

I admit I vote like an atheist, and I am a fan of ben Abuyah and other famous Jewish atheists like Spinoza, Einstein, Sagan, Freud, and Emma Goldman, but I don’t consider myself an atheist. Sure if we are talking about the God who walks in the garden of Eden at the cool of the day, then, yes, I have my doubts, but if we are talking about Ain Sof, the all embracing nonduality that is reality, then I am a true believer. 

Interfaith Breakfast and The Big I

I know I have mentioned this before, but I want to make sure that those who are interested in the two interfaith events I am hosting at the Scarritt Bennett Center in February get invited.

The first is our 2nd Annual Interfaith Harmony Week Breakfast on FGebruary 1st. Our theme is "Compassionate Nashville," and we will explore Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion and how we can bring this alive in Middle Tennessee. If you cannot make our breakfast, I urge you to host your own.

The second event is The Big I on February 4 and 5. The "I" stands for Interfaith, Interspiritual, and Integral three major trends in 21st century spirituality. We are hosting over 20 speakers exploring the future of spirituality.

For more information on these programs please visit http://www.scarrittbennett.org/programs/wisdom.aspx

Trust the Ball

Now that we have two GOP contests under our belt I turned to my trustworthy Magic 8-Ball to determine the future. Here is what I learned:

1.     Will Mitt Romney be the next President of the United States? Yes.

2.     Will anything really change? Very doubtful.

3.     Will the US go to war with Iran? You may rely on it.

4.     Will we pay for war by cutting the social safety net for the poor, sick, and elderly? Signs point to yes.

5.     Will Americans learn anything from our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan? My sources say no.

6.     Will the economy improve in 2012? Outlook not so good.

7.     Are Mormons Christian? Better not tell you now.

The Ball is never wrong. Yet, like all prognosticators you can hire your own to get the results you want. If you don’t like these answers, buy your Ball and let us know what it tells you.