Tuesday, January 06, 2009
(Sheik Yassin, Left)(Weekly Column)As long as we refer to the Middle East as the "Holy Land" there will be war. For peace to prosper, extremists, on both sides, will have to he marginalized. This will require courage from Israeli and Palestinian leaders, who have failed to take aim at the religious roots of this festering fiasco.
The first step to a brighter future is crushing Hamas. This cowardly terrorist organization indiscriminately fires rockets into cities and then hides behind human shields when Israel's military rightfully responds. Hamas' charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the forming of a radical Islamic Republic that would fly, "the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine."
Unfortunately, many "liberals" are infuriated that Israel is targeting these illiberal and violent theocrats. They mysteriously don't seem to be concerned that the rights of women and other minorities, including gay people, would be greatly eroded if Hamas lorded over a Palestinian state.
By protesting Israel, these well-intentioned individuals in the West are actually prolonging the pain of the Palestinian people. Israel, obviously, cannot make peace with an entity determined to destroy it. The longer Hamas remains viable, the longer these problems will be protracted. As the weaker party, the Palestinians will almost always be on the losing end. A cease-fire with Hamas does little but provide a band-aid solution that ensures future bloodshed.
The fact is, eliminating Hamas would pave the way for reuniting Gaza and the West Bank under Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Having seen the radical alternative, the Israeli government would be favorably inclined to seek common ground with Abbas -- expediting the possibility of a Palestinian state.
If this scenario plays out, Israel should move swiftly to empower Abbas by tearing down all illegal Jewish settlements. Nothing has done more to harm Israel in terms of world opinion and done less to improve its security than these outrageous outposts on Palestinian property. Someone has to tell these deluded settlers that the Messianic dream of a greater Israel is over.
Speaking of fantasies, the Palestinian people are going to have to give up their Jihad -- which hasn't exactly been a success. In 2006, they voted for holy war by electing Hamas -- a group which pays the families of suicide bombers $5,000. If you are going to choose terrorism over tourism as your main industry, don't cry to the world when bombs are dropped on your doorstep.
If the Palestinians face occupation, as they claim, they don't need "martyrs" -- they need leaders who will tell them the truth. In 2004, more than 200,000 Palestinians marched at the funeral of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, after he was assassinated by Israel.
That's fine, but where are the massive non-violent demonstrations that don't call for the demise of Israel? Such protests would do wonders to further their cause and help undo the image of the suicide bomber. The Palestinian people have to understand that there will be no state -- nor should there be -- until the average Israeli citizen feels peace will not come at the expense of safety. If the Palestinians fail to offer such reassurances, they will remain stateless and mired in deprivation and poverty.
Checking the powerful and entrenched interests that undermine Middle East peace will not be easy. In America we certainly know how a well-organized minority of ideologues can infect the political process. GLBT equality, for example, has been stymied for eight years under the oppressive Bush Administration. We have seen a concerted effort by social conservatives to hurt our families and legislate our marriages -- particularly in election years. And, we saw John McCain place America's future in jeopardy by selecting the unqualified Sarah Palin as his running mate to appease his extreme base. It is still unthinkable that she was nearly a breath away from the Oval Office.
Still, the battle in Gaza is an opportunity to move forward. The Hamas gunmen that Israel is targeting are self-righteous thugs that intimidate moderates who favor peace. Those in Israel who think God commands Jews to have every inch of land -- even if it belongs to Palestinian families -- are the same types who believe God wants gay pride marchers in Jerusalem to be stoned.
If Israel's true goal is security and the Palestinians genuinely want to secure a state, then I believe peace can occur and both groups can prosper. But, if negotiating is a way for Israel to stall so they can change facts on the ground through new settlements, or for Palestinians to replenish stocks of lethal rockets, God's people will continue to turn this disputed land into a hellhole.
While you can never fully separate religion from the region, the "Holy" must be detached from the actual "Land" if peace is ever to be realized. It is time to return the fanatics to their rightful place on the fringe, so good people on both sides of this divide have a chance to live normal and peaceful lives.
3 Comments
Friday, January 02, 2009
So the reign of George W. Bush, the first true Southern Republican president since Reconstruction, was the culmination of a long process. And despite the claims of some on the right that Mr. Bush betrayed conservatism, the truth is that he faithfully carried out both his party's divisive tactics -- long before Sarah Palin, Mr. Bush declared that he visited his ranch to "stay in touch with real Americans" -- and its governing philosophy.
-- Paul Krugman, New York Times
6 Comments
Monday, December 29, 2008
(Weekly Column)
If 2008 taught the world one lesson, it is that religious people are not morally superior to those who are non-religious. Indeed, faith often shelters the shameless and provides cover for the most corrupt among us.
Sanctimony was the sanctuary of Bernard Madoff, the con artist who bilked fellow Jewish people who never imagined this man of piety would mastermind a Ponzi scheme. A New York Times article summed it up: "...Jews all over the country are already sending up something of a communal cry over a cost they say goes beyond the financial to the theological and personal."
The article quoted Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angles who said, "I'd like to believe someone raised in our community, imbued with Jewish values, would be better than this."
Apparently, the rabbi has a short memory. In 2006, corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff disgraced the Jewish community. When he wasn't stealing from Indian tribes and polluting Washington, he could be found in synagogues extolling his Jewish family values.
Many in the Jewish community seem shocked by recent events. They have the same befuddled looks on their faces as Christians ripped off by televangelist
Jim Bakker. Or, the wide-eyed puritans in the pews who were stunned that Revs. Jimmy Swaggart and Ted Haggard had a proclivity for prostitutes.
This is not to say that religious people are necessarily more corrupt. But, the myth that faith makes one less fallible and more pure must be punctured. This fable comes at a great cost to the holy who keep getting hosed. Charlatans are acutely aware that when religious institutions confer credibility, it is easier to con the credulous. Needless to say, churches, temples and mosques are often a refuge for reprobates. As escaped slave turned abolitionist Frederick Douglas noted in his tome "Autobiography," the most devout Christians made the most brutal slave owners.
Clearly, there are many people of faith who live exemplary lives of upstanding morality. It is the assumption, however, that attending temple makes one less likely to succumb to temptation that is dangerous. Madoff would still have fooled many of America's wisest investors had he not immersed himself in the Jewish community. But, without this powerful veneer of morality, perhaps investors would have looked closer at his scam.
In 1997, James Hedges, founder of LJH Global Investments, met with Madoff to discuss investing money for wealthy clients. He says that there were red flags for those who bothered to look.
"His whole tone during the meeting was curt, truncated, and he volunteered nothing," Hedges
told Barron's. "It was an extraction process to get him to answer anything. "...What it told me was that it was a fraud."
A separate New York Times article discussed religious extremism among students in the nation of Jordan. Frustrated with dishonest "secular" politicians, these students wrongly assume that religious leaders are less corrupt and mindlessly regurgitate the slogan, "Islam is the answer." They ignore the endemic corruption among Shiite leaders in Iran, the barbarism of Al Qaeda and the suffocating repression in Sunni Saudi Arabia.
Honesty is the answer -- not Islam, Judaism or Christianity. If people of faith happen to be honest, it is really beside the point, not a prerequisite for morality.
The largest problem with religious leaders is that they have trouble apologizing for their sins -- because they are supposedly speaking for God. So, if they apologize, it is akin to God having been wrong.
One example of such spiritual arrogance is Saddleback pastor Rick Warren, who clearly and unquestionably compared homosexuality to incest and pedophilia. As a result, gay activists accurately called him anti-gay. Now that his reputation has taken a hit, he put out a new video denying that he verbally assaulted gays. Wouldn't a true moral leader simply say, "I'm sorry," rather than offering slick
PR from the pulpit?
San Francisco State University's Family Acceptance Project
released a study this week that found that young gay people who are rejected by their parents after coming out were more likely to attempt suicide, experience depression and use drugs than those whose parents were accepting. Will a single religious leader, including Warren, reconsider the harm they are doing to gay youth?
The U.S. has spent more than $200 million on abstinence-only programs, which promote ignorance over education in schools.
A new study, reported in Pediatrics, shows that such programs are a fraud, with teenagers who pledged to avoid sex until marriage as likely to have sex as other students. The teens that took virginity pledges were also less likely to use birth control pills or condoms than those making no promise. Will a single religious "leader" have the morality to give up their dogma to prevent the deaths of teens that are having unsafe sex?
This New Year, let's vow to judge people by their good principles and not their piety. As we learned in 2008 -- they are not necessarily the same thing.
22 Comments
Thursday, December 25, 2008
On Christmas Eve, the Pope chastised humanity for "selfishness" -- while he preached in gold robes that clearly were not purchased at K-mart. Nothing speaks to shared sacrifice during a recession like an opulent display of wealth by the pontiff, who sat on a throne and wore a gold crown. He might do better reaching the "greedy" paupers if he'd given up his Prada footwear for a trip to Payless Shoes. The Pontiff's sermon was the equivalent of Donald Trump urging New Yorkers to take mass transit -- as he gets out of a stretch limousine.
The Pope's hypocrisy is as pronounced on issues of poverty as it is on sexual orientation. It is increasingly hard to take him seriously on critical matters of the day.
In his Dec. 22 World Youth Day speech, the Pope spoke about the environment -- and somehow tied it to his favorite obsession, homosexuality.
On the environment, the pope said: The earth is "the gift of our Creator, with certain intrinsic rules that offer us an orientation we must respect as administrators of creation. ... [The church] must defend not only the earth, water and air as gifts of creation that belong to all. It must also defend the human person against its own destruction. What's needed is something like a 'human ecology,' understood in the right sense. It's not simply an outdated metaphysics if the church speaks of the nature of the h
uman person as man and woman, and asks that this order of creation be respected."
The pope went on to opine that if humanity ignores this "order of creation," it is self-destructive. "That which is often expressed and understood by the term 'gender' in the end amounts to the self-emancipation of the human person from creation and from the Creator," and as a result "the human person lives against the truth, against the Creator Spirit," said the pope.
I saw the movie "Doubt" last night. It was a chilling reminder that this anti-gay church presided over a shocking child sex scandal. Clearly, the Pope has little moral authority to preach to those of us who have hurt no one. He ought to get his gilded palace in order before pointing his manicured fingers covered in gold rings at innocnet people.
23 Comments
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
(Newsflash: Warren, Left, Is No Mystery Man)It was hard to read.
Pop star Melissa Etheridge
wrote a column in the Huffington Post defending pastor Rick Warren. Warren complimented her music and then she swooned - giving him a pass on his anti-gay rhetoric. The cunning preacher flattered her, she thought, but really flattened her - and the poor crooner had no idea what hit her.
In reading her well intentioned piece, I was most troubled that Melissa had not heard of Rick Warren before this dust up. He had only been on the cover of every major US news magazine. A forest worth of news stories have been written. He has been featured on every major TV show. His book has sold 20 million copies. Warren hosted a high-profile presidential debate in his church. This is not exactly a mystery man.
In her own way, she seems as out of touch as George W. Bush. Someone really ought to buy her a subscription to The New York Times for Christmas. Such ignorance from a public figure supposedly tuned into the issues of the day is rather shocking, and a bit depressing. It might explain why she came across as so naive and got rolled, simply because Warren likes to hum, "Come To My Window."
I know Melissa means well, and I respect her. I applaud her for coming out and sharing her story. Her courage has saved lives and has brought our movement increased visibility. For this we owe her our gratitude. Plus, I enjoy her music too - and she puts on an amazing concert.
Still, I'd feel a bit better if she were more informed about the most famous author/preacher of the 21st century before she opined on the matter. The rest of us bother to do research before we open our mouths to represent the community. I expect the same level of commitment from pop stars who fancy themselves activists.
12 Comments
Monday, December 22, 2008
(Weekly Column)It could be that Barack Obama is simply smarter than the rest of us. The first black president of the Harvard Law Review has made a career of turning conventional wisdom on its head.
When people said that America was not ready for an African American president, he ran anyway -- and won. He was counseled by countless talking heads to "go negative" against Hillary Clinton in the primaries and then John McCain -- but he largely stuck to his strategy of staying positive -- and won. In the middle of the campaign, Obama hit an iceberg named Rev. Jeremiah Wright, injecting race into a campaign that had desperately tried to shy away from this explosive issue. Obama discarded advice to spin the crisis and instead delivered a lecture on race relations that has gone down as one of the greatest speeches in the history of American politics -- not to mention it saved his campaign. So, at this point in his rocket-propelled career, it is unwise to bet against the political instincts of Barack Obama.
Still, choosing pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration seemed like a gaffe that has served, if nothing else, as a distraction to Obama's central message of unifying America. This olive branch to evangelical Christians, who largely supported John McCain, felt more like poison ivy to gay and lesbian voters, who overwhelmingly cast ballots for Obama.
After all, Warren has a program to "help" homosexuals "pray away the gay" and played a prominent role in passing Proposition 8, which prohibits same-sex couples from marrying in California. He has even compared same-sex couples marrying to incest and child abuse.
Even if scientists find that homosexuality is genetic, Warren would still counsel gay people to fight their "sin," reducing our love to nothing more than perverted impulses. While Warren presumably gets his basic needs met by his wife, he expects gay people to abandon fulfilling relationships for dour lives of loneliness, severe depression and suicidal thoughts.
Obama can talk about unity all he wants, but what he is really doing is upholding the "Great Gay Exception." Obama would never have an anti-Semite on stage in the name of common ground. If so, why did he distance himself from fellow Chicagoan Louis Farrakhan during his campaign? Obama would also never dream of giving a platform to an open racist. But, Obama seems to think we should not object to him elevating Warren, who we find deeply offensive.
My hope is that Obama's plan is to offer heavy doses of symbolism and style to power hungry preachers, like Warren -- while delivering substantive policy achievements to the gay and lesbian community. When gay and lesbian leaders reacted with understandable indignation, Obama's rebuttal was, people need to "learn to agree to disagree without being disagreeable."
This phrase, that many Evangelicals are nodding their heads to in agreement, is a rhetorical trap. If they agree to this principle over the Warren flap, they have essentially forfeited their moral high ground if they get "disagreeable" when Congress passes a law that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The only flaw in this logic is that social conservatives rarely play by the same rules because they think they represent God. It is possible that Obama may have outsmarted himself by appealing to his sanctimonious enemies, who will never return the favor, while forfeiting support among his closest friends.
But, then again, maybe he really can buy goodwill by stroking the egos of narcissistic holy men. Rick Warren begins his best selling book
The Purpose Driven Life with the refrain, "this is not about you." Of course not! It's always been about Rick Warren -- whose camera-ready compassion is legendary.
If any good can come from this controversy, it is that many Americans now realize that Warren is masquerading as a moderate and posing as a pragmatist. Many Americans -- who previously respected Warren -- now view him as a poll-tested Pat Robertson who hides hate behind a Hawaiian shirt. He seemed arrogant and out of touch on NBC's Dateline when he told Ann Curry that he wasn't homophobic because he provided protesters outside his church with doughnuts. Gee, thanks, maybe next time he takes away our rights we'll get ice cream from His holiness.
The alternative storyline is really unthinkable.
In this version, Obama cynically used gay and lesbian people for money, votes and volunteers. Then before he is sworn in, he swears off equality. This plot was certainly advanced when not a single openly gay person was appointed to a high-level cabinet position.
Within a year, we will learn whether Obama's decision to choose Warren was cagey, careless or cruel. If it is the former, we will soon view this cultural flashpoint as a flash in the pan. If it is the latter, it will cause an explosion of gay activism, giving many people who were previously apolitical, purpose driven lives -- protesting Barack Obama.
8 Comments
Saturday, December 20, 2008
I was honored to have lunch today with
Ray Boltz (center), a major gospel star who came out of the closet earlier this year. His bravery shook the Christian world and made many people question their assumptions.
My partner Jamie Brundage and TWO board member Rev. Jerry Stephenson (left) joined us for a very enjoyable afternoon.
3 Comments
I am in Miami Beach with my partner, Jamie and we are visiting my parents. Last night, we went with our friend Larry to The Living Room, a club partially owned by Curt Barnes - who was my roommate in college. Here are a few pictures from last night's revelry. Happy Holidays!
9 Comments
