A Conversation with Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah
A JewsOnFirst.org interview by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, October 21, 2009
Max Blumenthal
Republican Gomorrah:
Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party
416pp, Nation Books, $25.00
The Christian right has grown by attracting people who were seeking to transcend their personal sense of sin through its authoritarian structure. And that authoritarian religious movement now controls the Republican party, says author Max Blumenthal about his new book, Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party. In our conversation, Blumenthal emphasizes the influence of the theocratic Christian Reconstructionist movement on the Christian right. He tells how the late Rev. Jerry Falwell and his contemporaries appropriated the abortion issue from Reconstructionist founder Francis Schaeffer.
Blumenthal got into his own story a couple of times. Once, when he reported on the Christian right's involvement in Jack Abramoff's manipulation of Indian casinos, he says he got thousands of "hate" emails from followers of James Dobson, the head of Focus on the Family. Again, after interviewing attendees at a conference of Pastor John Hagee's Christians United for Israel about their eagerness for the end times, Blumenthal says, and asking Hagee himself about his belief in the end-times, he was ejected by guards under the direction of Hagee's wife.
During his 45-minute conversation with Rabbi Beliak, Blumenthal elaborates on his use in Republican Gomorrah of the theory proposed by psychoanalyst Erich Fromm in his book Escape from Freedom. Fromm, who fled Hiter's Germany, argued that the complex pressures and neurotic fears that people face led them to seek authoritarian religion, thus making politics a means of overcoming personal crisis. Blumenthal applies this theory to, among others, Howard Ahmanson, a major funder of Christian right causes, and anti-reproductive rights activist Leslie Unruh.
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An Enduring Passion
Sharon Raphael and Mina Meyer
A video by JewsOnFirst.org, October 2009
On their 37th anniversary,
Mina Meyer and Sharon Raphael married in California. The political activism that has been a constant of their life together dates back to the
founding of the gay liberation movement. Most recently, they tell Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak of JewsOnFirst, they have been protesting
last year's passage of Proposition 8 -- and have been gratified to discover themselves protesting alongside a new generation of LGBT activists. Click here, please.
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"Religious views shouldn't come into play in a civil marriage"
Conversation with community leader Michael Weinstein
Hosted by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, JewsOnFirst.org, February 10, 2009
Michael Weinstein is president of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nation’s largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care. In our conversation he said: "In years past I thought that marriage itself was not that important and that civil unions took care of matters. But in this period of time that marriage was allowed in California, and having attended several ceremonies, and having known people who got married, it became apparent to me how it was very important and meaningful to couples."
Weinstein took issue with the popular perception of strong African American opposition to marriage equality. "There has been an important shift in the demographics, especially among young people," he said. "The exit polling on the Black community on the day of the election was not accurate. It turns out the numbers are much more favorable, and that points to the need to run a smarter campaign the next time."
The struggle, Weinstein said, is about civil rights. "It doesn't matter if you like gay and lesbian couples or approve of them. The majority in a democracy doesn't get to deprive the minority of rights... If you believe in democracy, if you believe in the separation of church and state, if you believe in civil marriage, therefore religious views shouldn't come into play in a civil marriage."
There are more items on marriage in California and Proposition 8 in State Laws on
Marriage Equality.
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"There is so much hurt in the lives of the couples that have been married"
Conversation with Rabbi Denise Eger
Hosted by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, JewsOnFirst.org, January 30, 2009
Rabbi Denise L. Eger serves Congregation Kol-Ami in Los Angeles. She holds a Masters Degree from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. She has published extensively on human sexuality, interfaith dialogue and human rights and has appeared on television and radio as an expert in these areas.
In her conversation with www.JewsOnFirst.org, she said: The passage of this very draconian measure took away the civil rights from Californians citizens and had a huge impact and eats away at the dignity of married couples in our synagogue and across our state.
There is so much hurt in the lives of the couples that have been married…the most painful of situations of the the kids in our Sunday School. Those children participated in the marriages…like my own child the best man.
Children came up and me asked, " is my family still a family?" They feel their family is under attack and the status of their family is going to be stripped away.
It is just outrageous that religious bodies that uphold family as a value led such an anti-family measure.
Rabbi Eger also announced two rallies, February 13 in Los Angeles and February 16 in Sacramento. These rallies are part of an on-going effort to build greater awareness about human rights and the human costs of Proposition 8.
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"The state should get out of the marriage business altogether"
JewsOnFirst conversation with Rabbi Elliot Dorff
by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, JewsOnFirst.org, January 30, 2009
Dr. Elliot Dorff is a Conservative rabbi and Rector and Sol and Anne Dorff Distinguished Service Professor in Philosophy at the American Jewish University. He has a Ph.D. from Columbia University in philosophy and is the author of over 150 articles and numerous books, most recently For the Love of God and People: A Philosophy of Jewish Law. In our conversation Dorff said that the state should limit itself to civil arrangements:
The state should get out of the marriage business altogether. The state should have domestic partnerships or civil union arrangements. The interests of the state would be served by civil arrangements. That would leave individual religious bodies to decide the marriage issue … [and] would be real religious freedom.
Dorff also spoke of Proposition 8's impact on gay and lesbian teenagers.
We have very good evidence that the discrimination against gays and lesbians comes with very great costs among gay teenagers in terms of higher suicide rates, higher smoking rates, depression rates. This is a result of the kind of discrimination that society has imposed on gays and lesbians. Leaving the Supreme Court's initial decision alone would have been an indication that the discrimination against gays and lesbians was diminishing and the society was taking steps to recognize them as full and equal members of society.
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"It feels quite personal to have lost this civil right"
Conversation with Rabbi Lisa Edwards
Hosted by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, JewsOnFirst.org, January 27, 2009
Rabbi Lisa Edwards is rabbi of America's first gay synagogue, Beth Chaim Chadashim in Los Angeles and holds a Ph.D. in literature. Her writings include a handbook for Union of Reform Congregations entitled Kulanu : All of Us; The Women’s Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions; and Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation.
As she says in this conversation, Edwards officiated at numerous weddings between May, when California's Supreme Court affirmed the right of same-sex couples to marry, and the passage of Proposition 8 in November:
The stark disappointment that resulted from the passage of Proposition 8 is quite startling. I officiated at 43 weddings. It feels quite personal to have lost this civil right by a vote of the people.
Rabbi Edwards and Tracy Moore were married under chuppah in 1995, and under California law in 2008 by Assemblymember Karen Bass and Rabbi Laura Geller.
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Rebutting Obsession
Historical Facts Topple Film's Premise That Violent Muslim Fundamentalists are Nazis' Heirs, Expose its Fear-mongering
by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, Eli Clifton, Jane Hunter and Robin Podolsky, November 2, 2008
Rebutting Obsession, a major JewsOnFirst project, is a critical analysis of the video Obsession. We undertook this project after the video was distributed to 28 million homes this fall to gin up fear of "radical Islam" as an anti-Obama factor in the election and enduring anti-Muslim bigotry in American society.
Obsession, we show, falsely claims a direct connection between Hitler's Nazis and what it calls "Radical Islam." Our analysis also pinpoints several translation errors in Obsession's efforts to paint Muslims as violent.
Please click here for our special section, Rebutting Obsession, which includes a major analysis and a summary presentation plus profiles of many of the "experts" who appear in the video. Please click here.
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Insertion of millions of Obsession DVDs in swing-state newspapers appears to aid McCain campaign
Little-known Clarion Fund is spending millions to distribute controversial anti-Muslim video
by JewsOnFirst.org, September 14, 2008 (with multiple updates through October 28, 2008)
A shadowy organization is financing the delivery this month of millions of DVDs of the controversial video Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West. The video, which has been widely criticized as hostile to Muslims, has been inserted in numerous national and major-city newspapers. The distribution, which began last week with inserts in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, among other papers, follows highly visible giveaways of the Obsession DVD at the Democratic and Republican parties' conventions. By next weekend the DVDs will have been inserted into 70 newspapers, according to Erik Ose, who includes a list in his story on Huffington Post.
The markets chosen for the inserts by the financing organization, the Clarion Fund, have prompted news reports that questioned whether distribution of the video is aimed at building support for the Republican presidential campaign in potential swing states. Continue.
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Pastor John Hagee's Fixation on Iran: A Self-fulfilling Prophecy?
A video by Jane Hunter, JewsOnFirst.org, September 2008
This video examines how Christian Zionist leader John Hagee's belief in the end times drives his hard-line political position on Iran.
For several years televangelist Hagee has campaigned for an aggressive U.S. policy toward Iran. Hagee's campaign has been in conjunction with his leadership of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the nation's leading Christian Zionist organization. Megachurch leader Hagee preaches that Iran will attack Israel in the battle of Armageddon presaging Jesus' return; CUFI leader Hagee warns that Iran will launch a nuclear attack on Israel.
We ask: Is Hagee's Iran policy about Jewish safety? Or Christian Apocalypse? Please click here.
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Iran and the End Times at Pastor John Hagee's 2008 Washington Summit
JewsOnFirst.org reporters' video from inside and outside the July 2008 summit of Hagee's Christians United for Israel
A video by JewsOnFirst.org, August 15, 2008
When John Hagee's organization, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) held its July 2008 summit at the Washington DC Convention Center, JewsOnFirst.org reporters were inside and outside. This video shows some of what we saw and heard, despite CUFI's extraordinary efforts to shield the meeting from public scrutiny and muffle all talk of Armageddon and the End Times -- the real reason for Christian Zionists' interest in Israel. Click here to view the video.
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John Hagee's Christians United for Israel Conference Mixes End-Times Prophecies With Lobbying
JewsOnFirst.org Reporters Were Inside CUFI's Washington Conference
by JewsOnFirst.org, July 24, 2008
Even though televangelist John Hagee barred reporters from the conference of his Christians United for Israel (CUFI), reporters for JewsOnFirst.org covered most of the sessions of the conference at the Washington Convention Center, which concluded yesterday.
According to a document distributed at the conference, "CUFI is a national, grassroots organization which unites all pro-Israel Christians in America under one umbrella." JewsOnFirst.org estimates that as many as 3,000 people attended the conference. Please click here for our report, which includes video and audio clips of the conference.
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A JewsOnFirst.org video:
Pastor John Hagee's Preoccupation With the Jews
A video by JewsOnFirst.org with narration by Ed Asner, July 18, 2008
JewsOnFirst.org is proud to present our video, Pastor John Hagee: A Preoccupation with the Jews. Pastor John Hagee heads Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a leading Christian Zionist organization, and as its leader enjoys the support of major Jewish organizations. With narration by Ed Asner, our video shows a number of instances in which Hagee's understanding of Jews and Judaism should give cause for concern.
Hagee declares that Hitler was "part Jewish." He says that Jews attribute special healing powers to the "spittle" of their first-born sons. He repeats anti-semitic canards about Jewish control of the financial system.We hope this video will prompt rabbis and Jewish organizational leaders to reevaluate their relationships with Hagee and CUFI. Click here.
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Christian Right Attacks Senator Barack Obama's Christian Faith
James Dobson of Focus on the Family attacks 2006 Obama speech
by JewsOnFirst.org, June 25, 2008
Some fundamentalist evangelical Christians are responding to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's outreach by disparaging his faith. Most recently, and notably, Dr. James Dobson, who heads Focus on the Family, said on his widely aired radio program that Obama "is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."
But what Dobson said is mild compared to a video by Christian right televangelist Bill Keller, who calls Obama an "enemy of God" and uses what appears to be footage of abortions as illustrations. Click here.
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JewsOnFirst Conversation with Rabbi Stuart Federow
by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, JewsOnFirst.org, June 17, 2008
Rabbi Stuart Federow is spiritual leader of leader of Congregation Shaar Hashalom in Houston, co-host of the Show of Faith radio program on Radio Mojo 950 AM, and proprietor of the WhatJewsBelieve website. He talks with Rabbi Beliak about the crisis at Friendswood Junior High School that was set off when the school addressed an act of anti-Muslim hatred with a presentation on Islam by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Rabbi Federow notes that the school erred in not giving parents the opportunity to opt out of the presentation. He also notes that a program on the same radio station that hosts his show was responsible for encouraging a wave of complaints to the school district. Federow and Beliak consider the behavior of the Christian majority, which resents constitutional restraints on its religious practices in the public square.
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Anti-semitic attack on Mikey Weinstein's home; Jewish vet blamed for Iowa flood
by JewsOnFirst.org, June 16, 2008
June 16, 2008. Intruders attacked the Albuquerque home of Mikey Weinstein, a leading critic of fundamentalist Christian activity in the armed services. The attack came after nightfall, according to Weinstein, who said family members heard someone running across the roof; they subsequently found a swastikas and a cross scrawled next to the front door.Continue
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