A nation of adorable-believing-religion-illiterates

Newsweek writes about Prof. Steve Prothero's new book called Religious Literacy. I have to agree with the professor. I have written repeatedly about the extent of ignorance on the part of Americans regarding religion, most recently, yesterday, criticizing the NY Times Magazine for running an article about science and God that shows almost no understanding of religion. If those folk at the Times can roll merrily along oblivious to religion and without a care, then Prothero had his work cut out for him. Not too many happily ignorant people will jump on his religion-literacy-bandwagon.

But there is much more at work against religion literacy. People on the left fear religion wants to control their freedoms and pick their pockets. People on the right generally have already signed up for one of the religions and don't want to advertise the competition.

Leading rabbis of my own denomination - Modern Orthodoxy - have declared the study of world religions unclean and impure. Other Republicans consider most topics beyond vocational training to be unnecessary to what they define as productive literacy.

Our government is happy enough if citizens believe in a God that will punish them for immorality. That helps keep the costs of police forces in check. Yet after 9/11 public officials are increasingly unsure about teaching the other religions to the populace.

The Gospel of Prothero

A Boston University professor argues that Americans, though 'spiritual,' are woefully ignorant about religion...

In spite of the fact that more than 90 percent of Americans say they believe in God, only a tiny portion of them knows a thing about religion...

In Prothero's utopian world, Americans would have enough religious knowledge to debate ethics positions using holy texts, to understand Biblical references in political speeches, to question their own beliefs about God—and to encourage others to question theirs. Only then will we enjoy one of the greatest privileges of the educated, which is to change our minds.

You too can take the Religious Literacy Quiz. It's somewhat random and arbitrary and a bit on the tricky side. It makes the point in a foggy sort of way that ordinary citizens are not that educated about religion. Of course Jay Leno does things like this regularly on his TV show in a segment called "jaywalking" wherein he quizzes ordinary people in his area about simple facts and entertains us all with their cute displays of ignorance.

The line between entertainment and education nowadays is blurry, isn't it?

Jews for Joost

DON'T WORRY. It's kosher. Joost is not another religion (yet).

The online TV service from the inventors of Skype - Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis - is called Joost. It is in beta and it's hard to get an account.

Anyone who already has an account can offer an invite token.

Let us know in the kvetches below if you have an account (I don't) or if you want one (I do).

Oy Video: Ann calls John a faggot

I am - to say the least - not a fan of Ann Coulter and I am not overly impressed by John Edwards. Yet here is a clip that takes public political speaking to a new depth.

Infidel and Charisma: Two Controversial Books

I scan the NY Times Book Review each week first for any items with Jewish content or by Jewish authors. Then I look for notices that relate to religion in general. This week brings us reviews of two powerful works in that area.

CHARISMA. The Gift of Grace, and How It Has Been Taken Away From Us. By Philip Rieff. 271 pp. Pantheon Books. $26.95.

I've taught the concept of charisma in my classes as a way to understand the sacred power claimed by the rabbis of the Talmud. I'd review the use of the concept in the sociologists such as Weber and Durkheim, then how Peter Brown applied it to his analysis of late antiquity and how others  referred the idea to the history of rabbinic Judaism. I clearly differentiated that academic meaning of the term from the popular notion of charisma assigned to attractive public figures. My favorite example was JFK who was often lauded for his charisma.

I never saw the two uses of the term as a negative indication of cultural change. But Philip Rieff laments the decline of charisma from a "Gift of Grace" to a "quality we attribute to cult leaders and hack politicians." It takes a certain kind of romantic reading of history - like Rieff's - to find that the further we go back in time, the deeper and more meaningful life was.

This was Rieff's last book. As one gets older, the new feels more alien, the old more comfortable. Indeed it is easier to imagine the heroes of the past were "different" from those real people we actually may know and deem to be our own "cult leaders and hack politicians."

The truth is that there are plenty of people claiming the grace of charisma today under a variety of umbrellas. Rabbis contrived the new concept of "Daas Torah" to recycle the notion that they possess divine charisma. Televangelists, new age gurus and many more have evolved ways to employ charisma to their own aims.

I'm not in favor of declaring those modern users of "grace" less worthy than the sages and saints of the past.

First Chapter: ‘Charisma’

INFIDEL. By Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Illustrated. 353 pp. Free Press. $26.

Infidel, the second noteworthy book today, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is reviewed by Ian Buruma of Bard College. He is not altogether laudatory saying that Ali caricatures modern Western society in a comic book fashion. Nevertheless Ali is a Dutch woman who "describes her rejection of Islam and embrace of the West." She is a hero to many who are attempting to free themselves from bondage in oppressive societies. Her tale may be unique to her own circumstances. But we'd like it to be an inspiration to others.

First Chapter: ‘Infidel’

The Jesus Crypt-umentary: Dead before air time

I do have to agree with the Playful.com blogger, Iuliu Blaga, in the post, "DNA and Statistics in 'Tomb of Jesus' Effectively Debunked":

James Cameron's and Simcha Jacobovich's 'The Lost Tomb of Jesus,' has to be the first documentary to be effectively debunked before even airing. Their filmmaking work did not enrage as much Christians, used for their religion to be blasphemized, as it did enrage scholars, who took this con scheme quite personally.

Why? Because their dedication and expertise was derided by distorting their work and coming up with conclusions which not only defy research but also logic and reason. And as such, it took just days to obliterate virtually all the fantastic claims made by Cameron, Jacobovich and Tabor. And it wasn't that hard at all.

Moreover, some researchers who worked for the hoaxumentary have spoken out against the delusional conclusions which the filmmakers try to pull out of their hard work.

The viewers who do tune in no doubt will be curious to see how well the "stars" keep their straight faces during the show.

NY Times Magazine: Evolutionary Scientists baffled by Religion

The Times reports on people who don't study religion, who don't know anything but the most superficial facts of religious life or belief, and are baffled by its significance and meaning for mankind.

Well, excuse me! The Times reports on the most current trends in an article written by an author described as follows: "Robin Marantz Henig, a contributing writer, has written recently for the magazine about the neurobiology of lying and about obesity." Two fields that are right on relevant to religion, no? And the "scientists" whose work she describes seem to think that some variety of a superficial Protestant faith in God is the sum and substance of religion.

These scientists would benefit from some actual study of the religions of the world. Before jumping up and down in wonderment at the persistence and value of the faiths of our planet, these biologists might consider becoming expert in one or two religions.

Or is it good science to be a botanist who is not expert in plant life? Oy vey.

Yes folks the why-do-we-believe question is paramount. The subtitle of Sunday's NYT Magazine cover story is, "How evolutionary science explains faith in God." The teaser is worse, to wit, "In the world of evolutionary biology, the question is not whether God exists but why we believe in him. Is belief a helpful adaptation or an evolutionary accident?"

The beginning of this week's miserable NY Times Magazine article, enigmatically entitled "Darwin's God," follows:

God has always been a puzzle for Scott Atran. When he was 10 years old, he scrawled a plaintive message on the wall of his bedroom in Baltimore. “God exists,” he wrote in black and orange paint, “or if he doesn’t, we’re in trouble.” Atran has been struggling with questions about religion ever since — why he himself no longer believes in God and why so many other people, everywhere in the world, apparently do.

Call it God; call it superstition; call it, as Atran does, “belief in hope beyond reason” — whatever you call it, there seems an inherent human drive to believe in something transcendent, unfathomable and otherworldly, something beyond the reach or understanding of science. “Why do we cross our fingers during turbulence, even the most atheistic among us?” asked Atran when we spoke at his Upper West Side pied-à-terre in January.

Mourning over the demise of CompUSA

Over the years I developed a deep affection for the CompUSA chain of stores. So it was with some sadness that I read this story today:

Analysts say CompUSA locations won't be empty long
Thursday, March 1, 2007
by JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITER

The soon-to-be empty CompUSA buildings in North Jersey are likely to be grabbed by other retailers because the sites offer what they're looking for – big-box buildings in prime locations, commercial real estate experts predict.

"All the sites are really good locations," said Chuck Lanyard, a principal in The Goldstein Group in Glen Rock. "Those spaces traditionally have been gobbled up very quickly. I'll bet you they'll all be leased within six months."

The struggling computer superstore chain announced Tuesday it was closing 126 stores nationwide – more than half of its locations – to restructure the company. Ten of the 11 CompUSA stores in New Jersey will close; the only N.J. location spared is a store in Mount Laurel. Slated to close are the two Paramus stores, as well as those in Totowa, Parsippany and East Hanover. The CompUSA store at Palisades Center mall, just north of Bergen County in West Nyack, N.Y., also is closing.....

The juxtaposition of "analysts" and "CompUSA" reminds me of a story. In the early 90's in Minnesota I used to tell my wife I was going out for a session of CompUSA therapy. I was going to spend about $135 in an hour - but not talking to a therapist. No, my therapy would be to go to CompUSA and spend the same amount of money - but after an hour I actually had something tangible. I would come home with some neat new hardware or software.

Well now the stores are going away. Sad.

Melanie Morgan: Soros Worked for the Nazis

Via Media Matters: Keith Olberman zeros in on Melanie Morgan of San Francisco for accusing Soros of working for the Nazis.

Olbermann named Morgan "winner" of "Worst Person" for claiming Soros helped Nazis "to further his own career"

On the February 28 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named syndicated radio host Melanie Morgan the "winner" of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for, as Media Matters for America documented, advancing and embellishing the discredited claim that billionaire philanthropist and progressive financier George Soros collaborated with the Nazis as a 14-year-old boy in Hungary. On the February 8 edition of KSFO's Morning Show, co-host Lee Rodgers revived this false accusation, saying that, as a teenager, Soros "apparently very cheerfully and willingly went to work for the Nazis." Morgan added that Soros had done so "in order to further his own career."

After reading Morgan's comments, Olbermann observed: "The station's program director went on the air during their show to say the remarks and others were not accurate and that the station, quote, 'regrets that they were broadcast.' "

From the February 28 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: But our winner, Melanie Morgan of KSFO, an ABC radio station in San Francisco, whose program director had to formally correct statements on the air about billionaire financier George Soros made by the station's sleep-deprived morning hosts, led by the reprehensible Ms. Morgan. Co-host Lee Rodgers had said that when Soros was a teenager in occupied Hungry, he had, quote, "apparently very cheerfully and willingly went to work for the Nazis." A sidekick named Tom Brenner added, "[H]e just kind of complied willingly."

Ms. Morgan added that Soros had done so, quote, "in order to further his own career." The station's program director went on the air during their show to say the remarks and others were not accurate and that the station, quote, "regrets that they were broadcast." OK, a first step. Now get out there, pal, and admit the station regrets everything Melanie Morgan has ever said is not accurate. Melanie Morgan of KSFO, the ABC radio station in San Francisco, today's Worst Person in the World.

MM has the video. Check it out.

Guardian: Dominatrix Charged at Yeshiva's Estate

I thought that, "Whatever happens in BEDFORD HILLS, NY 10507, stays in Las BEDFORD HILLS, NY 10507"

Dominatrix Charged at Yeshiva's Estate

Friday March 2, 2007 2:46 AM
By LARRY McSHANE Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - A dominatrix was arrested on prostitution charges at a suburban estate that she leased from the rabbinical school next door, and school officials on Thursday began clearing the property of whips and chains.

But that's not all the work that must be done.

``Once everything is out, there has to be a spiritual cleansing,'' said Rabbi Samuel of the Orthodox Khal Adas Kashau yeshiva. ``We won't go close to that place until they move out. No, no, no - heaven forbid.''

Sandra Chemero, 46, was charged Wednesday with prostitution and criminal possession of a stun gun at what she called ``The Sovereign Estate'' - four acres in tony Bedford that she leased last year.

``It's like a calamity,'' the rabbi said. ``I've never heard such a thing, and I don't want to hear about it. It's terrible.''

The rabbi, who identified himself only as Rabbi Samuel, said yeshiva officials immediately ordered Chemero's eviction on grounds that she broke the lease by engaging in illegal activity and using the home for a business.

Chemero could not immediately be reached for comment. She has a residential phone in Connecticut, but the number is unlisted.

She advertised her services on a Web site, promising that the estate was ``a place like no other. ... There is something unique about serving your mistress in a home designed and appointed especially for her enjoyment.''

Photos showed the dominatrix in spiked heels and a low-cut, one-piece black outfit, with a chain around her waist.

Bedford police Lt. Robert Mazurak called the arrest ``very unusual for someone in this town,'' which is home to Martha Stewart, Ralph Lauren and Glenn Close. ``It's a quality-of-life issue. We acted rather quickly,'' he said.

Although there's nothing illegal about working as a dominatrix, Chemero was arrested after a police investigation that began in December turned up evidence of prostitution.

YNet: Nutty Rabbi says let's start sacrificing animals on the Temple Mount

Some Yahoo Rabbi decided he thinks its time to revive the cult of sacrifice in Jerusalem. Guys like him say this every Monday and Thursday for years. Why now give this one any attention in the press? Beats me.

'Renew animal sacrifices on Mount' says radical rabbi

Member of Sanhedrin says sacrifices 'were not possible when the people of Israel were in the Diaspora, but now they are.' Adds: Jerusalem Temple should be rebuilt, Israeli government standing in our way

Yaakov Lappin

Animal sacrifices should be renewed on the Temple Mount, a member of the radical Sanhedrin organization told Ynetnews.

In ancient Israel and Judea, the Sanhedrin served as the highest court in the land, and was made up of 71 top judges. Now, a group of fringe rabbis say they have reformed the group, although the organization has received no recognition from Israel's official religious authorities.

"In the Torah there are around 200 commandments dealing with animal sacrifices," said Rabbi Dov Stein, of the Sanhedrin organization. "The Torah of Israel demands animal sacrifices. When the people of Israel were in the Diaspora, it couldn’t be done. But now, there is the supreme institution, the Sanhedrin, made up of experts, and it can be done. The new Sanhedrin, like the old, will educate the people of Israel on how to keep and safeguard the Torah."

'Democracy was not invented today'

Stein vowed that "we will try to carry out animal sacrifices on the Temple Mount this Passover, as commanded by the Torah."

Asked if his organization sought to rebuild the third Temple, Stein's answer was unequivocal. "We want to establish the Temple again. Unfortunately, standing in our way is a hostile regime, the Israeli government, and rabbis who for political interest don't want this to happen."

Stein even suggested that Muslims would agree to the project, saying: "The Omar Mosque (the Dome of the Rock), built by Khalif Omar, was actually intended to safeguard the site for the Jews. Islam hasn't always been so hostile. Despite its hatred and massacres against us, Islam sees in Judaism a source and a guide. I think the moment will come that Muslims understand the need to build the Temple and go along with us."

Stein outlined his plan for Israel, calling for a king to be appointed democratically. "Democracy was not invented today, the king is elected from a list of candidates. A senior judge, as was done during the days of the judges, can also be appointed," he added.

However, such practices ended 2000 years ago, Rabbi Doniel Hartman was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

"Around that time, animal sacrifice, as a mode of religious worship, stopped for Jews, Christians and Muslims," said the rabbi from the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, according to AP. "Moving back in that direction is not progress," he added.

According to mainstream Jewish thought, animal sacrifices must not be carried out outside of Temple, which itself cannot be rebuilt by human endeavor, but will be rebuilt upon the arrival of the messiah.