NYT: Clerics of 3 Faiths Protest Gay Festival Planned for Jerusalem

[DeepModem Mom]

Clerics of 3 Faiths Protest Gay Festival Planned for Jerusalem
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and GREG MYRE

Published: March 31, 2005


International gay leaders are planning a 10-day WorldPride festival and parade in Jerusalem in August, saying they want to make a statement about tolerance and diversity in the Holy City, home to three great religious traditions.

Now major leaders of the three faiths - Christianity, Judaism and Islam - are making a rare show of unity to try to stop the festival. They say the event would desecrate the city and convey the erroneous impression that homosexuality is acceptable.

"They are creating a deep and terrible sorrow that is unbearable," Shlomo Amar, Israel's Sephardic chief rabbi, said yesterday at a news conference in Jerusalem attended by Israel's two chief rabbis, the patriarchs of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches, and three senior Muslim prayer leaders. "It hurts all of the religions. We are all against it."

Abdel Aziz Bukhari, a Sufi sheik, added: "We can't permit anybody to come and make the Holy City dirty. This is very ugly and very nasty to have these people come to Jerusalem."...

***

Organizers of the gay pride event, Jerusalem WorldPride 2005, said that 75 non-Orthodox rabbis had signed a statement of support for the event, and that Christian and Muslim leaders as well as Israeli politicians were expected to announce their support soon. They said they were dismayed to see that what united their opponents was their objection to homosexuality....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/international/worldspecial/31gay.html?hp&ex=1112331600&en=ea87f5d9f1d87d9d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[autorank]

1. If not Jerusalem, then how a bout Sodom and Gomorah

Party!

[karlrschneider]

2. Yeah, God forbid a little tolerance in a city filled with ethnic hatred,

bombings, terrorism and religious warfare for decades...
:eyes: :grr:

[mutus_frutex]

3. Nice, they put aside they mutual hatred to pick on gays..

Man, religions are SO fucked up.

[regnaD kciN]

5. Please note...

...that these are the leaders of the more conservative branches of their faiths -- the ones you'd expect to be opposed to gays.

They don't even speak for all members of their own faiths, let alone "religions" in general.

[mutus_frutex]

6. I have a very low opinion of religions.

That opinion derives from many other aspects of faith, not just this instance of intolerance.

To me religions don't have any existence beyond their believers. It is believers that make a religion, not the other way around. So these people's expressions of belief are as valid as any you will find. They are also quite typical of the depths that people are dragged by faith.

[regnaD kciN]

4. I'm sorry to be cynical...

...but my first thought is "Hey, maybe we finally found something that will bring all these long-time enemies into unity...a completely different group they can all hate!"

:eyes:

[daleo]

7. It is inspiring to see religious leaders brought together by hate.

They may not agree on much else, but they can agree on a group to despise and insult. Sickening.