Ok, I just can’t help myself. I’ve been following the comments on a blog, The Sensible Jew, to do with the issue of homophobia in the orthodox jewish community and I’ve gotta say, I’ve never seen such pure dribble come out of the mouth of anyone like Alex Fein before. Talk about finding a brick wall and hitting your head against it. Alex will not see the arguments and is hellbent on belittling anyone who does not agree with her. She’s taking to censoring and commenting on comments in the most unusual of ways, she employees bully boy like tactics to tell people that they are not welcome to comment any more. We should all give praise to the defender of all things jewish, but not orthdox jewish, just sensible jewish. Alex Fein is the queen!
Let’s get this really straight(!) here.
1. The christian bible1 and the jewish torah 2call homosexuality an abomination and call it abhorrent
2. Fundamentalist uses the phrases to deny, vilify, discriminate and belittle gay people
3. Gay youth are 16 times more likely to take their lives.3
4. Research shows that religious intolerance is a key barrier to happy healthy young people4
5. Sensible jews would not allow such attitudes to continue to exist and would do all they can to combat them
6. The sensible jew is not very sensible and will not take on board the real issue
7. And i thought I was crazy, at least I’ve never called my self sensible
One Doug Pollard had his comments ripped to shreds instead of just being given the right to reply, Alex spends her time defending herself, avoiding the issues that he raises and then berating Doug because he’s not jewish and only a jew knows what its like to be jewish and how dare he even think he could understand. All praise to the queen! Give the woman a furry hat!
Just because I can, let me quote Doug’s comments unadulterated and then go on over to the senseless jew blog and watch the fur hats flying around as Alex steps up to the plate to berate all and sundry.
Doug’s comments
Thanks Bruce. I might add that although I may not be Jewish, and although I have committed the cardinal sin (according to Ms Fein) of having Jewish friends, I also have a lot of religious Christian friends of a variety of persuasions from born-again (one of my oldest friends) to ex-Catholic now Anglican (my husband of 17 years). As a result I have heard a lot of theological argument regarding e.g., Leviticus, from qualified theologians, and I am aware of many possible interpretations of the well-known Biblical prohibitions.
EG the phrase that a man should not lie with another man as with a woman, or words to that effect.
A close reading seems to indicate that this prohibition refers only to the receptive partner, or so I’m told.
From this it can be inferred (don’t ask me for the details, ask a theologian) that this law is not aimed at homosexual men – since at the time the concept of a homosexual person was not known – but at heterosexual men turning to other men as a substitute for women, e.g., older men using younger men over whom they had authority for sexual gratification, or because women were not available, as in prison.
It has nothing to say about committed same-sex relationships, or persons of a homosexual orientation.
Needless to say, this nuanced interpretation does not find favor with either Jewish or Christian fundamentalists, who in my experience do not deal very well with the notion of ‘nuance’.
I should that although I acknowledge the right of anyone to delude themselves with beliefs in whatever imaginary sky-fairy they may choose, that doesn’t give them the right to impose the made-up rules of said imaginary sky-fairy on other people. Or to claim any kind of moral superiority on the basis of their adherence to said rules.
Thanks Doug,
I think if the text is open to a variety of interpretations, then it is not possible to understand the authors intent. Therefore it is not the inerrant word of any god but just another demented alpaca trying to tell the world how to behave, it’s nice to try and turn the bible to mean whatever suits the reader, that’s the flaw of the thing and it should not be considered anything but a nice little fairy tale from many years ago.