Video in the Radio Talk Show Studio - Part One
Religion, Schools and the First Amendment
An Interview with Dan Gaffney, host of WGMD-FM's Morning Show by Jane Hunter and Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak of JewsOnFirst.org, March 11, 2008
This is Part One of JewsOnFirst.org's interview and discussion with Dan Gaffney, host of WGMD-FM's Morning Show in Sussex County on Delaware's Eastern Shore. JewsOnFirst.org Co-Directors Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak and Jane Hunter conducted -- and videotaped -- this interview on March 11, 2008. We were in Sussex County to report on a religious discrimination case there. The school district had just settled a lawsuit brought by two Jewish families over unconstitutionally sponsoring Christian religious activities. We interviewed Gaffney because his program is the go-to venue for defenders of religion in the schools. Our interview is in this part of the video. In Part Two of this video, Gaffney, Beliak and callers debate some concepts including "absolute truth" and the relevance of Jesus. Click here to see Part One.
You can see Part Twohere. You can see a preview with excerpts from Part One and Part Two here. You can read more about religion in the schools in Delaware's Sussex County here.
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Video in the Radio Talk Show Studio - Part Two
Religion, Schools and the First Amendment
Interview with Dan Gaffney, host of WGMD-FM's Morning Show By Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak and Jane Hunter of JewsOnFirst.org, March 11, 2008
This is Part Two of JewsOnFirst.org's interview and discussion with Dan Gaffney, host of WGMD-FM's Morning Show in Sussex County on Delaware's Eastern Shore. JewsOnFirst.org Co-Directors Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak and Jane Hunter conducted this interview on March 11, 2008. We were in Sussex County to report on a religious discrimination case. The local school district had just settled a lawsuit brought by two Jewish families over unconstitutionally sponsoring Christian religious activities. We interviewed Gaffney because his program is the go-to venue for defenders of religion in the schools. Our interview is in Part One of this video. In this part the video, Gaffney, Beliak and callers debate some concepts including "absolute truth" and the relevance of Jesus. To view Part Two of the video, please click here.
You can see Part One here. You can see a preview with excerpts from Part One and Part Two here. You can read more about religion in the schools in Delaware's Sussex County here.
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Video in the Radio Talk Show Studio - Preview
Religion, Schools and the First Amendment
An Interview with Dan Gaffney, host of WGMD-FM's Morning Show by Jane Hunter and Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak of JewsOnFirst.org, March 11, 2008
JewsOnFirst.org went to Delaware's Sussex County in March 2008 to report on a religious discrimination case there. The school district had just settled a lawsuit brought by two Jewish families over unconstitutionally sponsoring Christian religious activities. High on our list of people to interview was Dan Gaffney, morning talk show host on WGMD-FM. Defenders of religion in the schools held forth on his show, which was, several years ago, credited by some with turning out hundreds of people to shout down one of the Jewish families at a school board meeting. Gaffney graciously agreed to be interviewed live, during his program. That interview in the WGMD studio (seen in Part One of the full-length video) led to a discussion. Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak and Jane Hunter, directors of JewsOnFirst.org, challenged Gaffney's assertion that prayer to Jesus in a school setting is a Christian's First Amendment "right" of self-expression. Then (in Part Two of the full-length video), Gaffney, Beliak and callers debate some concepts including "absolute truth" and the relevance of Jesus. This video contains excerpts of both parts of Video in the Radio Talk Show Studio.
You can see Part One of the full video here, and Part Two here. You can read more about religion in the schools in Delaware's Sussex County here.
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Judge rules National Day of Prayer Unconstitutional
Posted here: Case documents including the deposition of Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family Founder and head of "Task Force" that hijacked the National Day of Prayer
By JewsOnFirst.org, April 20, 2010
A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled April 15th that the congressionally mandated National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional because it involves a
government endorsement of religion. Ruling on a lawsuit against President Barack Obama and the National Day of Prayer Task Force, U.S. District Court
Judge Barbara B. Crabb wrote that the law establishing the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer "does not use prayer to further a secular
purpose; it endorses prayer for its own sake."
Crabb's ruling (unless it is successfully appealed) will end the annual presidential proclamations of the national day that the law requires.
Under previous presidents, the Task Force, headed by Shirley Dobson (pictured here), the wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, used those
proclamations to give the impression that the Task Force was an official government operation. Dobson's Task Force strictly limits participation in its
events to certain evangelical Christians. President Obama's lawyers argued that the Day of Prayer was constitutional, but dissociated the President from the
Task Force's use of the day. Judge Crabb dismissed the case against Dobson in March, but the transcript of Dobson's deposition provides a detailed description
of the Task Force's practices, most notably its use of public officials and government buildings for its events. We have posted the deposition along with
other case documents. Please click here.
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The Christian Zionist's Bible
Conversations With Hebrew Union College Professor Michael J. Cook
By JewsOnFirst.org, March 2010
How do Christian Zionists read their Bible -- and why does it matter to Jews and Israel? In a newly released video, Hebrew Union College Professor of Judeo-Christian Studies Michael J. Cook answers these questions and more in a three-part conversation
with Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak of JewsOnFirst.org.
Available now on DVD, The Christian Zionist's Bible is ideal for adult discussion groups, confirmation classes and individual use. To supplement the DVD, there is a downloadable study guide, a course outline, and our reader's guide.
Click here for a video preview of the DVD and links to ordering information.
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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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