Yeah, but they are all left-wing religious leaders.
When it is only right-wing religious leaders who support something, they are always labeled as right-wing, but when it is left-wingers joining together to support something, they’re just “religious leaders.”
Here’s the LA Times headline: “L.A. faith leaders support Muslim center in New York”
Yeah, I’m sure the majority of L.A. faith leaders support this. Or perhaps only the left-wing ones?
Check out this paragraph from the JJ:
“I don’t want, for one moment, in the shadow of this, not to make a comment about Temecula, “ said Rabbi Steven Jacobs of Temple Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills, referring to another instance of public opposition to building plans for a mosque. A city of 105,000 in Riverside County, Temecula is about 90 miles from Los Angeles, and over 2,700 miles from Ground Zero. “You may talk about New York, but in our own vast city of Los Angeles, there are religious leaders standing up and saying the same thing about a mosque being built in the midst of their city. How tragic. It is not about New York. It’s about the soul of America.”
Yeah, well, Rabbi Steven Jacobs is suspected of hiring a hitman to murder his mistress (according to the Michele Samit book No Sanctuary). Some religious leader.
From Kirkus Reviews: “At first, Anita was willing to be his slave, but as she grew powerful (as president of her temple), she fell into an affair with the temple’s rabbi [Steven Jacobs], a practiced seducer whose escapades were pointedly ignored by his big-money congregation.”
Here’s his sweet bio at koltikvah.org:
Action, commitment, service, spirituality, resistance, and story telling have characterized the sixty-seven years of Rabbi Steven Jacobs’ life. As a young child, he was influenced by two life-changing events. First, he witnessed a young Black boy being harassed. This sparked in him the intense emotions that have ever since fueled his pursuit of racial equality. Then, at age thirteen, a nine-year-old boy died in his arms as a result of a drowning accident. Although his faith in God was jolted as a result, he knew at this early age that he was to become a Rabbi.
Motivated by a sense of the many injustices in the world, Rabbi Jacobs has actively pursued solutions to right the wrong. The issues for which he has the greatest passion include civil rights, Black and Jewish community relations, Muslim and Jewish relations, interfaith missions and religious pluralism. Dedicated to improving the status quo, he devotes his energy and time in ways that truly do make a difference. He is committed to his congregants, being available for their religious and spiritual needs at any time. Celebrating and grieving together has become a significant part of his daily life. Fairness for all and the idea of tikkun olam, healing the world, keep Rabbi Jacobs busy. Outreach to non-Jews and a desire and sensitivity for social action continuously shapes his Rabbinate.
For the past thirty-six years, Rabbi Jacobs has served the San Fernando Valley community. Rabbi Steven Jacobs was part of the interfaith delegation to Yugoslavia with Rev. Jesse Jackson, which brought about the release of the captured American soldiers. The Rabbi actively participated with service union workers for wage reform, striving for a living wage for all and supported the janitor and health care union protests. During the post-election 2000 uncertainty, Rabbi Jacobs emerged as the prime force in the renewal of the Black-Jewish Coalition. He joined Kweisi Mfume of the NAACP, Ralph Neas of the People for the American Way, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson in speaking before Jewish and Black synagogues and churches on behalf of the disenfranchised Black, Jewish, Haitian and student voters in Florida. For these and other activities throughout his life, Rabbi Jacobs received the 2001 Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award.
He is currently on the Executive Board of Washington D.C.-based Faith in Public Life, a member of the Muslim-American Homeland Security Congress of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, and since his retirement from the pulpit, he has founded the Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs Progressive Faith Foundation. Rabbi Jacobs serves on several national boards of directors including Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Faith in Public Life, J. St., Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Equality California. Shaping more than the community, Rabbi Jacobs also enjoys sculpting, an avocation that he has had for many years. He and his wife Linda also enjoy spending many spring and summer evenings at Dodger Stadium with any combination of their six children and their spouses and their five grandchildren.
Somehow it doesn’t mention “practiced seducer.”
Here are some of the other religious giants in today’s announcement:
“The President said he would not comment on the wisdom of building a mosque and a community center in Lower Manhattan,” said Stephen Rohde, co-president of Progressive Jewish Alliance and chair of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace.
…Rabbi Jonathon Klein of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) pointed to the project’s multiple uses.
