Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders in Jersalem are joining together to oppose a proposed gay festival. Their unity is ironic to me, considering that although the three religions agree on the wrongness of homosexuality, that agreement is absolutely dwarfed by the enormous theological differences between them.
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."
That's like joining with the communists or Nazis to oppose littering. Does that mean I don't think religions should cooperate? I actually don't know. Maybe it's ok to work with evil to accomplish mundane goods that don't otherwise interfere with the theological contention.
The Jews aren't evangelistic, so I can understand why they might find it acceptable to work with the others -- they justifiably believe that they aren't in a spiritual battle with the Christians and Muslims. However, Islam and Christianity both teach that the other is wrong, evil, and corrupt. Both Muslims and Christians are commanded to proselytize the other, not to legitimize the other by cooperation and finding a common enemy. I suppose it's possible that both Muslims and Christians believe that this cooperation helps them more than the other, but they can't both be right.
I have to say I'm not surprised... I have seen this kind of cooperation before. It's sort of a re-hash of the WWII alliance of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Roosevelt and Churchill cooperated with Stalin because they believed him to be a lesser evil than was present in Nazi Germany. It's the same with these groups (and I say this as a Christian)... they view "the homosexuals" to be the greater threat. (How Christians can view gay people as a bigger threat than Islam is seriously beyond me.)
As a gay man I've gotten used to this sort of thing from the religious. It is so ubiquitous.. it's become background noise to me.. and is easily tuned out.
Both Muslims and Christians are commanded to proselytize the other, not to legitimize the other by cooperation and finding a common enemy.
I'm sorry, where exactly did Jesus say not to cooperate with non-believers, or to find common enemies?