Religious Fanatics Exposing Themselves as Idiots When Talking about Gays

Beats me why we call fundamentalists: people who talk unfounded twaddle.

If you want to know who is wise and who is a phone, ask them about gays. The clueless pious will out themselves quickly. Here are some recent news reports about religious leaders:

1. Imam claims Sponge Bob turns children gay – video. Muslim Cleric preaches, in (sure enough!) a pink keffiyeh (you can’t make this up), against Western society and says Jews created SpongeBob to turn children into Homosexuals. A must-see.

2. Senior-level Nationalist Haredi rabbi speaks out against women in IDF, LGBT community. Rabbi Zvi Yisrael Tau harshly spoke out against the initiative to integrate women into the IDF Armored Corps and called the LGBT community “sexual deviants.”

“A lot of money is being sent by external bodies for this in order to weaken the country,” he said. “This is done in a quiet manner so that you won’t feel it, another phase and then another phase. It starts with the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. We remained quiet in regards to them. This was just a pilot. They did a parade of hate and defiance in the holy city of Jerusalem where the Jewish nation resides in the holiest place, a march of sexual deviants in the most horrible way.”

N.B.: This was said in December, half a year away from Pride Week.

3. Rabbi repeats ‘perverts’ slur against LGBTs. Rabbi Yigal Levenstein is known for making previous homophobic comments in the past, targeting the LGBT community in Israel. After the previous obscene outburst, over 300 rabbis supported him. His widespread baseless hatred has not diminished and he is consistent, but this time he’s duly ignored.

4. Israel’s burial societies refusing to bury gay people – TV report. In at least four instances, religious authorities suggest the dead be taken somewhere else or interred on outskirts of cemetery.

“If you can bury him somewhere else, it’s preferable, to prevent aggravation.” In another city nearby, perhaps. “It will have to be done “quietly” in an area on the edge of the cemetery.” “We’re not going to bury someone who keeps Torah and [Jewish] commandments next to one like that.” A gay couple could not reserve a joint plot like a regular married couple and would be buried separately “in the wall.” “If you don’t have a wife according the (religious) law, you can’t use a family plot for a husband and wife. We go according to the halacha, sir, Jews.”

However, there are always giants who show their greatness by swimming against the stream of ignoramuses. Rabbi David Stav says: “If the details of this report are true and the burial societies or their representatives are refusing to bury people because of their sexual orientation during their lives, they are contravening Jewish law and desecrating the dead.”

5. The biggest challenge to ’emunah’ of our time. The headmaster who wrote this, Rabbi Ari Segal, clearly knows what he is talking about. For sure, he’s attacked for his position (Does the Gay Issue Threaten the Continuity of Orthodoxy?) but there are also powerful communicators who question the questioners (Does the gay issue threaten the continuity of Orthodoxy? — A response to Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein).

* * *

Much like confrontation with the reality of LGBTQs shows which leaders have their brains in gear, it also shows whom of us are brave enough to choose reality over wishful thinking (so much for thinking).

Some argue (pretty convincingly, if you ask me, but you didn’t) that to be Jewish is the responsibility to challenge G-d (see The Fed-Up Man of Faith: Challenging God in the Face of Suffering and Tragedy). Then, should it come as a surprise that G-d is challenging us too?

G-d created Man (m/f) – not yes-men. There are good arguments to believe that He hates people who follow authority unquestioningly, with a passion. Especially if they do so in His Name.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. 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When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. 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