Article on Gay Marriage from Michael Jackson's Rabbi

[Ian David]

This Rabbi was just on Scarborough Country talking about his conversations with Michael Jackson.

Here is what Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has to say about gay marriage:

Rebbe With a Cause
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Homosexuality Is A Religious Sin, Not An Ethical One
Fighting gay sex--or even homosexual unions--only distracts from making straight marriage better


The United States Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to strike down a Texas ban on gay sex, ruling that the law was an unconstitutional violation of privacy, was necessary and correct. To be sure, I have devoted much of my career to upholding the institution of heterosexual marriage, and strengthening the religious commitment of American society. But I know that religion is sacred precisely because it involves freedom of choice. This is not Iran. We don’t want a society where police can barge into a couple’s bedroom to determine whether they’re practicing sodomy or not and whisk them off to jail.

Senator Rick Santorum, a man I admire and respect, said in a recent interview with the Associated Press that if the justices overturned the Texas law, "then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery, you have the right to anything." The Senator is wrong. We don’t prosecute people in America for adultery. No court would throw a man in jail for cheating on his wife, even if he deserved it. There has got to be a difference between moral and ethical sin and religious sin.

Homosexuality and sodomy are not ethical sins. No one is being hurt, no one is being cheated, nobody’s rights are being infringed upon. Homosexuality is a religious sin, analogous to other Biblical prohibitions, like not eating the carcass of a dead animal, or not sleeping with a woman during her menstrual cycle. In many ways, adultery is even worse, because it does transgress ethics. It involves deception and lying. But we don’t prosecute people for adultery.

<snip>

But what two gay men do in the privacy of their bedroom is totally different. Unlike polygamy or incest, no rational person can argue that two men having gay sex is going to undermine the legal institution of marriage. Those that do are probably more interested in attacking gays than protecting marriage.

More:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/128/story_12887_1.html?rnd=86

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is a nationally syndicated radio host on the Talk America Network. He has written many books on relationships, including Kosher Sex and Kosher Adultery.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Boteach rocks!

What a great, and under-appreciated, spiritual leader.

Surf to http://www.shmuley.com and read it, already!

--p!

[Taylor Mason Powell]

2. I have to take issue...

Boteach ALMOST rocks. Almost. He's almost there. I'm glad he recognizes the distinction between religious sins and ethical sins, and I'm glad he harps on the evils that heterosexuals do...

But in the article he continues to propound this tired and incomprehensible argument that gay marriage somehow undermines marriage. He doesn't say how it does this, because he can't. Because it's a ridiculous proposition. But there it is, hanging out there without any support, unlike the rest of his article which is very well-reasoned.

He graciously allows that I shouldn't be thrown in jail for having sex with my boyfriend, but he insists that we remain second-class citizens. He says we can have many of the rights of married couples. Well, thanks Rabbi! Mind telling me which rights I can't have? And why not?

[Ian David]

5. He's one of the Republican Underpants Gnomes

See:

December 09, 2004
South Park Guide to the Bush Administration, Part 1: Republicans are Underpants Gnomes

<snip>

KYLE: So what are you gonna do with all these underpants you steal?
GNOME 1: Collecting underpants is just phase one. Phase one collect underpants.
KYLE: So what's phase two?
{The gnome sits there and thinks. For a long time.}
GNOME 1: (calling out) Hey, what's phase two?!
GNOME 2: Phase one we collect underpants.
GNOME 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what about phase two?
{Gnome 2 thinks.}
GNOME 2: Well phase THREE is profit. Get it?
STAN: I don't get it.
GNOME 2: Goes over to a chart on the wall. The chart says:

Phase 1: Steal Underpants

Phase 2: ?

Phase 3: Profit

GNOME 2: You see, Phase one collect underpants, phase two-
{Silence}
GNOME 2: Phase three--PROFIT!!
CARTMAN: Oh I get it.
STAN: No you don't, fat ass!

Now. How does this apply to the Bush administration? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's take a look.

More:

http://hereswhatsleft.typepad.com/home/2004/12/south_park_guid.html






See also:
Underpants Gnomes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Underpants Gnomes is episode 217 of Comedy Central's South Park. It originally aired on December 16, 1998.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

In the South Park episode titled "Gnomes (Underpants Gnomes)", the Underpants Gnomes are a community of underground gnomes who steal underpants, notably from Tweek.

The Underpants Gnomes have a three-phase business plan, consisting of:

1. Collect underpants
2. ???
3. Profit!

None of the gnomes actually know what the second phase is, and all of them assume that someone else within the organization does. A similar business model is also found in one episode of Arthur, where an organization of pets form the Sock Exchange. The gnomes specifically satirize dot-com businesses with poorly devised business models, although the satire also lends itself to any ill-conceived business plan. The three-step business plan has become a recurring joke on websites like Slashdot, Fark, MetaFilter, and other sites, with various things substituted for the first step.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underpants_Gnomes


on edit: Maybe we should start using the phrase "Underpants Republicans." It fits them on so many levels, including their belief in a government at least small enough to fit into your bedroom.

[TaleWgnDg]

3. Two questions . . .

.

1.) Lawrence et al v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) (The Texas statute making it a crime for two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct violates the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution) is a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case, which means this article was authored at that time (June 26, 2003). http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=02-102

2.) Michael Jackson is Jewish? Then what were The Nation of Islam bodyguards around him a few months back?



.

[Ian David]

4. Jacko isn't Jewish. The rabbi was one of his "spirtual advisors"

Jackson frantically looked for friends
Sify, India - 3 hours ago
Washington : Pop legend Michael Jackson has revealed that he was so lonely at the ... revelation that he made to his spiritual adviser Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in 2000 ...

http://sify.com/peopleandplaces/fullstory.php?id=13867212


Although I wouldn't be surprised if Jacskon looked into Judaism just so he could have another operaiton.

[TaleWgnDg]

7. I'm no expert in psychology but my kneejerk . . .

.
I'm no expert in psychology but my kneejerk on Michael Jackson is that he appears (eeerrrrr, well) not all "with it" to say it kindly. Nice, though, that he reaches out to various members of the community. Or is it (no pun intended of course)?

As to your last paragraph . . . I almost spewed my almost-swallowed Coca-Cola at the monitor! Am still laughing.

.

[Chovexani]

6. ?

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that CEBNPMJ* has a freakin' rabbi. Last I heard he was JW, and hanging out with the Fruit of Islam. Is he just trying to cover his bases, in case messing with little boys does turn out to be a sin? Maybe the Rabbi blesses the Jesus Juice?

Then again, this:

>Senator Rick Santorum, a man I admire and respect...

Has me even more baffled. :crazy:

And I still haven't heard an explanation as to why loving someone of your own gender is a sin of any kind, religious or ethical. But then again, my religion doesn't traffic in that nonsense.

*Crazy, Evil, Bananas in Pajamas Michael Jackson. See also: C'est Fubar. Coined by the old Fametracker boards.