JWW FINDS STRANGE BEDFELLOW IN SYNAGOGUE 3000

[Ian David]

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
[e-mail]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


JWW FINDS STRANGE BEDFELLOW IN SYNAGOGUE 3000
Jewish community embraces fundamentalist Pastor Rick Warren, known homophobe
and anti-choice advocate


July 17, 2006: Following in the footsteps of its 2002 Strange Bedfellows
campaign, the anonymous feminist group Jewish Women Watching (JWW) is once
again warning the Jewish community against hopping into bed with right-wing
Christian fundamentalists.

Last month, Synagogue 3000, a group whose mission is "to make synagogues
compelling moral and spiritual centers," invited Pastor Rick Warren, author
of the bestselling "Purpose Driven Life" and founder of a California
megachurch, to speak publicly about building spiritual community. Warren is
a known homophobe and anti-choice advocate. JWW thinks it's a "shanda" (an
embarrassment) that Synagogue 3000 is holding Warren up as a moral leader
worthy of emulation.

Warren has called gays "unnatural" and part of a "hierarchy of evil." During
the last Presidential election, he urged his congregants to vote against a
woman's right to choose. He advises that gays and lesbians, as well as women
who have had abortions should seek forgiveness.

"If in fact the American Jewish community still supports the separation of
church and state, a woman's right to choose, and tolerance and equality,"
said Adah Isaacs Menken of JWW, "it sounds like abstinence remains the only
safeguard against strange bedfellows."

In its original Strange Bedfellows campaign, JWW disseminated condoms to
protect individuals against the partnerships of Jewish communal
organizations and the likes of Christian fundamentalists Pat Robertson,
Jerry Falwell, and Ralph Reed. These men have all slandered women, gays and
lesbians, and Jews, and yet all have been embraced and rewarded by the
Jewish community. Now we can add Rick Warren to the list.

# # #

ABOUT JEWISH WOMEN WATCHING (JWW)
Jewish Women Watching is an anonymous activist collective that aims to rouse
the public to challenge and change the sexist and other discriminatory
practices in the American Jewish community. Since 1999, JWW has been
criticizing the Jewish community's narrow-minded priorities in online,
print, and street actions. For more information, and to view the Strange
Bedfellow campaign, visit JWW's web site at www.jewishwomenwatching.com

[Skinner]

1. I received this email from Synagogue 3000

I'm not familiar with any of this, so I'll just post this here so you all can sort through it. --Skinner

To correct the factual inaccuracies in the press release from Jewish Women Watching:

1. S3K did not invite Rick Warren to Sinai Temple, nor was S3K a sponsor of the event. Pastor Warren was invited by Rabbi David Wolpe on behalf of Sinai Temple to speak publicly at the Friday Night Live Service on June 16, 2006. S3K did host an invitation-only dinner prior to the service for S3K supporters, Sinai community members and guests from Saddleback Church.

2. In June 2005, S3K’s Leadership Network held a private meeting and exchange of views between Rick Warren and members of S3K’s Leadership Network. Video clips from that meeting are available on the S3K website. In fact, during the meeting (again, this was in June 2005, not last month), a number of S3K LN members, including Rabbi Elaine Zecher (Temple Israel, Boston) and Amichai Lau Lavie (Storahtelling/RituaLab, New York) had a full and frank exchange of views with Rick Warren on his view of homosexuality and expressed their discomfort with his opinion on the subject.

For the record, S3K is committed to the fundamental Jewish value that all human beings are made in the image of G@d regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin.

3. S3K is not “holding Warren up as a moral leader worthy of emulation” nor do we take a position on his views. S3K invited Warren for a conversation with the S3K Leadership Network to specifically discuss the techniques and strategies pioneered by megachurches in building spiritual community.

S3K believes that honest and open dialogue will make clearer both the commonalities and differences in attitudes between leaders from all religious traditions. Our encounter with Rick Warren, and with other Christian leaders, does not imply an endorsement of their theology, political positions or personal opinions. Within our transdenominational S3K Leadership Network itself, we embrace individuals who represent a wide variety of views. That is the nature of honest inquiry, and those are the goals we serve.

Joshua Avedon
Director of Communication
Synagogue 3000