Jews Against…erm, What was that Again?

One of Joseph Farah’s “favorite Christian cultural warriors”, Ted Baehr, has produced another essay for ASSIST, this time on the persecution of Christians. In just 300 words Baehr manages somehow to link (or at least, ramble around) Janet Jackson’s breast, child pornography, the Roman Empire, the crisis in the Sudan, Chechnya (given as, erm, an example of the persecution of Christians) and the recent news that Protestantism is in decline in the USA:

The number of atheists is increasing. Why? Christians have been intimidated.

However, help is at hand:

The First Amendment protects our speech too, though. If Muslims, atheists, and Darwinists are free to talk about their points of view, we should be, too. A new organization led by Don Feder, Jews Against Christian Anti-Defamation, is trying to stand for the right of Christians to express their deeply held beliefs.

“Jews Against Christian Anti-Defamation”? Eh? Does that mean that if someone defames a Christian, and the Christian responds (“anti-defamation”), then some Jews will object to that response? Well, that may be the conclusion of someone who just tries to work out what the tortuous name means by following logic.

In fact, however, I suspect the opposite is meant. Don Feder is a Frontpage columnist who describes himself thus:

I’m to the right of Sharon on Zionism, to the right of Pat Buchanan on immigration and Americanism, to the right of Mother Angelica on abortion, to the right of Chuck Heston on Second-Amendment rights, and generally make the legendary Atilla look like a limousine liberal.

A sanguinary cartoon of Feder as Ghengis Khan accompanies. Feder, who manages the extraordinary feat of hating Palestinians while not believing in their existence, also has an intense dislike of Abraham Foxman and the Anti-Defamation League: not because he objects to Foxman’s attempts to characterise critics of Israel as anti-Semites (Feder does a fair bit of that himself), but because Foxman has been hard on the Christian Right on issues such as The Passion. Feder, by contrast, takes the view that as friends to the most reactionary forces in Israeli politics, the Christian Right should enjoy the support of Jews and the Anti-Defamationists should shut up. Hence, I would conclude, the bizarre name of Feder’s organisation, which does not so far have a website. If it’s not too late, may I suggest “Jews Anti-Anti-Christian Anti-Defamation” as a less confusing title?

Dial-A-Devil

Yemi Akinsuyi of This Day (Lagos) reports on the “satanic phone numbers” scare in Nigeria. Rumour has it that answering certain numbers on your cell phone leads to vomiting blood and death. This Day reveals those responsible for the panic, with the most popular story

ascribed to Mr. Segun Adisa in his programme, Labe Orun on Murhi International Television (M-ITV) last Sunday while warning viewers on the effect of receiving such calls.

Adisa said those, who do not believe the existence of the numbers, were at the risk of dying soonest…[He said] “I pity those, who do not believe that there are phone numbers that could kill instantly. I cannot say much about the evil now, but there is evil hanging on those that do not believe and see it as mere fabrication. Many have gone through these phone numbers, but we that are alive should be careful”.

Also to blame is

a pastor of the Oshodi, a Lagos suburb branch of the famous Christ Embassy Church, who last Sunday narratted his experience of a satanic call in the city in the open church…

Warning members of the branch against receiving strange calls, which, he said, now sniff life out of people, the pastor told the congregation that he was in a gathering, where a woman received a call and started vormiting blood. He said all of them, who were around the scene, were subsequently picked up by the police and taken to Alausa Police Station, where they were made to make statements on all they knew about the incident before they were let off.

However, the police deny any such thing happened, leaving us with the shocking inference that a pastor has made something up! Further, actually calling the supposed “Satanic numbers” connects to ordinary people who are none too pleased.

The Christ Embassy (formerly “Believers’ Love World”) is one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Nigeria, and is led by a faith healer named Chris Oyakhilome.

Perhaps those about to throw away their phones out of fear ought to have a word with Leo Igwe, Nigeria’s most prominent sceptic…