Love May Tear You Apart; Stick with Hate

The New York Times catches up with the veritable peace train that is the interfaith movement to oppose an international gay pride parade and festival, “Love Without Borders,” from occurring in Jerusalem this August, and reports that now Islam’s on board, joining Israel’s two chief rabbis and representatives from Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian and evangelical churces. The Times’ Laurie Goodstein notes that such harmony between religions is unusual in Israel, and credits American evangelical pastor and culture war veteran, Rev. Leo Giovinetti, with first alerting Israeli politicians and religious leaders to the upcoming parade and encouraging the clerics to overcome their differences to focus on the one thing all can agree on: the gay pride parade would make the Holy City “dirty.” However, there is a counter-opposition that denounces such “an attempt to globalize bigotry”: 75 non-Orthodox rabbis have signed a statement of support and that Israeli politicians and leaders from both Christianity and Islam are expected to announce their support shortly.