Whoops. I complimented Cross Currents a bit too soon, didn't I? Because now I see Yaakov Menken is back to his old tricks.
As you may have read, the Washington Nationals, a baseball team, fired it's chaplain after the Washington Post caught him saying that Jews don't go to heaven.
Menken, naturally, objects. As usual, he takes the asinine opinion that any stupid thing a person says about God requires our adoration.
That is quite an odd position for an arch-conservative like Yaakov. I could understand a liberal saying that all beliefs are equal, so really we shouldn't judge, but fire-breathers like Yaakov supposed to know Right from Wrong and Truth from Error. They aren't supposed to be shy about condeming people, like this chaplain, who are wrong.
Now, Yakkov and I agree that the chaplain should be free to say and think any stupid/offensive/hateful thought that pops into his head, but, likewise, Yaakov must respect the right of the public to say, "Sorry: Your idea is too stupid/offensive/hateful for polite society," and he must also respect the right of the Nationals to say "We don't want to be represented by people with stupid/offensive/hateful ideas."
For 2000 years the idea that Jews don't go to heaven was the cause of great human misery. The fact that it is finally verboten is cause for celebration; not for whining and foot-stomping from (ostensibly) Jewish writers.
