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NYT Religion Writer Throws a Hissy Fit
The Christian Diarist ^ | March 6, 2013 | JP

Posted on 03/06/2013 7:20:45 AM PST by CHRISTIAN DIARIST

So I just got around to reading a tweet from Mark Oppenheimer, religion columnist for The New York Times.

He was offended by my February 3 post taking issue with a cover story he wrote for Sports Illustrated, “In the Fields of the Lord,” which appeared in the magazine’s Super Bowl issue.

Oppenheimer’s article dissed NFL players who “point to heaven after the big sack, cross themselves after a touchdown and give thanks to Jesus in the post-game interviews.” His hit piece – which, at one point, jokes about pro footballers attempting to “Christianize the strip club” – suggests that the faith of Christian athletes is unworthy of being taken seriously.

Had a Christ follower authored such an article, I would have disagreed, but I wouldn’t have wondered what secret animus he might bear toward Christianity.

But Oppenheimer is Jewish, as I noted in my post. And I couldn’t shake the suspicion that the cynical tone of his SI essay was attributable, at least in part, to a conceit that his faith is superior to the Christian faith.

Oppenheimer is skeptical of Christianity.

He doesn’t believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah foretold by the book of Isaiah. That He was born of a virgin. That He performed the miraculous. That He was crucified and rose from the dead three days thereafter. That he was seen by men after His resurrection. And that He sits now at the right hand of God.

In my view, a writer that rejects the divinity of Jesus – be he (or she) Jewish, like Oppenheimer, or Muslim, or Buddhist, or Hindu, or Scientologist or whatever – simply cannot write a fair and balanced article on the Christian faith.

Even when that article explores the seemingly innocuous subject of pro football and Christian athletes.

Oppenheimer didn’t see it this way. The guy who spent nearly 3,500 words mocking gridiron Christians threw a hissy fit because I had the temerity to report that he is Jewish.

“cheers, Christian Diarist,” Oppenheimer tweeted, “to anti-Semitism in attack on my Sports Ill piece abt Christianity + NFL.”

And The New York Times/Sports Illustrated religion writer got a tweet of support from Rebecca Ruquist, one of his twitter sycophants.

“oy veyyyy,” she sympathized. “The ‘yes,’ (confirming your suspicion) is esp unsavory.”

Well oy veyyyy, indeed, Miss Ruquist. My post anticipated that readers would want to know the religious faith of the author of the Sports Ill piece (for the very germaine reasons I mentioned above). So, I answered in advance: “yes, he’s Jewish.”

Maybe, in Ruquist’s mind, that made my post “unsavory.” Maybe, to Oppenheimer’s way of thinking, that somehow made my post anti-Semitic.

But Oppenheimer protests too much, me thinks. By playing the anti-Semitic card, he clearly is attempting to deflect attention from his SI article, which is artfully written and deviously anti-Christian.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Evangelical Christian; General Discusssion; Judaism
KEYWORDS: antisemitism; christianathletes; markoppenheimer; sportsillustrated
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The New York Times would never ever allow goyim to write an article deconstructing any aspect of Judaism.
1 posted on 03/06/2013 7:20:58 AM PST by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST
(1) A non-Christian can write an objective analysis of public expressions of Christianity. Just because Mark Oppenheimer is an unintelligent and biased non-Christian does not mean that he is representative of all non-Christians.

(2) I do not like the tone of your comment about "allow[ing] goyim" - the NYT has published numerous articles critical of traditional Judaism, not all of which have been written by Jewish journalists.

The NYT has an anti-Western, anti-theist bias and is hostile to Christianity. This is obvious and it is obviously ideological. Casting this in ethnic terms is unproductive.

2 posted on 03/06/2013 7:38:28 AM PST by wideawake
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST

“The New York Times would never ever allow goyim to write an article deconstructing any aspect of Judaism. “

If it benefited Islam, yes they would.


3 posted on 03/06/2013 7:40:32 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST
For example, Ray Rivera has written a number of articles for the NYT exposing child abuse in the Hasidic community.

I'm going to guess that he is likely a Gentile.

4 posted on 03/06/2013 7:46:47 AM PST by wideawake
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST
The New York Times would never ever allow goyim to write an article deconstructing any aspect of Judaism.

That is an absolutely ridiculous claim. You think the NYT would never attack the historicity of the first eleven chapters of Genesis? Or animal sacrifices? Or the laws regulating (but not forbidding) slavery? And what about all the attacks on Israel in the Times from the very beginning . . . huh?

The vast majority of chrstians in the world (especially the "intellectuals" and the clergy) are hypocrites who dismiss the "old testament" as "mythology" while believing every supernatural claim asserted in the "new testament" or by chrstian teaching.

Also, you seem ignorant of the fact that not all Jews are Orthodox. I doubt very seriously if this character Oppenheim is an Orthodox Jew at all, which means he doesn't believe the (genuine) Jewish religion is superior to anything.

Way to try to stir things up between chrstians and Jews while the atheists and moslems are taking over. Are you an agent provocateur?

5 posted on 03/06/2013 8:14:55 AM PST by Zionist Conspirator (Ki-hagoy vehamamlakhah 'asher lo'-ya`avdukh yove'du; vehagoyim charov yecheravu!)
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To: Zionist Conspirator; CHRISTIAN DIARIST

The New York Times would never ever allow goyim to write an article deconstructing any aspect of Judaism.

That is an absolutely ridiculous claim. You think the NYT would never attack the historicity of the first eleven chapters of Genesis? Or animal sacrifices? Or the laws regulating (but not forbidding) slavery? And what about all the attacks on Israel in the Times from the very beginning . . . huh?

The vast majority of chrstians in the world (especially the “intellectuals” and the clergy) are hypocrites who dismiss the “old testament” as “mythology” while believing every supernatural claim asserted in the “new testament” or by chrstian teaching.

Also, you seem ignorant of the fact that not all Jews are Orthodox. I doubt very seriously if this character Oppenheim is an Orthodox Jew at all, which means he doesn’t believe the (genuine) Jewish religion is superior to anything.

Way to try to stir things up between chrstians and Jews while the atheists and moslems are taking over. Are you an agent provocateur?


6 posted on 03/06/2013 8:25:51 AM PST by Augustinian monk
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To: Zionist Conspirator; CHRISTIAN DIARIST

The New York Times would never ever allow goyim to write an article deconstructing any aspect of Judaism.

That is an absolutely ridiculous claim. You think the NYT would never attack the historicity of the first eleven chapters of Genesis? Or animal sacrifices? Or the laws regulating (but not forbidding) slavery? And what about all the attacks on Israel in the Times from the very beginning . . . huh?

The vast majority of chrstians in the world (especially the “intellectuals” and the clergy) are hypocrites who dismiss the “old testament” as “mythology” while believing every supernatural claim asserted in the “new testament” or by chrstian teaching.

Also, you seem ignorant of the fact that not all Jews are Orthodox. I doubt very seriously if this character Oppenheim is an Orthodox Jew at all, which means he doesn’t believe the (genuine) Jewish religion is superior to anything.

Way to try to stir things up between chrstians and Jews while the atheists and moslems are taking over. Are you an agent provocateur?

Yes. Any one who expresses a Biblical worldview(Orthodox Jew or Fundamentalist) is subject to venom and ridicule in the NY Times. I know b/c read it virtually everyday.


7 posted on 03/06/2013 8:27:39 AM PST by Augustinian monk
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST

Even when that article explores the seemingly innocuous subject of pro football and Christian athletes.


I think pro sports in some cases to be about the lowest form of humanity, depending if it happens to be the one i like or don,t like.

It is all about making a load of money made possible by people who will make money if they spend enough money on their subjects.

Not to mention the education system who steals money for education purposes from the tax payers and then builds gyms and every thing in the world to go with them.

I do not like nor watch any sports subsidized by the tax payers at any part of the career nor will i watch any unionized sport

After having said that, i have no doubt that real Christians are involved in sports, and if they give thanks to God i see nothing wrong nor hypocritical about that.


8 posted on 03/06/2013 8:40:26 AM PST by ravenwolf
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST

The Jews who write for the NYTimes—and there are plenty of them—are all left-wing secular Jews, who pay no more attention to the Old Testament than the New.

This guy hates Christians not because he is Jewish, but because he is the kind of typical left-wing secular bigot that the Times always chooses for its “religion” writers. God could strike him with a lightning bolt and he probably wouldn’t notice.


9 posted on 03/06/2013 9:21:40 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST

Hatred and intolerance for the sight and sound of Christians puts the zeal in social Marxism and the NYT Jewish liberals are social Marxists. Hate is what unites communists with Islamists in America.

We need religious protection from social marxists who have decided they will dictate and enforce their doctrine of immorality, atheism and stinkin’ thinkin’ and gutter lifestyle via state/authorative harassment and oppression - in the US and globally.

A One size fits all mentality (and way of life) informed by the philosphy of humanism does not fit a nation of free thought and speech (self determination) which demands a flexibility socialists and socialism can not accomodate.

Everyone can not be ordered to reject nor praise the engagement in adult butt pleasure and everyone can not be ordered by the state to participate in killing babies and old people in the name of deathcare. The state can not ban the sign of the cross in public nor the expression of the Christian world and ethical view and way of life. We are not all Christians and we are not all atheists, either.

Social marxism does not work in the American constitutional society. Which is why socialists and atheists hate the first amendment’s social freedom - self determination. There is no “national” ordered beleif structure and way of life - not even humanism/atheism.


10 posted on 03/06/2013 9:49:44 AM PST by SaraJohnson
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To: Zionist Conspirator
The vast majority of chrstians in the world (especially the "intellectuals" and the clergy) are hypocrites who dismiss the "old testament" as "mythology" while believing every supernatural claim asserted in the "new testament" or by chrstian teaching.

I'd have to disagree with this. Most of the folks I know, know that you can't understand the New Testament without understanding the Old.

11 posted on 03/06/2013 9:57:55 AM PST by zeugma (Those of us who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.)
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To: Zionist Conspirator
The vast majority of chrstians in the world (especially the "intellectuals" and the clergy) are hypocrites who dismiss the "old testament" as "mythology" while believing every supernatural claim asserted in the "new testament" or by chrstian teaching.

I agree with you that the majority of those who call themselves Christians including lots of clergy dismiss the old testament but you are wrong that they believe the new testament - THEY DON'T BELIEVE IT EITHER and dismiss it too .
12 posted on 03/06/2013 12:49:49 PM PST by Lera (Proverbs 29:2)
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To: Lera
I agree with you that the majority of those who call themselves Christians including lots of clergy dismiss the old testament but you are wrong that they believe the new testament - THEY DON'T BELIEVE IT EITHER and dismiss it too.

Not all of them. Check the Catholic and Orthodox FReepers for examples of people who are irreverent iconoclasts with regard to the "old testament" but "fundies" when it comes to the "new."

13 posted on 03/06/2013 12:52:57 PM PST by Zionist Conspirator (Ki-hagoy vehamamlakhah 'asher lo'-ya`avdukh yove'du; vehagoyim charov yecheravu!)
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To: Cicero
Ding ding ding...we have a winner!

The only religion the Times likes is Islam because it's anti-American like them.

14 posted on 03/06/2013 1:00:02 PM PST by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must.)
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To: Zionist Conspirator

They are not fundies when it comes to the new either.
They don’t understand the new because they dismiss and do not understand the old . You can not understand the new without the context of the old .
Since they refuse to believe what is written they make up their own imaginations and that is why they come up with their crazy doctrines that flat out even are proven WRONG by what is written in the new testament .

All you have to do is watch what they post and then watch how they dismiss what we real fundies post when we post scripture to prove them wrong . Then they hurl insults and tell us that their traditions is more important that Scripture . No they don’t believe the new either


15 posted on 03/06/2013 1:06:09 PM PST by Lera (Proverbs 29:2)
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To: CHRISTIAN DIARIST; Zionist Conspirator

CD — you got the wannabe “messianics” riled up.


16 posted on 03/07/2013 8:11:16 AM PST by Cronos (Latin presbuteros->Late Latin presbyter->Old English pruos->Middle Engl prest->priest)
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To: Cronos
CD — you got the wannabe “messianics” riled up.

Once again, I have absolutely no idea where your antipathy for me has come from. I thought we were friends at one time. Are you perhaps confusing me with someone else?

I realize you know this and only employ the term for childish spite, but I wish you would not refer to me as a "messianic," as in "messianic Jew" (the misleading label of very sad Jews who think they can be chrstians). I am a Noachide, and I do not mix Judaism with chrstianity at all.

I really wish I understood why you seem to be so angry with me so often.

17 posted on 03/07/2013 7:53:22 PM PST by Zionist Conspirator (Ki-hagoy vehamamlakhah 'asher lo'-ya`avdukh yove'du; vehagoyim charov yecheravu!)
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To: Zionist Conspirator

For the simple reason that you are arguing with a non-Catholic yet, so stick to asking him in particular, don’t go on a little diatribe about Catholics.


18 posted on 03/08/2013 2:17:42 AM PST by Cronos (Latin presbuteros->Late Latin presbyter->Old English pruos->Middle Engl prest->priest)
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To: Zionist Conspirator
I have absolutely no idea where your antipathy for me has come from

Dear ZC, if on any random thread talking about any random topic, whether religious or not, someone always turned to say "oh, those Jews...." -- I would call them anti-semitic and obsessed with denigrating our Jewish friends. Can I not expect the same from others? If a topic is about some Christian's issue with a person who happens to be of Jewish background, discuss with that person, don't jump topic to say "those Juuus", sorry, "those Caflix"

19 posted on 03/08/2013 2:36:23 AM PST by Cronos (Latin presbuteros->Late Latin presbyter->Old English pruos->Middle Engl prest->priest)
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To: Cronos
CD — you got the wannabe “messianics” riled up.

LOL

20 posted on 03/08/2013 2:49:27 AM PST by Hacksaw
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