Committee For Accuracy In Middle East Reporting In America Says Rev. Tim Kutzmark Is Free With The Truth About Israel But Not Responsible With It. . .
When Unitarian*Universalists make highly misleading or outright false statements of various kinds I often play off the words of the fourth of Unitarian*Universalism's Seven Principles which calls for -
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning
By pointing out how these "less than honest", or at least "less than truthful", U*Us are being very free with the truth but far from responsible with it. It seems that the Committee For Accuracy In Middle East Reporting In America aka CAMERA has decided to use much the same hypocrisy exposing wordplay in an article titled UUA Pastor Remembers the Holocaust, Ignores the Hate which accuses Unitarian*Universalist minister Rev. Tim Kutzmark, the "pastor" of the Unitarian*Universalist Church of Reading, Massachusetts, of being free with the truth but not responsible with it with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East.
The CAMERA article begins thusly -
One oft-cited principle of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Churches is a commitment to the “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Unfortunately, the preaching of Rev. Tim Kutzmark, who leads the UUA church in Reading, Massachusetts, fails to meet this standard. His commentary about the conflict is free, but not responsible.
In particular, Rev. Kutzmark, who has preached on how Christian anti-Semitism laid the groundwork for the Holocaust in Europe, ignores altogether the role Muslim attitudes toward Jews play in fomenting violence against Israel. He portrays Israeli policies as a delayed and misplaced response to the Holocaust and not a response to the threats currently faced by the Israeli people. He also portrays Zionism as a racist and colonialist cause whose leaders are intent on perpetrating a genocide against the Palestinian people.
One hint of how far Rev. Kutzmark is willing to go to denigrate Israel is his decision to show his congregation Occupation 101, a dishonest, propagandistic film that distorts essential facts of history and depicts the Arab-Israeli conflict as solely the fault of Israel.
Additionally, the pastor has portrayed Palestinian leaders – who have routinely trafficked in anti-Semitic propaganda and have repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction – as if they are the Middle East’s answer to Martin Luther King, a man who engaged in non-violent protest to achieve civil rights for African Americans in the United States.
The overall effect of Rev. Kutzmark’s narrative is to depict anti-Zionism, or hostility toward Jewish sovereignty and self-determination, as a legitimate and progressive cause in the U.S.
end quote
I suppose how responsible with the truth and accurate CAMERA itself is being in its own reporting may be open to some debate, but I guess that only a free and genuinely *responsible* search for the truth and meaning of this CAMERA article will determine its truthfulness and meaning. I hereby invite Unitarian*Universalists to enter into *that* particular free and responsible search for the truth by reading the article in full and doing the appropriate follow-up.
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning
By pointing out how these "less than honest", or at least "less than truthful", U*Us are being very free with the truth but far from responsible with it. It seems that the Committee For Accuracy In Middle East Reporting In America aka CAMERA has decided to use much the same hypocrisy exposing wordplay in an article titled UUA Pastor Remembers the Holocaust, Ignores the Hate which accuses Unitarian*Universalist minister Rev. Tim Kutzmark, the "pastor" of the Unitarian*Universalist Church of Reading, Massachusetts, of being free with the truth but not responsible with it with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East.
The CAMERA article begins thusly -
One oft-cited principle of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Churches is a commitment to the “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Unfortunately, the preaching of Rev. Tim Kutzmark, who leads the UUA church in Reading, Massachusetts, fails to meet this standard. His commentary about the conflict is free, but not responsible.
In particular, Rev. Kutzmark, who has preached on how Christian anti-Semitism laid the groundwork for the Holocaust in Europe, ignores altogether the role Muslim attitudes toward Jews play in fomenting violence against Israel. He portrays Israeli policies as a delayed and misplaced response to the Holocaust and not a response to the threats currently faced by the Israeli people. He also portrays Zionism as a racist and colonialist cause whose leaders are intent on perpetrating a genocide against the Palestinian people.
One hint of how far Rev. Kutzmark is willing to go to denigrate Israel is his decision to show his congregation Occupation 101, a dishonest, propagandistic film that distorts essential facts of history and depicts the Arab-Israeli conflict as solely the fault of Israel.
Additionally, the pastor has portrayed Palestinian leaders – who have routinely trafficked in anti-Semitic propaganda and have repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction – as if they are the Middle East’s answer to Martin Luther King, a man who engaged in non-violent protest to achieve civil rights for African Americans in the United States.
The overall effect of Rev. Kutzmark’s narrative is to depict anti-Zionism, or hostility toward Jewish sovereignty and self-determination, as a legitimate and progressive cause in the U.S.
end quote
I suppose how responsible with the truth and accurate CAMERA itself is being in its own reporting may be open to some debate, but I guess that only a free and genuinely *responsible* search for the truth and meaning of this CAMERA article will determine its truthfulness and meaning. I hereby invite Unitarian*Universalists to enter into *that* particular free and responsible search for the truth by reading the article in full and doing the appropriate follow-up.
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