I have argued for some time that the right wing use of hate speech to stir up its base into a frothy tizzy has led to an increase in intolerance and hate crimes in America. Almost the entire Bush Administration saw a constant rise in hate crimes, most particularly anti-Semitic, homophobic and anti-immigrant hate crimes. There have been attacks at a Holocaust museum and at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. In Indiana, a prominent Republican told a group of Jews that their opinion on the recitation of Christian prayers at legislative sessions didn't matter because they only made up 2% of the population. There have even occastionally been what can only be described as pogroms here and there. There have even been hate crimes right in our subways, even as violent crime has overall been declining in NYC. I believe the blame for this increase in hate crimes is not just the continuing effects of Bush's Republican economic collapse. It is also thanks to the violent, intolerant rhetoric of people like Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. [UPDATED AT BOTTOM]

This week we have two examples of American right wing intolerance coming to Brooklyn. One has already happened and one is scheduled for this weekend.

First there was an attack on a Unitarian Church in Brooklyn Heights. From the Brooklyn Paper:

The thieves broke into the First Unitarian Universalist Church on Monroe Place between 4 pm and 7 am the following morning, heisting money and music equipment and scrawling racist, homophobic, anti-Arab, and anti-Semitic epithets on the walls of the church, which is between Clark and Pierrepont streets.

Their message included a swastika, as well as the statement “White power — we will be back.”

This is hardly the first time that hateful words have made news in Brooklyn Heights.

I should note that the Brooklyn Paper is now owned by Rupert Murdoch, the man who gives hate speech a place on radio and television.

Meanwhile, a particularly nasty group of right wing dickheads, who probably constantly get their inspiration from Rupert Murdoch's television and radio programs, is coming to Brooklyn specifically to protest in front of the synagogue where my son now goes for his afterschool program. Thankfully they are coming Saturday so he will be spared their vitriol. The Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas is sending some of their dickheads all the way from Kansas to protest in front of Conrgegation Beth Elohim in Park Slope. And keep in mind that although my son will be spared their attentions on Satuday, Saturday is the holy day for Jews so the Kansan Dickheads of Westboro Baptist Church have intentionally chosen to disrupt the holy services at Beth Elohim during one of the holiest parts of the year. Imagine the outcry from Bill O'Reilly and the other Murdoch idiots if Muslims protested in front of a Baptist Church on Easter Sunday!

This comes from Temple Beth Elohim:

Congregation Beth Elohim
September 22, 2009

Dear Friends,

On Saturday, September 26, from 9:45 AM - 10:15 AM, Congregation Beth Elohim will be picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church, an extremist anti-Semitic, anti-gay independent church based out of Topeka, Kansas.

They plan to send representatives who will stand on our sidewalk displaying disturbing signs and provoking those entering our building. They try to create enough confrontation to incite others to provocation. It is their constitutional right to picket.

Congregation Beth Elohim does not welcome this group's message or actions in any way. Our focus and mission as a community is to build an inclusive Jewish community that celebrates the strength of diversity. It is a home for individuals and families of all backgrounds to grow and to learn and to care about and deepen their connections to one another.

We have clear priorities during difficult moments such as these. Protecting our members and visitors, and most importantly our children, is a primary goal. Our internal security team is already in action and local police authorities have been alerted. Although you are entitled to your right to free speech, we ask that you calmly pass these protesters and walk directly into our building without incident.

For more information about the Westboro Baptist and for educational materials about responding to hate groups, please download a PDF provided by the Anti-Defamation League.

Congregation Beth Elohim is an amazing community in that it is a warm and welcoming place. This group will be picketing us because of our commitment to those who desire community. Though Saturday may be upsetting, it is important to remember that our precious values are truly a source of great pride. Our best and only response is to conduct ourselves as usual.

And this Shabbat we have so much to celebrate: Natalie Chertoff becomes Bat Mitzvah; Shir l'Shabbat and Yachad meet in a wonderful, family learning and Shabbat atmosphere; Rabbi Emeritus Weider celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of his own Bar Mitzvah in the Lay-Led Minyan; and Alt-Shul is hosting its bi-monthly traditional minyan. Truly a diverse and celebratory Shabbat worthy of our values of openness and celebration as one community!

Let's focus our energy and attention on making this truly a Shabbat Shalom at Congregation Beth Elohim.

May you all be blessed for another year of life, tolerance, and well-being.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Andy Bachman
Elana Paru, Executive Director
David Kasakove, President

For those who want to help Congregation Beth Elohim stand up to the Kansan Dickheads, a small donation through their website will help them with the increased security and just plain irritation this visitation from Kansas will cause them.

[UPDATE] It's worse than I thought. Someone with a stronger stomach than I have checked and the Kansan Dickheads are protesting more than just one synagogue.

On 9/29 the Kansan Dickheads will protest at the UN, basically calling for the rape and destruction of Israel. To quote from their site:

No matter what your lying prophets tell you Israel, the time is upon you and you must watch. Zechariah 14:2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Zechariah prophesied of these days, and when you see all of these things coming to pass, and you are called out of the corrupt mass of bad, naughty, filthy, hateful and useless figs - LOOK FOR US AT WBC! We are waiting to help you. Praise God! AMEN!

On the same day they will protest in front of the Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan. In their blurb on this protest they are even more violently anti-Semitic:

Obama is the Antichrist and is going to be that weapon by which the Lord Jesus Christ, The King of the Place, destroys apostate Jews. Praise Him. AMEN!

These busy Dickheads are, on the same day, protesting the 92nd street Y, Temple Beth El in Huntington, and Brooklyn Tech. Yes...Brooklyn Tech. That is a HIGH SCHOOL. The reason for protesting Brooklyn Tech, to quote them: "Yo, God Hates Fags!"

Then on 9/25 the Dickheads are protesting the Chabad of Great Neck (wow...I would love to see THAT confrontation!) , Marathon Jewish Community Center in Flushing, Temple Israel of Great Neck, Great Neck Synagogue, North Shore Hebrew Academy High School in Great Neck and Great Neck North High School, Long Island Jewish World in Far Rockaway, and the East Midwood Jewish Center and Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Brooklyn.

On 9/26 they are protesting Beth Elohim (their blurb on this one specifically mentions disrupting a Bat Mitzvah), Kane Street Synagogue and Union Temple of Brooklyn in Brooklyn as well as and St. Patrick's Cathedral (they hate Catholics, too).

This is a real assault on New York from Kansas.