Rev. Robert Jeffress, FBC Dallas

Why am I not surprised that Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas said something racially ignorant, untrue and bigoted? During an ‘Ask the Pastor’ event Aug. 22, Jeffress called Islam, “an evil religion, an oppressive religion, and it is a violent religion,” he said later referencing an article he read about Yemen about child brides, ”And here is the deep, dark, dirty secret of Islam: It is a religion that promotes pedophilia – sex with children…. Around the world today, you have Muslim men having sex with 4-year-old girls….”  Khalid Shaheed imam at Masjid Al-Islam, the oldest mosque in downtown Dallas, said Islam does not promote sex with children and Jeffress doesn’t understand Islam. “I think he is fanning the flames of hate, and it’s absolutely wrong,” Shaheed told WFAA. “It does not represent the core of Christianity.” For his part, Jeffress defended his statements to WFAA, ”I believe it is the truth, and I think the record is clear,” he said. “Again — not all Muslims are evil, not all Muslims incite violence — but this is a religion that is responsible for the oppression of women around the world.” He later called on the good Christians to rise up and fight the evil oppressor of Islam. Isn’t lying and skewing the facts a violation of the commandment “thou shall not bare false witness.” IJS.

The controversy boiled over this Sunday when Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow wrote about the incident and the man behind the ignorance, “It’s hard to know where to start in expressing dismay with the Rev. Robert Jeffress – for being uninformed, un-Christian or un-American.” I vote for all of the above. And in that same Sunday paper, my column about being a Christian fasting during Ramadan came out. As a woman married to a Muslim, Rev. Jeffress, I’ve never been repressed, mistreated, beaten or otherwise lambasted for my sex. And as a woman who traveled to Yemen in June and saw (with my own Christian eyes) the “evil” repression and a child bride taking a driving lesson, I can testify quite clearer about this religion of hate you so readily speak of.  Below is my response:

Dear Rev. Robert Jeffress,

As a former Baptist woman, raised as Baptist, attended Baylor University in Waco, I do consider my foundation in the church quite solid. And I do understand where this image of Islam comes from. I do understand a Christian’s role to ‘go forth’ and spread the word. But I also understand more clearly that the views many Baptists (and Christians) hold of Islam are skewed by media and our own misunderstanding. Clearly, you know the images of Islam that have been a beacon of mainstream media: men with headscarves wrapped around their face and RPG’s held in the air, anti-American statements, terrorists, and women covered in black, shadowy figures, oppressed in Afghanistan, married young in Yemen and otherwise sad figures with an even sadder lot in life. You do not know the images of those same Muslims in your own community who are feeding the homeless who go to the mosque in downtown Dallas. Or who do volunteer service with incoming refugees. Or who tithe (as they will this week at the end of Ramadan) in service to others. Clearly, you do not know that in Yemen, my friend gathers $50 worth of dry goods and foods for poor children in a mountain village and that simple donation will last a year! (You can read the full details of my trip here.)

To be fair, I agree with some of the sentiment behind your statements. The oppression of women in Muslim countries is reprehensible in my mind. But this is 2010 and women are still not allowed to be pastors in Baptists churches. Go to your local women’s violence shelter, and you’ll find plenty of good Christian women and children wailed on by their faithful men and fathers. Does that equate what happens to women in Afghanistan? No. The Taliban are the worst form of evil alive, a twisted men of faith who’ve hijacked their religion to commit the most morally reprehensible crimes. But we’re a society that only 50 years ago still lynched men in trees for the color of their skin. We still have a group called the Klu Klux Klan, we still have hate crimes, and what’s worse, we still have people who uphold their hateful views and fill church pews every Sunday.

As a Christian married to a Muslim, I understand more clearly than you might imagine this Islam you speak of. I often look at those same CNN broadcasts or articles and shake my head and get sick in my stomach. But that same fear is there when I hear men like you preach to an audience a message of hate and I worry what your parishioners will do if they see my husband–who is not a violent man, who is faithful and kind and peaceful–and feel justified to speak hate to him, beat him or worse using your message as permission for their actions.  This is hate not faith! But will your parishioners know the difference? Do terrorists or the Taliban? I believe much of what you say is a message of fear (for their soul, for your safety, of the unknown). I recently spent a month in the Middle East on an un-mission trip. I visited. Observed. Had to wear a head scarf occasionally. Balked at the customs. Struggled as a Christian but ultimately left the Middle East (which is made of multiple countries, multiple faiths, customs and people) with a better sense of who Muslims are and how Islam plays in their lives.

Do men with thick grizzly beards and women dressed head to toe in black with only a slit for their eyes still scare the bejeezus out of me? Sometimes. It’s odd to see such conservatism in Dallas. But I was the odd duck in Sana’a, Yemen. Frankly, I’m scared in rooms full of Bible thumpers in Dallas these days. The bottom line, sir, is that if you are going to lead your congregation and call on them to go into their community as a body of believers armed with the sword of righteousness, I pray that you sheath the sword in truth. Because a Christian soldier armed with lies is no better than the Taliban promised virgins.

Sincerely,
ChickTalkDallas (Christian woman, married to Muslim, considering Methodism)
P.S. I’m available for speaking engagements and meetings.

Bunny Karen Drennan/Facebook

A group of former Playboy Bunnies will gather tonight for a bunny-reunion of sorts and they’re looking for ladies who donned the suit, the ears and puffy tail at the Dallas Playboy Club from 1977-1981. Former bunny Karen Criswell Drennan has rounded up 60 former bunnies and she has set up a Facebook page, Former Playboy Bunnies of Dallas. Drennan recently came back from the National Playboy Bunny Reunion in Chicago and AARP magazine covered the event. Most bunnies–they are not synonymous with Playmates who pose nude; bunnies were cocktail waitresses at Playboy clubs across the country–are an average age of 60 said Drennan.  Earlier this week, a small group of bunnies sat down with Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow who just about busted out of his pants at Sambuca he writes in today’s column, “Thirty years ago it would have been a sexual fantasy come true – lunch with a clutch of Playboy Bunnies, I mean.” Back in the day, “We really were like celebrities,” Carolann Roberts, 53, who still has her vintage purple bunny costume, told Blow. ”Like Superman or Wonder Woman, you went into the dressing room as a normal person, but when you put on that costume and stepped out, you were transformed,” wrote freelance writer and former bunny Deborah Voorhees in a column last year. Though the clubs have long since closed (the Dallas club was on the second floor of an office building at Yale Boulevard and North Central Expressway (now SMU))  and the bunny dip ain’t as easy as it used to be, Drennan wants to get former Dallas bunnies together for a hutch reunion. Former bunnies and floor staff who worked the Dallas club are invited to tonight’s reunion. No posers, please. You may have to do a dip to get in. And bring your costumes! For more information, email karen@drennan.com.

If you see Donna Paul, say hi. She’s on a crusade to meet a new person every day of the year as part of her New Year’s resolution. ”It’s just her one-woman campaign to bring a little more human contact into a world where “friending” is now done with a keyboard rather than a handshake,” writes columnist Steve Blow who’s not a fan of Facebook, but if he was, his profile might look something like this Blow’s.  Paul writes about meeting people at her blog Donna’s Daily Box of Whine. And sometimes the mother of two from Rowlett goes to interesting places like Wayne’s Hot Wings and Beauty Supply in Garland, “Sure enough, they were selling hot wings in one corner and had all these multicolored wigs on the shelves,” Paul said. She said hi to, “Peter, the cashier working behind (yikes!) security bars, shook his hand through the money slot and was quickly on her way,” wrote Blow. Sounds interesting. But I’m a faithful blogger and Facebooker, and I wonder just how far a two second hello goes in a person’s life? Did Peter really appreciate the greeting or was he weirded out by some strange white lady in his store who didn’t want to purchase any wigs or wings and just wanted to say hey?

Talk about girls behaving badly. This story takes the cake. Well, at least the eggs in the batter. Jennifer Cackler, 27, a two-year veteran of the Carrollton police and dispatchers Ashley Cackler, 22, of Carrollton (Jennifer’s sister) and Laken Schifelbein, 20, of The Colony and Laura Anderson, 23, of Plano were all dismissed after egging the home of Carrollton resident Steve Benzer in May reportedly following a night of heavy drinking. Stupid? Yes. Immature. Definitely. But it’s pretty hard to feel sorry for the victim in this case. Metro Columnist Steve Blow writes about the incident in today’s column, “For the last three years, [Benzer] has been at war with a family across the alley – particularly with the teenage boy there. “A hellion,” he said.”It’s a chaotic household. It’s a party house,” Benzer said. “In reporting unlawful activities, I have become vilified by police.” That’s  not totally true. It’s his regular phone calls about loud music barking dogs and other annoying activity at his neighbor’s house where a single mother lives. The neighbor has counter called police on Benzer and filed a civil suit seeking a restraining order against Benzer. Benzer told Blow, “I’m sure my observing and reporting of the activities at her house is uncomfortable. I’m sure it’s embarrassing. I’m sure it’s unpleasant. But it’s not unlawful,” he said. But it is worth a good egging.