"...I really don’t blame religious zealots like Rev. Peter Marshall and David Barton, both of whom sat on the state’s curriculum advisory panel ... I blame the public officials who invited the participation of evangelists in a process that is meant to respect the ideas and needs of the larger public…that is a complete failure of leadership for which they should be held accountable...."

Recognized for his work as global teacher and religious leader with a deep commitment to pluralism, Rabbi Irwin Kula was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation. The mission of the Foundation is to promote the legacy of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Through its many programs, the Foundation supports a culture of world peace and sustainability, offering a global vision for building harmony and justice by reconciliation, forgiveness, and ethical leadership, and to be included in its work is a great honor. For a brief description of Archbishop Tutu’s humanist philosophy, or "Ubuntu," in which he talks about how as a society we do not function alone—we are always in relation to each other, view:

Janet Kirchheimer was interviewed by Mike Sherwin:"What about poetry resonated with you so strongly? ‘I love the sharpness of it. I love the fact that you can use few words to say so much — how what’s on the page matters and how what’s not on the page matters.’..."

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By Mike Sherwin from St.LouisJewishLightOnline

Russ Morley and Rabbi Brad Hirschfield discuss the Academy Awards and our national obsession with celebrities.

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From The Morning Show on WFTL, Miami, FL

"Mosab Yousef says that he ‘crossed all the red lines in (his) society’. While that may be true, the real story of this son of Hamas leader Sheik Hassan Yousef, who spent years spying for Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet, is far more complex...."

"...Rabbi Kula wrote ‘Inglorious Basterds is far more than a Holocaust film or a WWII spaghetti western – all names that simply domesticate and tame the destabilizing and terribly unnerving truth of the film: that we human beings, however good we think we are, have within us the diabolical capacity with intention and justification to...’"

"The story here is the dangerous devaluation of a real and ugly phenomenon i.e. anti–Semitism. Equally distressing, is the fact that Foxman, one of the nation’s leaders in the fight against anti–Semitism, also leads the process of its devaluation...."

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By Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish, The Atlantic

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, characterized as a self–confessed "radical pluralist" is interviewed by Rachael Kohn at the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

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From ABC Radio National–Australia, The Spirit of Things, aired 12/21/2010

"‘Most Jews feel that someone else is more Jewish than them,’ a reassuring Rabbi Irwin Kula said when I confessed my New York complex. ‘I can’t tell you how many people come up and tell me, ‘I’m not — something.’ Usually they worry they’re not religious enough...."

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By Lenore Skenazy from The Forward

"Rabbi Irwin Kula ... suggested that both sides need to look in a mirror. ‘They are just doing politics in religious drag’ ... meaning that both sides have existing political positions and they’re using religion to ‘prove’ that God is literally on their side... ‘All that this assures is that the other side will be offended. And people who are trying to figure out how to what to do with their lives in a moment of transition are turned away.’.."