Jackie Mason suing Jews 4 Jesus

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 10:10 AM on August 25, 2006.

Far be it from me to accuse anyone of being a good or bad Jew or Christian. It's an endless, pointless argument. Everybody thinks they've got their finger on the pulse of their belief system and I'm more inclined to trust those whose guiding principle is an understanding of how little we know.

Philoso-babble concluded. Blah blah.

But something strikes a nerve when I hear that super-nebbish, right-wing Jew, Jackie Mason, is suing the Jews for Jesus cult.

Now, I'm no fan of J4J. I think they're disingenuous and goofy proselytizers with little respect for Jews.

And yes, they did use Mason's likeness and shtick for a flyer. Which may be illegal. So fine. No problem.

But what's puzzling me is how upset Mason is at being used to shill for less-than-respectful Christian organizations. Is it just that the J4J people are too kooky? Not enough power and money behind them?

Mason has lent his voice to the idiotic, Birch Society spawned, canard that there's a War on Christmas through his association with Don Feder's Jews Against The Anti Defamation Of Christmas (JAADC):

Mason with his trademark accent and smattering of Yiddish agreed with host David Asman [sitting in for Jon Gibson] that Christmas is in danger and Jews love Christmas too and don't want this to continue.

Feder and Mason are part of an ultra-conservative strain of scared-silly Jews who've aligned themselves with the most narrow elements of the Christian Right in a faustian bargain to promote a militaristic and steroidal Israel. More on this soon...

But again, in light of this, why is Mason so pissed at having his likeness on a J4J pamphlet?

Evan Derkacz is a New York-based writer and contributor to AlterNet.