Benyamin Cohen, author of My Jesus Year, spent the past week guest blogging on Jewcy about some of the experiences he had traveling church to church throughout America to write his book.  First, he told us why he thinks he's going to Hell.  Then he spilled the juicy details about Stephen Baldwin's guilty proselytizing pleasure. He described five places you wouldn't expect to see a rabbi's son, himself excluded, of course.  And finally, Cohen told us why even rabbis are now looking to Rick Warren for guidance.  If one week out of this Jesus year isn't enough, go get the other 51!

People often ask me what synagogues can learn from churches. There are obviously many things and, indeed, several books have been written on this topic. One that comes immediately to mind is The Spirituality Of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community, by Ron Wolfson.

Ron works with a fascinating organization called Synagogue 3000, which has a singular mission: to revitalize synagogue life in America. Its efforts cross over into many categories, everything from more inspiring prayer services to ways to attract new congregants. What's more, one of the ways it seeks to learn how to better a synagogue is by looking to churches to see what techniques can be brought back to the Jewish world. For example, a couple of years ago it invited megapastor Rick Warren to give a workshop to a group of rabbis on how they can do better outreach at their synagogues. They videotaped that seminar and you can watch those clips online.

And as it turns out, the organization had serendipitously picked Atlanta (where I live) as the one city where it will focus its efforts this year, holding monthly seminars and workshops with the city's more than forty synagogues. "Jews need to be more quote-unquote evangelical," Wolfson told me. "We need to do a better job of presenting Judaism to our own people. The story doesn't get across that Judaism is a way to find meaning and purpose in your life. And that's another lesson I've learned from the evangelical model."

Rick Warren: Founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CaliforniaI met up with Wolfson for coffee to talk shop about my church visits, and he later invited me to the workshops as an honorary member. One event featured Bernie Marcus, the cofounder of the Home Depot, as the guest speaker. He was the last person I expected to be teaching me about the beauty of synagogue attendance. But there I was. And there he was. Teaching me about the beauty of synagogue attendance.

Marcus was telling a group of about forty rabbis that attracting members to a synagogue was no different than attracting customers to a Home Depot. "You're not giving  people the product they want. It's no different than retail; it's the same thing," he said. "You're in the marketing business; you're selling a product. You're selling religion. It happens to be something that's good for people. But you can't get to them to sell them the religion because you're in the marketing business and you don't realize you're in the marketing business. You have to stop thinking in many respects like a scholar and start thinking like a retailer."

Benyamin Cohen, author of My Jesus Year, spent the past week guest blogging on Jewcy. This is his parting post.  Want more?  Buy his book!

 

You don't start every day in the green room with Stephen Baldwin. Yes, that Stephen Baldwin. The youngest of the acting Baldwin brothers. You know, the one that became a born-again Christian, has his own punk ministry, and writes books about Jesus. That Stephen Baldwin.

A few weeks ago, Baldwin was out promoting his latest tome

(maybe he should guest blog on Jewcy for a week?) on the same local morning show that I was, Good Day Atlanta. I actually mention Stephen in my book (in a positive light) and, being that we were both on the show that morning, the interviewer asked me what I thought of him.

 

 

Anyway, after my interview was up I went back to the green room and bumped into Baldwin. He wasn't going to be on the show for another hour so we got to chatting. He seemed shocked when I told him that I spent a year going to 52 different churches and not once did someone try to convert me. And just about everybody knew I was Jewish.

"How much time we got until my interview?" Baldwin asked his publicist.

"About an hour," she responded."

"OK ... I got 60 minutes to convert you, Ben."

Stephen Balwin and meStephen was taking this challenge as a badge of honor - that somehow he would be the first Christian to not only try and convert me, but to succeed. The ensuing hour ended up being a fun theological conversation with a cast-off of Celebrity Apprentice. He even suggested we promote our books together on the road with the "Stephen and Ben Show."

Later that day, I decided to pop into Baldwin's book signing at a local Borders store. When he saw me walk in, he grabbed the microphone and told the crowd: "My Jewish friend Ben just walked in. Let's see if I can convert him."

I went to bed that night thinking that only Stephen Baldwin would do something like that. I was wrong.

Most of you know Kirk Cameron from his seminal role on the 1980's sitcom Growing Pains, but nowadays he's something of an evangelical icon. He recently made headlines for turning a tiny Christian independent movie about a fireman (filmed on location here in Georgia) into a blockbuster hit. Cameron has transformed from teen idol to running nothing short of a Christian empire. As I write in the book: "His 'Way of the Master Ministries' is a small media empire with books, speaking engagements, a radio show, DVDs, and an evangelical television show that's seen in seventy countries. Even Growing Pains isn't seen that far and wide."

And so I guess it was inevitable that the day would come when I would get interviewed by that very radio show - Way of the Master Radio. It's hosted by Todd Friel, a well-known evangelist. I assumed the interview would be a lot like the time I was on a Catholic radio show when a priest and I both shed a little light on the funnier aspects of our respective religions. The interview opened with some traditional Jewish music, funny for an evangelical radio show, so I assumed this interview would be light like the others. But soon after we got started, it turned into a theology lesson and conversion effort.

The truth is I don't mind. Todd's faith tells him to reach out to the unconverted. I respect that. I just find it strange because I spent an entire year going to church and not once did someone try to convert me. Until Stephen Baldwin and this guy.

Here's a clip of the radio interview with Todd. Despite the efforts to have me jump over the proverbial fence of faith, I had a good time. Sit back and enjoy.

 

 

Benyamin Cohen, author of My Jesus Year, is guest blogging on Jewcy, and he'll be here all week. Stay tuned.

Benyamin Cohen, author of My Jesus Year, is guest blogging this week as one of Jewcy's Lit Klatsch bloggers. Cohen is the son of an Orthodox rabbi and is married to the daughter of a Christian minister. His book is about his journey through America's Bible Belt.

Most likely, I'm going to hell. Not just to the heated nether regions where rank-and-file thieves, crooks, and Republicans hang out. If only I was so lucky. Instead, I'll be bypassing the guest entrance to the devil's playground and be sent, first-class, through the VIP ropes to where Beelzebub and his sidekick Andy Dick down Cristal.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling I'll be part of their new entourage. It's not that I committed murder or tricked unsuspecting email users to send their bank information to a little-known Nigerian prince. If only.

My sin, dear readers, was far worse. It's a long story, one riddled with guilt, regret, and the occasional Communion wafer. Space constraints and my own desire to mask what I've done forbid me from going into too much detail, but I'll offer up the highlight reel. I feel a confession is in order.

I'm a rabbi's son. Not just any rabbi's son, but the rabbi's son. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I took everything you taught me, flushed it down the toilet, and married a minister's daughter. Wait, it gets better.

Continue reading...

Look! It's the Intersection of Church and State: Somebody call the ACLU Last week I wrote about churches and synagogues being turned into homes. This week, homes are being turned into churches.

A man in Lake Bluff, IL recently converted a portion of his house into a church, and then claimed an $80,000 break on his property taxes because of a little known church-and-state loophole called parsonage. George Michael (no, not that George Michael) has a $3 million home in Lake Bluff, complete with an electric lift for his wheelchair-bound wife. But Michael and his family still found it difficult to attend church services (specifically Armenian church services) that were handicap accessible. So Michael took an online course and became an official member of the clergy thanks to the Church of Spiritual Humanism. He then went about constructing a church in his home.

Once the “church” was completed, Michael was able to ask for a huge discount on his property taxes. This discount is called parsonage.

Parsonage is the tax rule that allows clergy to exempt from their federal income taxes a portion of salary that's earmarked for housing costs. Nearly 100 years old, parsonage originated when many congregations provided housing to attract clergy to their communities. This exemption has broadened over the years to where today, clergy can exempt the annual rental value of their home from their taxable income, even if they own the home themselves.

In 2002, the Ninth Circuit Court debated the constitutionality of parsonage. Because of that case, Congress passed the Clergy Housing Allowance Clarification Act of 2002, which President Bush signed into law. The act clarified the constitutionality of parsonage and also made clear that a parsonage allowance is now limited to the fair rental value of the home. (Previously, the parsonage value was determined using any one of three tests.)

Though Michael was initially challenged by the Lake County Board of Review, the Illinois Department of Revenue eventually found that Michael’s church is a real church (he provided photos of a church altar, the church's affidavit of organization from January 2007, church bylaws and copies of weekly church bulletins dating to December) and that he is eligible for a tax exemption.

Who says religion doesn’t pay?

Tajikistan’s last synagogue was razed to the ground recently, to make way for the new presidential palace, despite outcry from the community. Reading this got me thinking about sacred spaces that have been converted into not-so-sacred spaces. In some cases, like Tajikistan, is seems horrible and insensitive. But in other places, it’s not quite so bad.

New York Magazine recently covered an old synagogue converted into an artist’s loft. Something about it seems reasonably respectful. And then there’s a design firm in Utrecht, Zecc, that transformed an old chapel into a spacious and fairly trendy home.

I know people who have lived in synagogue apartments, or houses owned by their churches, and that doesn’t seem particularly strange to me, but living a regular life in a space that was previously used for worship? Can you imagine having sex two feet from where a bima used to be? Or taking a bath on what used to be an altar?

Crumbling history: Is it worth rebuilding?All over New York City, churches that were once synagogues still have hints of their Jewish pasts, from stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Torah, to Stars of David carved into wooden pews.  But while these churches once gave new life to historically Jewish buildings, the Times reports that many churches are meeting the same unfortunate fate as their predecessors. The recent re-opening of the Eldridge Street Synagogue is a positive sign, but there are countless smaller churches and synagogues in New York that are currently falling into disrepair, and it’s hard not to wonder what’s ahead for these struggling institutions. Does the Jewish community have a stake in preserving these landmarks, even if they’re not for our own use? Is saving the buildings really the best use of time and funds, or should efforts go towards emerging community centers? Or, as Stacey Kalish asks in her recent review of the new Deity bar in Brookly (formerly a yeshiva), should religious buildings be revamped for decidedly secular purposes? With structures deteriorating and congregation membership waning, these questions will undoubtedly continue to arise.