Christian, Jewish & Muslim Leaders Unite in Campaign to Halt Jerusalem Gay Festival

On Wednesday 30th March, the leaders of three major faiths in Jerusalem launched a united campaign against a homosexual festival that is going to take place in August. Religious leaders criticised that it is a "spiritual rape of the city".

On a joint press conference at a hotel in Jerusalem yesterday, in a rare show of unity, Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders spoke about their deep concern over the moral issues of homosexuality and related activities. They say that the event would falsely convey an impression that homosexuality is acceptable and therefore damage the image of the city.

Israel's two chief rabbis, the patriarchs of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches, and three senior Muslim prayer leaders attended the news conference, according to AFP.

Archbishop Sambi, the Vatican ambassador to Israel, warned, "Making this parade would not only be an offence, but a provocation to the Jews, Christians and Muslims of Jerusalem and all the world."

"We know from the Holy Bible that God created Adam and Eve, but he didn't create Adam and Steve," said Armenian patriarch Aris Sharvanian, condemning that homosexuality is against the law of creation of God.

"Don't anger our God. If we let people who follow the wrong way (come here) we will lose this city...and there'll be no holiness left here. We will stop it," Sheikh Abed el-Salem Menasra, a Muslim leader said.

The Gay and Lesbian World Pride Parade 2005 is scheduled for 18th-28th August in Jerusalem - one of the most prominent religious landmarks in the world. On 25th August, there is scheduled to be a parade through the city and it is expected to draw thousands of people from dozens of countries.

The last World Pride Parade was held five years ago in Rome, Italy, where over 50,000 homosexual activists marched through the city. At that time it outraged the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope.

The next day after the march, Pope John Paul II commented, "In the name of the Church of Rome, I can only express bitterness for the affront to the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 and for the offence to the Christian values of a city so dear to the hearts of Catholics throughout the world." He then stressed the Catholic Catechism which says that "homosexual acts are contrary to the natural law."

Organisers of the gay festival claimed that the reason of choosing Jerusalem is because of its diversities in both religion and culture. Under the theme, Love without Borders, they wanted to bring out the message that the basic human rights to dignity and freedom of homosexuals should be respected beyond religious, cultural and ethnic boundaries.

The religious leaders’ joint opposition was initially generated by the Rev. Leo Giovinetti, an evangelical pastor from California Mission Valley Christian Fellowship, San Diego, California around two weeks ago.

Rev Giovinetti suggested that it definitely was not a coincidence that the last parade was held in Rome and that today Jerusalem is being targeted. He accused the organisers of creating a provocation and thus suggests that the event is offensive to religious sensibilities.

Rev Giovinetti circulated a petition against the festival, titled "Homosexuals to Desecrate Jerusalem," which he said had been signed by every member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party in the Israeli Parliament. Rabbi Yehuda Levin of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, which represents more than 1,000 American Orthodox rabbis, has also backed his petition.

Rabbi Yehuda Levine described the 10-day festival as "moral terrorism".

"This is nothing less than the spiritual rape of the Holy City," he said on yesterday’s news conference.