Comic Legend Sues Jews for Jesus
This morning, I sat down with my coffee and fired up my Comcast home page to check emails. While scanning over the news highlights, I saw the above headline: Comic Legend Sues Jews for Jesus. Holy Shit! (no pun intended). My eyes popped out of head so hard, I still have two slimy wet spots on my computer screen! I couldn’t click that link fast enough. I mean, this is my kinda stuff. And during those 30 seconds it took for the page to load, a million things went through my head at record breaking speed, especially considering its caffeine free state… This is going to be great!... Suing the Jews on behalf of Jesus!... What could be the charge? Cruel and unusual punishment? Inhumane treatment? Violation of Freedom of speech? Defamation? Misrepresentation?... Is he suing the Romans too?... Was this some sort of twisted jab at Mel Gibson’s recent decent into lunacy? Comic sues Jews on behalf of Mel Gibson on behalf of Jesus?
The anticipation was killing me. But finally after an eon it loaded. Alas, it turns out to be some legitimate stuff (again, no pun intended). Apparently, there is this comic, Jackie Mason, who really is suing this religious sect, which is really called Jews for Jesus, over using his image in a pamphlet. I am sure there are those out there that are well aware of this sect, and probably knew right from the start what was going here. But, in all honesty I never heard of Jews for Jesus and need I say it again, I hadn’t had my coffee yet. Obviously, I wasn’t thinking clearly. Now, I realize the statute of limitations would have ran out a long time ago. But, at that point I was totally bummed. I mean, really, how awesome and earth shattering would that have been? Talk about manic-depressive cycling! My proverbial ass is still stinging over that crushing fall. But, thankfully the news never fails you for long. While I was nursing my sore bum, I found this item about U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris. Reading about how she said, “If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," got the adrenaline flowing back into my veins and neurons rapidly firing in overdrive. Mix that with a healthy dose of caffeine and I was back, baby, back!
Momish
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Jackie Mason Charges Against Jews For Jesus Denied By U.S. District Court
A decision by U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman was reached today in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York denying a preliminary injunction to Mr. Jackie Mason who sought to stop the distribution of one of the Jews for Jesus gospel pamphlets, entitled, "Jackie Mason, A Jew for Jesus?!"
In the eleven-page finding the Judge ruled that the pamphlet was protected speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Religious pamphlets with pop culture themes like the Mason one have been freely distributed by the organization for over 34 years and while this is a small win for Jews for Jesus, it is a big victory for gospel protected speech.
Judge Berman also addressed the two other contentions in the Mason injunction and could not find merit in them, ruling that a reader of the pamphlet could reasonably see that Jews for Jesus was not asserting that Jackie Mason was a Jew for Jesus and that the Jews for Jesus did not look to gain any commercial benefit from the pamphlet.
David Brickner, executive director of Jews for Jesus, said ‚"We never intended to hurt Jackie Mason's feelings. To many of us Jews for Jesus, Jackie Mason is an icon who reminds us of our Yiddish-speaking grandfathers. We appreciate his good-natured humor. We thought that he would appreciate ours and were surprised by this lawsuit. Nevertheless we felt we had to defend ourselves and are gratified by the court's decision upholding our 1st amendment rights. It is our hope that this can now be ended amicably." A further court date is scheduled for November 16th.