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Beck Is Sorry for Reform Comment

But apology is not for some; plus, the case of the missing blogpost!

by
Marc Tracy
February 24, 2011
Glenn Beck.(Mediaite)
Glenn Beck.(Mediaite)

Behold, the power of Foxman! Not long after the Anti-Defamation League head condemned Glenn Beck’s comment that Reform Judaism is similar to “radicalized Islam” in that both are primarily about politics rather than faith, Beck, at the top of his radio show today, apologized. “I didn’t do enough homework,” he admitted, which is better than saying your dog ate it. The apology was not enough for Jewish Funds for Justice, which continues to call for Fox News to fire Beck, and said, in an emailed statement, “Glenn Beck’s characterization of Reform Judaism is in keeping with his longstanding hostility toward people who see their faith linked to pursuing the common good.”

Meanwhile, the New York Jewish Week at some point apparently took down a post about the affair by blogger Jonathan Mark that was headlined, “When Glenn Beck Compares Reform Judaism To Radical Islam, He’s Unfair To Islam.” The RSS summary of the post begins:

When Glenn Beck says that Reform Judaism is like radical Islam, insofar as both are more about politics than faith, he’s being unfair to radical Islam. Yes, both are deeply involved with politics and confuse their own politics with God’s. But radical Islamists seems [sic] to be much more serious about their religion. Reform rabbis often lead congregations whose overall culture is indifferent to Shabbat and kashrut, indifferent to daily prayer and intermarriage, and indifferent to religious literacy.

Then it cuts off and links to the post, which has clearly been removed. Um, did anyone by any chance make a copy? If you look at the Google search, you can tell that it was a looooong post, and I sure would like to see the rest of it. UPDATE: That didn’t take long.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.