An American evangelist generated an unusual gathering of clerics from three faiths—Christianity, Islam and Judaism—to oppose an international WorldPride gay festival in Jerusalem planned for August (The New York Times, March 31). The festival's intent is to generate worldwide publicity for the gay-rights cause in the Holy City, home to three great religious traditions.

Israel's Sephardic chief rabbi said of the festival organizers, "They are creating a deep and terrible sorrow that is unbearable." Abdel Aziz Bukhari, a Sufi sheik, added, "We can't permit anybody to come and make the Holy City dirty." American Rabbi Yehuda Levin, of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, called the upcoming gay festival "the spiritual rape of the Holy City" (ibid.).

God certainly loves all men and women and offers all human beings the gift of eternal life. But God's Word, the Holy Bible, clearly speaks against homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). God is no respecter of persons; He is also against all human sins that transgress His laws. He wants repentance, not the flaunting of our sins.

The interfaith clerics got this one right; such actions are clearly disapproved of by God and His Word. Of course, such demonstrations would be wrong anywhere—not just Jerusalem. However, given the spiritual history of the city, the festival here creates a glaring contrast that should grab everyone's attention.

Indeed, that is just what it is intended to do—for disgraceful reasons. Just the thought of such a thing is utterly shameful, an affront to Bible believers everywhere. This is yet another sign of the cultural corruption growing all around us in a world increasingly hostile to God's eternal standards and values. (Source: The New York Times.)